Photography: Using Shutter Speed to Control Motion
4310
Arts & Entertainment > Photography
Mar 1, 2007
Jennifer Clarkson
Photography: Using Shutter Speed to Control Motion
Shutter Speed, simply put, controls the speed at which the camera?s lens opens and closes. It works in conjunction with film speed (a.k.a. ISO) and aperture (lens opening size) to correctly expose an image. By using the Shutter speed priority setting on your camera, you are able to control motion and capture your moving subject effectively. Let?s look at the various ways to do this.
Freezing Action
You?re at the Indy 500 watching your favourite racer approach the finish line, and you want to capture the car, in all its detail, and the look on the face of the driver, just before he crosses the finish line! Capturing such a shot on your camera is an example of freezing action. Compositions that showcase frozen action allow us to study a fleeting moment at our own pace, long after the moment has passed.
To freeze action with your camera, you must set the shutter speed to be very quick. If your ISO is low, say 50 or 100, set your shutter speed to 1/500th of a second, 1/1000th of a second, or faster. Then let your camera recommend the aperture ? it will most likely force your background to be out-of-focus with a large aperture. If your ISO is high, say 800, then you?ll be able to set your shutter speed to 1/500th of a second without losing quite so much detail in the foreground and background (i.e. you?ll be able to use a smaller aperture to get the right exposure). Shooting at such quick speeds allows you to get away with not using a tripod, since any shaking of the camera you do accidentally will not affect such a short exposure. So pick a sunny day, and go for it!
Implying Motion
The classic example of implying motion is those ethereal shots of rapids or waterfalls where the water looks like silk as it flows over the rocks, meanwhile the plants on either side are in sharp focus as the water passes by. Another example is traffic at dusk while the buildings at the intersection stand quietly in sharp focus. The subject is blurry while the background is sharp ? this is what implies the motion.
The trick to capturing implied motion is to use a slow shutter speed. Speeds of ? second should suffice to snap waterfalls or rapids, but be careful to decrease your ISO, or shoot at night, and don?t forget your tripod.
Panning
Your daughter is riding her tricycle in a circle around you. You point your lens at her and pivot at the same pace that she circles you. Snap! This is an example of panning, where we create anxious and hurried moments by putting the moving subject into sharp focus while blurring the background. The best panning shots are captured when the subject is looking at you, and the eyes are in focus.
To successfully capture a panning shot, consider these three rules:
1) Make sure you move in parallel to your subject.
2) Choose the right shutter speed: somewhere between 1/60 second (for quick subjects), 1/30 second, or even 1/15 second (for a slow child, say)
3) Do NOT use a tripod ? you must be free to move
Now you know the secrets to controlling motion on film. Get out there and try your hand at freezing motion, implying motion, and panning!
Freezing Action
You?re at the Indy 500 watching your favourite racer approach the finish line, and you want to capture the car, in all its detail, and the look on the face of the driver, just before he crosses the finish line! Capturing such a shot on your camera is an example of freezing action. Compositions that showcase frozen action allow us to study a fleeting moment at our own pace, long after the moment has passed.
To freeze action with your camera, you must set the shutter speed to be very quick. If your ISO is low, say 50 or 100, set your shutter speed to 1/500th of a second, 1/1000th of a second, or faster. Then let your camera recommend the aperture ? it will most likely force your background to be out-of-focus with a large aperture. If your ISO is high, say 800, then you?ll be able to set your shutter speed to 1/500th of a second without losing quite so much detail in the foreground and background (i.e. you?ll be able to use a smaller aperture to get the right exposure). Shooting at such quick speeds allows you to get away with not using a tripod, since any shaking of the camera you do accidentally will not affect such a short exposure. So pick a sunny day, and go for it!
Implying Motion
The classic example of implying motion is those ethereal shots of rapids or waterfalls where the water looks like silk as it flows over the rocks, meanwhile the plants on either side are in sharp focus as the water passes by. Another example is traffic at dusk while the buildings at the intersection stand quietly in sharp focus. The subject is blurry while the background is sharp ? this is what implies the motion.
The trick to capturing implied motion is to use a slow shutter speed. Speeds of ? second should suffice to snap waterfalls or rapids, but be careful to decrease your ISO, or shoot at night, and don?t forget your tripod.
Panning
Your daughter is riding her tricycle in a circle around you. You point your lens at her and pivot at the same pace that she circles you. Snap! This is an example of panning, where we create anxious and hurried moments by putting the moving subject into sharp focus while blurring the background. The best panning shots are captured when the subject is looking at you, and the eyes are in focus.
To successfully capture a panning shot, consider these three rules:
1) Make sure you move in parallel to your subject.
2) Choose the right shutter speed: somewhere between 1/60 second (for quick subjects), 1/30 second, or even 1/15 second (for a slow child, say)
3) Do NOT use a tripod ? you must be free to move
Now you know the secrets to controlling motion on film. Get out there and try your hand at freezing motion, implying motion, and panning!
Article Source: http://www.articlerich.com
Jennifer Clarkson is a Canadian photographer living in Ottawa. For a full explanation of digital camera features and more information about what amateur buyers need to know, please visit her website at www.jclarksonphotography.com Article Submission made possible by: www.articles-submit.com Courtesy of:ArticlesRus.Net
Write a Review
Add to My Favorite
Refer it to Friend
Report Article
Other links owned by this user
First, let?s review te tree tings tat directly influence ow all potos are captured on bot film and digital cameras: 1) Aperture: te lens opening 2) Sutter Speed: te speed of opening and closing te sutter, wic determines
Category:
Typical humans see their world in 16 "f-stops", or measurements of light reflecting off their environment. Cameras ?see? no more than 5 stops at once. So the more contrast there is in the scene, the more stops of light there are to BE seen. This
Category:
So you've decided to buy a camera - congratulations and welcome to the land of Photography! Now how do you figure out what camera is right for you? The first thing you have to decide is whether you want a digital camera or a film camera. This article
Category:
Most humans see the world in living colour, but did you know that your camera?s light meter does not? Then how does it capture photos? Does it see the world in black and white? No! When your camera left the factory, it was calibrated to see the world as
Category:
The term ?white balance? originates from e world of video imaging where a device (waveform monitor) was used to match or ?balance? e signals from e camera?s red, green, and blue channels to make accurate whites under various lighting conditions,
Category:
Waterfalls often make great subjects of photos, but it?s very easy to get a bad result if you?re not paying attention when you click the button. Here are the top 4 mistakes photographers make, and the easy ways to improve your
Category:
Shutter Speed, simply put, controls the speed at which the camera?s lens opens and closes. It works in conjunction with film speed (a.k.a. ISO) and aperture (lens opening size) to correctly expose an image. By using the Shutter speed priority setting on
Category:
What is a Memory Card? A card is a storage device commonly used by digital cameras to write digital photos. It is a mechanism to store your photos, and later transfer them to computer for processing and printing. Essentially, a
Category:
Other links at Arts & Entertainment > Photography
Digital camera reviews are everywhere that you look, the newspaper magazines anywhere you look. Everyone is probably wondering why they are giving props to all the digital cameras out there when there is only a few that are worth anything.
Category:
An underwater camera isn't just used to get the image underwater it can be used just about anywhere. Marine photographers are going to use the underwater cameras to catch the images of what they are looking for you and I are just here to read about them.
Category:
Some people are faced with an unusual dilemma. They are no longer able to view photography as a hobby because they have taken their artistic abilities further than most and now must make their living taking photographs on a more professional level.
Category:
Waterfalls often make great subjects of photos, but it?s very easy to get a bad result if you?re not paying attention when you click the button. Here are the top 4 mistakes photographers make, and the easy ways to improve your
Category:
Gone are the times when photographers had to take several shots of an image and develop them to find out if a fine or even perfect image was taken.
Category:
Site Sponsor
Directory Statistics
Articles: 68285
Categories: 501
Yahoo Entertainment
