This is the same as excerpt. It is a very interesting tool that allows you to control blur and create interesting effects. It is very important for anyone, even a novice photographer, to learn how to work with shutter speed.
It would seem that in photography you need to focus on creativity, and not on technical nuances, but this is not the case. It is the knowledge of technical features that will allow you to get excellent pictures, and shutter speed is a creative tool that, moreover, affects the quality of the photo.
Shutter speed (shutter speed), along with aperture and ISO, are the three main tools that determine exposure. These options also affect the sharpness of the shot and allow for a variety of creative effects.
Exposure is a very useful tool. By learning how to work with it, you can get stunning pictures.
What is shutter speed or shutter speed?
A shutter is located in front of the camera sensor, which blocks light from entering the light sensor. During shooting, this shutter opens, light hits the sensor and the shutter closes again. Shutter speed determines how long the shutter stays open.
A fast shutter speed means it will open and close very quickly. The shutter speed is thus short, since it is not open for long. A slow shutter speed means that the shutter will be open for a long time, and therefore the shutter speed will be long.
Shutter speed measurement?
The exposure time is counted in seconds. For example, 1/100 means that the shutter will be open for 1/100 of a second or 0.01 second. Many cameras have a wide shutter speed range. Most often, it varies from 1/2000 to 30 seconds. Exposure can be both longer and shorter. Most DSLR cameras are equipped with a "Bulb" mode. In this mode, the shutter will open for as long as necessary.
How to choose the optimal shutter speed?
The automatic mode of the camera can assess the shooting conditions and independently select the shutter speed. The automation solution may not always be optimal. The picture may be blurry.
In order to control everything yourself, you need to switch to manual mode, but in this mode you need to know the following:
Camera shake
When shooting handheld, the camera will shake slightly and move. It is impossible to stand completely still. If the shutter speed is too slow, this shaking will appear in the picture as blurring or unsharpness.
When shooting handheld, the camera shakes. To avoid blur, you need to slow down the shutter speed or use a tripod.
To eliminate blur and wiggle in the pictures, you need to reduce the shutter speed. Long focal length lenses must have a faster shutter speed for a sharp picture. There is a formula by which you can determine the shutter speed at which the picture will become clear. You should use a shutter speed of 1sec / fr, where fr is the focal length of the lens. For example, if you are photographing at a focal length of 200mm, then the shutter speed should be 1/200 of a second, a 50mm lens will give the sharpest pictures at a shutter speed of 1 / 50sec and less. Thus, we can conclude that the longer the focal length of the lens, the faster the shutter speed must be in order to obtain an optimally sharp picture.
Blurring a picture with a slower shutter speed
The blur will be obtained if you move the camera at that time. when the shutter is still open. In this way, interesting pictures can be taken. For example, a photograph of a moving car will convey the dynamics of movement. To make the car sharp and the background blurry, the camera must be moved after the car at the same speed. This is called a guided survey. Or vice versa, you can get a sharp background and blurry moving objects.
A different shutter speed can both freeze the movement of objects and make it blurry. Use blur for creative effects. PhotoOndra Soukup
To avoid blurring, you need to set a slower shutter speed. This means less movement will be captured when the shutter is open. With a sufficiently short shutter speed, movement can be completely frozen.
Image exposure
When working with shutter speed, it is worth making sure that the exposure is correctly aligned in the scene. The shutter speed should be such as to make the picture normally lit. If the exposure is too slow, the photo may be overexposed (overexposed). If the shutter speed is too fast, the picture may be too dark (underexposed).
Correct exposure is achieved by choosing the optimal shutter speed and setting the aperture and ISO.
To adjust the exposure, it is worth using not only the shutter speed, but also the aperture and ISO sensitivity.
Using creative effects
Long exposure can create interesting creative effects.
Long exposure, up to several minutes, can create a unique look of crowd movements, flowing water or headlights in the dark.
Long exposure can create hazy water. This effect looks very interesting and dynamic.
A fast shutter speed captures a moment in the movement of a subject. It could be a flying bird or a running person or splashing water. It is not easy to get such a picture, but learning how to set up the camera and take such shots, the result will certainly delight you.
Very fast shutter speeds freeze motion.
There is no limit to exposure experiments. Try taking pictures in full manual mode or shutter priority mode. By changing parameters and trying things you haven't tried before, you will achieve interesting results.
The best way to master the work of shutter speed is to switch the camera to manual mode and change the parameters to analyze the change in the result. Knowing how to work with shutter speed will allow you to achieve unprecedented creative effects and take great pictures.
Exposure (shutter speed) is the amount of time that the shutter remains open and light hits the film or digital sensor. The right combination of exposure settings - shutter speed, aperture, and ISO - produces rich, clear and high-contrast images. Learn to set the shutter speed you want and the quality of your photos will increase.
Steps
Part 1
What is excerpt- Shutter speed is the time that the shutter remains open. In other words, it is the length of time during which light hits the camera's sensor. Usually it is equal to only a fraction of a second.
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Find out how shutter speed is measured. Exposure is measured in seconds and their fractions. Its value can vary from 1/8000 to several seconds. Most often, a shutter speed of 1/60 or shorter is used.
Understand the difference between short and long exposure. To choose the right shutter speed for a given situation, you first need to know what a fast and slow shutter speed is (fast or slow shutter speed). A value of 1/60 is usually considered borderline.
Find shutter priority mode in the settings. Most cameras allow you to shoot with shutter priority. This means that you choose the shutter speed depending on the shooting conditions and artistic intent, and the camera automatically selects the corresponding aperture value.
Consider the focal length. The longer the focal length of the lens, the higher the shake sensitivity. Therefore, it must be taken into account when choosing a shutter speed. If you are shooting with a telephoto lens, you should use a faster shutter speed.
- In the shutter speed value, the denominator of the fraction must be at least equal to or greater than the focal length. For example, a 50 mm lens can shoot handheld at a shutter speed of no more than 1/50 of a second, with a 200 mm lens - no more than 1/200 of a second.
Part 2
Selecting the shutter speed-
Choose a shutter speed at which stationary subjects will not be blurred. The main thing you need to achieve when taking photos is to avoid camera shake. Use a fast shutter speed to avoid blurry images. For this type of photo, try setting it to at least 1/60. If you have strong hands and can hold the camera still, a shutter speed of 1/30 will also work well.
- In this case, changing the shutter speed will not play a fundamental role, in addition to changing the exposure settings in general, unless movement occurs during exposure, due to which the image is smeared at least a pixel. Even then, the picture will only be slightly less sharp. The real difference will be visible only with a noticeable movement (concussion).
- The built-in Image Stabilizer in the lens or camera will slow the shutter speed down by a step or two when shooting handheld. A tighter grip on the camera also contributes to this.
- By attaching the camera to a tripod or other fixed support, you will get rid of the shake, which is especially important when shooting with long exposures.
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Choose a fast shutter speed to freeze the moment of movement in the frame. To set the shutter speed, you must decide whether you are shooting a stationary or moving subject. To shoot a subject in motion, the shutter speed should be fast.
Understand what shutter and shutter speed are. A shutter is a device in a camera that regulates the entry of light into it. When you take a photo, it opens for a short time and a certain amount of light hits the camera sensor. The shutter then closes again, obstructing the light.
Long exposure photography is one of my favorite things to do. This allows you to capture something different from 99% of the photographs on the Internet, as well as requiring skill and the right equipment.
To work with this type of photographs, you need to deliberately overestimate the exposure time. While a fast shutter speed captures the moment, a slow shutter speed blur the motion, creating different effects depending on the subject.
It may seem complicated at first. The most common question that newbies ask is: "Why are my long exposure photos turning out white?" Fortunately, this problem is very easy to fix. The first step is to get a better understanding of the exposure triangle. If you want to read in detail, click on the link, and within the framework of the article I will give a very brief overview. The exposure of a photograph (that is, how bright or dark it is) is determined by three characteristics: ISO, aperture, and shutter speed.
The shutter speed is responsible for how long the shutter remains open. For most common photographs, shutter speeds range from 1/60 to 1/500, but we (depending on the subject) need values from 1/10 of a second to 5 seconds or even 20 minutes. (Many cameras cannot operate at shutter speeds slower than 30 seconds without Bulb mode, so you will have to use the external shutter button). More light will enter the sensor, resulting in a brighter image. Leaving the shutter open for too long will result in just a white canvas. The first step in solving the problem is to adjust the other two vertices of the exposure triangle.
ISO adjusts the sensor's sensitivity to light. Although the technical side is difficult to explain, it is enough to know that higher ISO values mean a brighter image. Therefore, when shooting with slow shutter speeds, try to set the lowest ISO. The threshold level for most cameras is 100. Some models can even work with ISO 64, and Fuji cameras do not allow you to select a value below 200.
The third facet of the exposure triangle is the aperture. Its value is responsible for the diameter of the hole that allows light to pass through. The larger the aperture value, the wider the opening. However, it is known that the relative aperture of the lens is indicated in fractional form. That is, f / 8 actually means 1/8. Thus, if the f-number k larger, then the relative aperture becomes smaller, because 1/16 is several times smaller than 1/4. If your photos come out white when using slow shutter speeds, try narrowing the relative aperture by setting a smaller aperture. A good starting point is f / 16 and minimum ISO. Also keep in mind that a smaller aperture means more sharpness. If you want a shallow depth of field, you will have to resort to some other methods.
Okay, you followed these tips, but you still haven't received an answer to your question. If you are shooting at the lowest ISO and small aperture, and the pictures are still bright, you will have to resort to one of the following options.
First, shorten your shutter speed. Not every shot takes 20 seconds to expose. The desired effect can be obtained from 1/2 or even 1/8 s. However, this does not work for every situation. Sometimes there is too much light in the frame, but if you look at the examples below, you can see that some of them were taken with relatively fast (as for this type of shooting) shutter speed.
If too much light is a problem, find a way to reduce it. For example, just try photographing the same landscape at night. Instead of trying to capture a shot at noon, shoot it at sunset or even on a cloudy day. This is one of the reasons cloudy days are ideal for shooting waterfalls when you need to increase your shutter speed a little.
After all, there is a very useful tool for this kind of photography - the ND filter. These are the usual sunglasses for your lens. Different ND filters have different densities. My personal choice is the 10-stop filter, which allows the shutter speed to be increased by 10 stops. Typical afternoon shots require a shutter speed of 1/30 s, ISO 100 and f / 16. With this filter, I can take the same photo at 30 s. The most commonly available 6- and 3-stop filters are available. If you need one or two extra stops, you can use a circular polarizer.
Once you've figured out how to shoot slow shutter speeds and bought an ND filter, there are tons of interesting ways to take advantage of it. Here are a few of my favorite types of photography.
Dreamy ocean landscapes
Have you seen pictures of the coastline, the waves of which have been turned into a mystical fog? While a fast shutter speed will stop the waves, a long shutter speed will blur their motion. The choice of the shutter speed depends on the amount of light, the frequency of the waves and the depth of the water. A good starting point is ISO 100, f / 16 and 15 sec.
Lakes
Ripples in the water often spoil the pictures of lakes. This problem can be easily solved by resorting to a slow shutter speed, which completely softens the surface. My ND filter often saved me from ripples in the water or boring sunsets. Exposure here depends entirely on how strong the waves are. The shot was taken at ISO 200 (minimum threshold for Fuji cameras), f / 16 and shutter speed 90 s.
The water was much calmer in the photo below, so I used a faster shutter speed. These are the camera settings I chose: ISO 200, f / 18, 5 sec. If you look closely, you will notice another difficulty when working with long exposure - the tree on the left side has become blurry due to the wind.
Waterfalls
Perhaps it was the waterfalls that initially inspired me to try long exposure photography. I looked endlessly at pictures of silky smooth waterfalls and really wanted to understand how this is done. A big plus is that when shooting waterfalls, you don't need too long exposure. But it is important to determine how much of the movement you want to convey. It's very easy to get a waterfall that has no context whatsoever. Sometimes this is useful, but usually I still try to make the waterfall not completely blurry.
I wanted to keep most of the movement of the Panther Creek Falls, so I set it to ISO 200, f / 18, 1/8 s.
Due to the darkness of this canyon, I had no choice, so I had to sacrifice the expressiveness of the waterfall and photograph it at ISO 800, f / 11, 8 sec.
In the example below, I deliberately dropped the harshness to make the waterfall look like a long silk cascade. The camera settings were as follows: ISO 200, f / 16, 5 sec.
Streaks of light
Another favorite example of mine. Streaks of light are red or yellow / white lines that appear in the photograph due to the headlights of passing cars. Here, the exposure length is determined by how fast the cars are going. This is quite easy to do if a certain light source passes through the frame and you just need to calculate the time it takes to do it. However, when there are more cars and lights in the frame, things get more complicated. Below I have provided a few examples showing the camera settings.
It took a lot of patience here, as the two streams of cars were moving in different directions. It was necessary to capture the end of one light source and the beginning of another. ISO 200, f / 18, 15 sec.
When shooting the Brandenburg Gate, I was lucky because the traffic was moving at the same time. I took this photo at ISO 200, f / 16 and 2.5s.
The photo below was not easy to capture, as there are a lot of traffic lines in the frame that needed to be captured. ISO 200, f / 16, 45 sec.
If you need more inspiration, there are other ways to work with long exposure. Search the internet for examples and see how you can get awesome clouds, how to work with camera wiring, and more.
This article is about how to ‘freeze time’ in pictures with your camera.
When photographing moving objects, it is possible to ‘stop’ them with the help of a photograph and see all the dynamics of movement on ‘stop-pause’. Such pictures almost always look very interesting and unusual, since in real time the human eye does not see what can be seen in a freeze frame.
The easiest way to get a ‘freeze’ or ‘effect stopping‘Movement in photographs is use short shutter. Short means that the subject is captured for one short instant. The easiest way to get it short is to shoot in priority mode. This is usually referred to as ‘S’ or ‘TV’. For the maximum effect of stopping time, it is enough to select the minimum possible shutter speed.... For modern SLR cameras, this is most often 1/4000 s or 1/8000 s. In this mode, the time in fractions of a second is set, during which the image will be frozen.
This simple method works very well when there is a lot of light and / or when it is possible to use a fast lens. For example, in the photo above, ISO 100 and F / 1.8 were enough to get a fast shutter speed of 1 / 800th of a second and freeze the moth's flight. But more often than not there is little light, then the lens is not high. Therefore, to achieve the effect of stopping time, you should increase the ISO values.
The movement was stopped in this case by increasing the ISO sensitivity to 1250. In this case, a ‘dark’ lens with F / 5.6 was used.
It's easy to freeze motion if your camera has Auto ISO in shutter priority mode. For example, on all modern Nikon digital control centers, you can set the function for the modes. In shutter priority mode, the camera will adjust the minimum ISO sensitivity to achieve the desired exposure at a short time. For example, in the photo below, I shot in this mode.
Auto ISO. On the camera, I set the value to 1/2500 of a second, and the camera independently selected the aperture and ISO value, so that it was possible to get a correctly exposed picture with such a fast shutter speed.
But if there is no auto ISO function for modes, for example, like mine, then it is enough to manually select the ISO value in the shutter priority mode so that the metering sensor shows zero deviation from the norm.
Dove in flight. Manually selected ISO 1800 to be correct when using a very fast shutter speed of 1 / 8000th of a second.
The effect is most pronounced when using the fastest shutter speeds available on the camera. For example, 1/4000 s or 1/8000 s.
You can get a fast shutter speed in priority mode and in manual mode and in program mode. I can use everything to achieve a short shutter speed without any problem, but it takes a very long description. In short, it's very easy for me to get a short exposure:
- In M mode (manual) using maximum aperture and auto ISO
- In A (AV, priority) mode, using maximum aperture and auto ISO, with a maximum shutter speed of 1/1000 to 1/4000 second.
- In P mode (program mode), using the ISO auto function, which has a maximum shutter speed of 1/1000 to 1/4000 of a second.
A sparrow in flight at a short exposure. For some reason, the value is not displayed in.
Another simple method of stopping time is to use a flash.... With the flash, it is very easy to freeze motion when shooting in low light conditions. In this case, you do not need to use short camera shutter speeds, even 1/60 of a second is enough. This is due to the fact that the freezing of a moving object occurs due to the reflected light of the flash. The duration of the light pulse from the flash is very, very short. For example, my Nikon has a pulse width at 1/1 equal to 1/880 of a second. And if you set it equal to 1/128 of the full flash power, then the pulse duration will be only 1 / 38.500 seconds... With increasing flash power, the duration of the light pulse increases. Since virtually all of the light comes from the flash when shooting in low light conditions, the flash plays a decisive role in creating the picture. This means that with the flash, objects can be frozen at flesh speeds of up to 1 / 40,000 of a second. This is a very short time, with the help of this technology you can take simply incredibly interesting pictures with a stop of time.
Freeze the movement of water using flash in low light conditions. Despite the long shutter speed (1/80 s), the very short flash duration allowed the water to freeze completely. Flash and camera in manual control mode.
But in conditions with normal illumination, the flash will be practically useless for stopping time. In good light conditions, it is the shutter speed that plays a key role. And even if the flash supports, nothing special will come of it. If you delve into the details, then when shooting at short shutter speeds, for example, 1/4000 of a second using the high-speed sync mode, due to the stroboscope effect, the picture itself can only deteriorate.
In fact, super-fast shutter speeds of 1/4000 s, 1/8000 s, 1 / 16,000 s are not always needed. Very often, only 1/200 s is enough to catch an object in motion, as in the photo below:
Bee over poppy flowers. Filmed by only 1 / 200th of a second, however, the bee is 'frozen' in motion
Reportage photographers who shoot sports know very well how to shoot at short exposures, it is very important to convey the dynamics of movement there. For more interesting short exposure photos I recommend.
Cheerful cat. 'Caught' in 1/1250 second
Conclusions:
For taking interesting photos with stopping (freezing) time it is enough to use short shutter speeds on the camera. Fast shutter speeds are achieved with good illumination, fast lenses and high ISO sensitivities. In low light conditions, you can freeze motion with the flash.
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Exposure is the time during which the camera captures the image. When shooting, the light flux passes through the camera lens and hits the matrix. While the photo process has not yet begun, the shutter is closed.
In the process of shooting, it opens for a certain time, and this time when it is open is called shutter speed. The exposure time is determined in fractions of a second, and is denoted as follows:
- 1/8000 s;
- 1/1000 s;
- 1/125 s;
- 1 s, 2 s, etc.
Short and long exposure
First, about a short exposure. It is used for shooting dynamic scenes, holidays, sports events, that is, objects in motion. Even if the photographer is moving, he also uses a fast shutter speed. It allows you to capture blur-free shots, even though the objects are in motion. At slower shutter speeds, moving subjects will be blurred.
Slow shutter speeds are often used in low light conditions. In this case, the shutter speed is partly related to such a parameter as ISO, although this is not about that now. With a long exposure, light falls on the camera's matrix for the entire time the shutter is open, and it captures everything that happens and "merges together." Slow shutter speeds are often used when shooting indoors with poor lighting, shooting at night.
Slow shutter speeds are often used by photographers to create the effect of a trail of a moving subject. Here are some simple examples in the photos below that are achieved exclusively with long exposure:
If you use a ND filter (read about camera filters), you can take great shots of the surf using the same slow shutter speed. If you set it to ¼, you get great pictures of pouring rain - this is, by the way, a very well-known photography technique.
Setting the shutter speed and flash sync
If you have a DSLR camera, there are different modes. The user can set the value in M and Tv modes. To do this, you need to go to one of these modes and find a field with a shutter speed on the display. In these modes, this field will be active, so the shutter speed can be changed and set the desired parameter. Depending on the camera model, the shutter speed is always set differently, but the M and Tv modes are for all cameras.
Some amateur DSLRs (and not only DSLRs) have a problem with shutter speed synchronization. There is a problem: when shooting with a fast shutter speed, the moment the shutter opens and the flash may not match. This corny spoils all the photos. Simple amateur cameras give flash and shutter speed synchronization up to 1/200 s, no more. Dear ones - 1/500 s. Please note: even expensive and good cameras often do not give full sync at very fast shutter speeds, unless this camera has a dedicated fast sync mode.
Often the solution to the synchronization problem is done with a studio or external flash.