[aageneral] Using Shutter Speed to Control the Look of Your Photo

Article Title: Using Shutter Speed to Control the Look of Your Photo
Author: Patty Hankins & Bill Lawrence
Contact email: hl_images@earthlink.net
Word Count: 669
Category: Photography
Copyright Date: 2005
URL: www.hankinslawrenceimages.com
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Using Shutter Speed to Control the Look of Your Photo
By Patty Hankins & Bill Lawrence

In the last newsletter, we talked a bit about changing the
aperture to control depth of field. This time, we thought we
would look at the other method of controlling exposure (for
a given ASA): controlling the shutter speed.

For any particular level of light and ASA, either film or
digital, proper exposure is a function of both the aperture
(how much light is let into the camera), and shutter speed
(how long the shutter is open to let light shine on the
sensor or film). For every f-stop increase in aperture
number (i.e. making the aperture smaller), the shutter speed
has to be halved, i.e. the shutter remains open twice as
long, to maintain the same exposure. So if you've determined
that, say, a shutter speed of 1/100 of a second at an f-stop
of 8 is a proper exposure, then a shutter speed of 1/50 of a
second at f 11 would also give a proper exposure.

So as long as we're maintaining proper exposure, why do we
care about shutter speed? The major reason to think about
shutter speed is because of motion, either yours or your
subjects. Often, we worry about shutter speed going too low,
which could result in "camera shake" if you are hand-holding
your camera, and could result in motion blur if your subject
is moving - essentially your camera's shutter is open too
long to freeze the subject of the photograph. So, if you
want to freeze the action of, say, sports or a fast moving
animal, you want to have a very fast shutter speed. Also, if
you are hand-holding a long telephoto lens, you will want a
fast shutter speed since the magnification of the lens will
magnify any accidental movements you make.

Other times, a slow shutter speed is desirable to convey a
sense of motion in a still photograph. A common use of
purposely setting a low shutter speed is to give a sense of
flowing water - see the next article about photographing
waterfalls for a good example of using this effect. We've
also seen some impressive photos of palm trees in hurricanes
where a slow shutter speed was used to blur the palm fronds
and convey the sense of them whipping in the wind in a still
photograph (sorry, we don't have examples of these to show
you - we try to avoid hurricanes). A slower shutter speed
can also be used for a technique known as panning, where the
photographer moves the camera to track a moving subject,
which (if done well) results in a sharp subject but a
background blurred by motion (this is a common technique for
those photographing birds in flight and for those
photographing racing cars).

To experiment with shutter speed, you will need a camera
that can go off of full automatic, and let you set the
shutter speed, either in full manual mode (you set both the
aperture and the shutter speed), or in "shutter-priority"
mode, which is an automatic mode where you restrict the
camera to one shutter speed. A word of caution about shutter
priority: most camera lenses have less flexibility with the
amount they can vary apertures (remember, this is the other
part of getting a correct exposure) than your camera has
with setting shutter speeds, so you have to make sure that
you can get a correct exposure with the shutter speed you
set. For example, if you try to take a photo on a dark night
in shutter priority mode with a shutter speed of 1/1000 of a
second, your camera will be unable to open the aperture
enough to let in enough light for this shutter speed,
resulting in an underexposure.

To experiment, simply find a subject that is moving, and try
some exposures at different shutter speeds to see the
results. Remember, for low shutter speeds, you will want a
tripod to steady the camera. Visit our website for an
article thatshows how different shutter speeds give
different results for water flowing over waterfalls.

Patty Hankins & Bill Lawrence are the co-owners of
Hankins-Lawrence Images, LLC, a digital photography
company based in Maryland. HLI Photonotes, their
monthly ezine, provides information and tips for
photographers. To subscribe email
hl_images@earthlink.net with subscribe in the subject
or visit www.hankinslawrenceimages.com.

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