Hello YouTubers.
Let`s talk about shutter speed and what kind of effects can have on your photography. Probably you heard people say “shutter speed”, but never really knew what they meant?( if you are new in photography) Today, I’m going to tell and show you exactly what it is…and how to use it to start taking photos you wish and even to get some artistic effects in your photos.
Shutter speed is most easily defined as the amount of time your shutter is open. Whether that’s 1 sec, or 1/4000th of a second, knowing how to use shutter speed to your advantage is a basic photographic skill you shouldn’t live without. Every single photographer has to understand and master the exposure triangle . And…Make sure you stick around until the end for one quick tip that can instantly help you take better photos.
So, first of all. I mentioned earlier that shutter speed is the amount of time your shutter is open. But what is the shutter exactly? Well, the shutter is the mechanism that moves to reveal your image plane (that’s your film plane or digital sensor) to light from your lens. The shutter is made up of two parts, we’ll call them curtain A and curtain B. Those curtains are closed until you fire the shutter button on your camera. When that happens, curtain A rises to allow light to hit the image plane. Then, curtain B rises to meet it, and they both reset to their “closed” position together.
In DSLRs and SLRs, there’s an extra step: a mirror is located at a 45° angle, in front of the shutter curtain bouncing light up to your viewfinder. When you fire the shutter release button in an SLR or DSLR, that mirror rises first, allowing light to reach the shutter curtain. Then the shutter curtain opens. The mirrorless camera, obviously, lacks mirrors so it`s not that complicated.
So, how can you use shutter speed to start taking photos you’re proud of? Here’s 3 ways to get you started.
Since shutters allow the light from a scene to enter your camera, the amount of time that the scene changes while exposed to your image plane drastically affects the end result of your photo.
Shutter speed Tip #1: Freeze Motion
Using a fast shutter speed, like 1/250th of second or faster, can freeze fast-moving objects like water splashing, cars racing by or athletes in competition.
Shutter Speed Tip #2: Slow Shutter
If you take a scenic photo of a river rushing by and you use a fast shutter speed, you end up freezing all that movement in a really harsh way. That’s why there’s so many photos of rivers and waterfalls with blurry, foggy streams of white. If you’ve ever wondered how they do it, I’m going to tell you. They use a slow shutter speed to allow all of that movement to be captured in one image. These photos are usually taken at shutter speeds of ½” or slower. The result is beautiful.
Shutter Speed Tip #3: Showing Movement
Utilizing a slightly slow shutter speed can convey movement while still retaining detail. Image a dancer mid-move, or a car racing. The resulting motion blur becomes part of the story, capturing not just the subject, but the movement of the subject as well.
So don`t forget if you’re struggling with your photos looking soft. It might be because your shutter speed isn’t fast enough while shooting handheld. A good rule of thumb is to use 1/ 2*the focal length of your lens. So if you have a 50mm lens on your camera, shoot at a minimum shutter speed of 1/100th of a second handheld, if you’re steady-handed, especially with APS-C cameras. If you’re like me and you have shaky hands, better double it. Your images will suddenly get sharper. I guarantee it.
So if you like this video please like and subscribe , if you want to add something to this video , please feel free to leave a comment down below . Other than that I wish you a great week and I`ll see you in the next one .
You can see my work here.
blueskyphotography.zonerama.com /
Thank you
I'd far rather have a noisy sharp image than a soft clean noiseless image. I tend towards keeping within the reciprocal rule where I can even when using stabilised lenses. That's not to say I never take advantage of the extra leverage stabilisation can bring, for low light handholding it can be a Godsend. Saying that I assume a very conservative measure when it comes to stabilisation, that is to say if a lens can give 4 stops of stabilisation I push it maybe only to 2 stops in terms of my exposure settings. Of course there is no simple one size fits all rule when it comes to shutter speed, it depends on if your subject is moving or not and if your choice is to freeze motion or show some motion to tell the story 😊
attila…do you shoot in manual mode majority of the time….