My Photographs

Welcome to the next installment in Photography 101!  I started with an intro post and 5 quick tips to take better pictures, then we moved on to an introduction to aperture.  Today we will continue on in this journey to using our camera in manual mode by discussing the basics of shutter speed.  (Remember in our aperture discussion we talked about the three things that make up exposure?  Aperture, shutter speed, and ISO – don’t forget!)

Essentially, shutter speed is the amount of time that the shutter stays open to let light in.  The longer the shutter stays open (which means the shutter speed is slower), then the more light gets in.

Shutter speed is usually expressed in fractions of a second.  For example – on my camera, when it says 125, that actually means the shutter stays open for 1/125 of a second.  When it says 320, it actually means 1/320 of a second.  Your camera may display the entire fraction, or just the bottom number.  Be sure to read your camera manual to determine exactly where and how your shutter speed is displayed.  Additionally, as you get into slower shutter speeds (where the shutter stays open longer), you could get into whole second increments, which adds a bit to the confusion.  On my camera, whole seconds have the ” sign after the number.  So I know if my camera says 30 – it really means 1/30 of a second – but if it says 2″, that means 2 whole seconds.  Again, you will have to read your camera manual to determine how to tell what your shutter speed is set to.

So, what does shutter speed do for you?  Well, in addition to allowing for the correct exposure when combined with aperture and ISO, it also controls blur in your photos – in two different ways.

Blur can affect  your photographs by either the camera moving during the time when the shutter is open, or by the subject moving when the shutter is open.

Camera shake occurs when you are holding your camera in your hand (not on a tripod or other stable surface) and your shutter speed is slow enough so that your natural wobbly, shaky hands cause your photo to be blurry.  I personally don’t shoot anything slower than 1/80 handheld (and even more than that if I am shooting professional portraits and it is important that I get tack-sharp images).  But this could vary for you depending on how big your camera and lens are, how steady you are, etc.  Do a little experimenting – but if you notice a slight blur to a lot of your images, you may want to check that shutter speed.

Motion blur occurs when one of the subjects of your image is moving.  For example, if you photograph your child whizzing by on his skateboard, if your shutter speed is set too slow, you might just see a big blur in your photograph.  When you bump your shutter speed up higher, you can sort-of “freeze” the action, and get a clear picture of your kid on his skateboard.  I took some example photos for you below.  In both of these images, the pinwheel is spinning.  In the image on the left, I used a much faster shutter speed, and you don’t see much blur – the pinwheel doesn’t even appear to be moving.  On the right, you can see the blur of the pinwheel as it spins – I used a much slower shutter speed there.

So, a note about how shutter speed and aperture work together – on the left, I set the aperture to f1.8 – this let more light in so that I could use a faster shutter speed (which lets less light in) and still get a correct exposure.  On the left, I used a f2.2 aperture – letting less light in and allowing for a slower shutter speed.  (I also had to change the ISO a bit between the two images – in our next installment we will go over how ISO affects all of this).

Just like with choosing an aperture, there is no “right” or “wrong” choice in shutter speed.  You need a correct exposure, but you can see in both of these photographs I was able to achieve the correct exposure by using different settings on my camera.  Use your creativity to decide whether you want to see the motion blur, or whether you want to freeze the action (or some setting in between).

{ 3 comments }

Welcome to Photography 101 – or “how to use your camera in manual mode”!  I started last week with an intro post that gave 5 Quick Tips for Taking Better Photographs – and this week we will continue with a more in depth discussion of how to get the creative results you want using Manual camera settings.  Today we start with aperture.  In my opinion your aperture setting is the first and best way to change the look of your photos.  So, let’s learn how to use it!

First, an overview of exposure in general:  In order to get a photograph that is correctly exposed, you have to understand the interaction of three elements.  Aperture, which we will discuss below, is essentially the size of the opening in your camera’s lens.  Bigger opening = more light comes in.  Smaller opening = less light comes in.  The second element to correct exposure is shutter speed.  How long the little window stays open and lets in the light is another element to getting your picture correctly exposed.  The last setting that controls exposure is your ISO.  ISO is basically the sensitivity of your camera to the light.  Higher ISO means it takes less light to get correct exposure, and lower ISO means it takes more light.  You really need to understand all three of these settings on your camera in order to be able to effectively use your camera to it’s fullest creative potential.

So, let’s get started with aperture.  You will commonly hear aperture referred to as an “f-stop”.  Or a photographer will tell you what aperture setting was used in a certain photo by listing a number after the letter f: f/1.8 or f/8 for example.  Aperture numbers can be a bit confusing, because the smaller the f number, the LARGER the opening in your camera – which means more light is coming into your camera.  So, remember – small number = more light, big number = less light.

Another very important thing to know about your aperture setting is that it controls the depth of field.  Depth of field describes how much of your picture is in focus.  If you use a large aperture (which is a SMALL f number) then you will have a smaller depth of field – less of your photo will be in focus.  If you use a small aperture (which is a LARGE f number) you will get a larger depth of field.

To make it a bit simpler – the smaller the f-number, the less that is in focus.  Bigger the f-number, the more that is in focus.

Here are some sample shots to illustrate:

In each of these cupcake shots, I left my camera and my focus point in the exact same spot.  (I’m focused on the front cupcake with green sprinkles).  You can see on the far left picture, where my aperture has the smallest number, there is not much of the image in focus.  You can’t see any detail on the pink- or blue-sprinkled cupcakes, the pattern on the bottom paper is only in focus near the green cupckake.  In the middle picture (where I move to a higher f number) you can see more detail in the blue cupcake and more detail in the pattened paper.  In the far right image, where my f number is highest – all three cupcakes are in focus, you can see the pattern in most of the image, and you can even see the wrinkles in my background paper.

In each of these pictures I had different shutter speed settings, in order to get the exposure the same while I changed my aperture (remember you have to have all three elements working together to get a correct exposure … ).  We will discuss the interaction of these two settings next week, but for now I wanted to show you that you can control how much of your photo is in focus by adjusting your aperture setting.

Tune in next week for a lesson on shutter speed – and how aperture and shutter speed interact!

****************************

Do you live in the Boise, Idaho area?  If so, there is one week left to enter the giveaway and win a Portrait Session!  A free session for one lucky person in the Treasure Valley!

{ 6 comments }