Photography For Dummies : Windmill Motion Blur(Shutterspeed)

Previously I have talk about Photography For Dummies : The Exposure Triangle where you need to control aperture,shutter speed & ISO depending on the situation and how aperture will effect how the light enter the lens.Today I'm going to write about shutter speed and how it affect motion blur.Please note on how the shutter speed affect the light entering as well.The faster the shutter speed is the darker the image is and you will need to compensate it using the exposure triangle..here are some points to note :

• Shutter speed is measured in seconds – or in most cases fractions of seconds. The bigger the denominator the faster the speed (ie 1/1000 is much faster than 1/30).

• In most cases you’ll probably be using shutter speeds of 1/60th of a second or faster. This is because anything slower than this is very difficult to use without getting camera shake. Camera shake is when your camera is moving while the shutter is open and results in blur in your photos but personally I can go lower then that before I encount motion blur,this depends on how shaky your hand is and to count in the 1 over focal point factor(the longer the zoom is the bigger the camera will magnify any shakiness from your hand

• If you’re using a slow shutter speed (anything slower than 1/60) you will need to either use a tripod or some some type of image stabilization (more and more cameras are coming with this built in).

• Shutter speeds available to you on your camera will usually double (approximately) with each setting. As a result you’ll usually have the options for the following shutter speeds – 1/500, 1/250, 1/125, 1/60, 1/30, 1/15, 1/8 etc. This ‘doubling’ is handy to keep in mind as aperture settings also double the amount of light that is let in – as a result increasing shutter speed by one stop and decreasing aperture by one stop should give you similar exposure levels (but we’ll talk more about this in a future post).

• Some cameras also give you the option for very slow shutter speeds that are not fractions of seconds but are measured in seconds (for example 1 second, 10 seconds, 30 seconds etc). These are used in very low light situations or when you’re going after special effects and/or when you’re trying to capture a lot of movement in a shot). Some cameras also give you the option to shoot in ‘B’ (or ‘Bulb’) mode. Bulb mode lets you keep the shutter open for as long as you hold it down.

• When considering what shutter speed to use in an image you should always ask yourself whether anything in your scene is moving and how you’d like to capture that movement. If there is movement in your scene you have the choice of either freezing the movement (so it looks still) or letting the moving object intentionally blur (giving it a sense of movement).

• To freeze movement in an image (like in the windmill below) you’ll want to choose a faster shutter speed and to let the movement blur you’ll want to choose a slower shutter speed. The actual speeds you should choose will vary depending upon the speed of the subject in your shot and how much you want it to be blurred.

• Motion is not always bad – I spoke to one digital camera owner last week who told me that he always used fast shutter speeds and couldn’t understand why anyone would want motion in their images. There are times when motion is good. For example when you’re taking a photo of a waterfall and want to show how fast the water is flowing, or when you’re taking a shot of a racing car and want to give it a feeling of speed, or when you’re taking a shot of a star scape and want to show how the stars move over a longer period of time etc. In all of these instances choosing a longer shutter speed will be the way to go. However in all of these cases you need to use a tripod or you’ll run the risk of ruining the shots by adding camera movement (a different type of blur than motion blur).

• Focal Length and Shutter Speed - another thing to consider when choosing shutter speed is the focal length of the lens you’re using. Longer focal lengths will accentuate the amount of camera shake you have and so you’ll need to choose a faster shutter speed (unless you have image stabilization in your lens or camera). The ‘rule’ of thumb to use with focal length in non image stabilized situations is to choose a shutter speed with a denominator that is larger than the focal length of the lens. For example if you have a lens that is 50mm 1/60th is probably ok but if you have a 200mm lens you’ll probably want to shoot at around 1/250.

Nikon 3100 // 1/30 // ISO 800 // 18-55mm @ f10

Nikon 3100 // 1/20 // ISO 800 // 18-55mm @ f10

Nikon 3100 // 1/8 // ISO 800 // 18-55mm @ f22

Nikon 3100 // 1/2 // ISO 800 // 18-55mm @ f22

Motion blur is something you want to avoid if you want crisp sharp shot but then again,it depends on what you want to capture.If you want to show movement like this windmill shot or car moving,maybe even to show movement on people walking then motion blur is something you want to achieve.Easy,sharp pic & froze the moment = faster shutter speed,motion blur = slow shutter speed.Good luck in experimenting.

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Photography For Dummies : Windmill Motion Blur(Shutterspeed)