To release yourself from the ball and chain of the automatic mode and truly gain control over your camera, you'll need to understand some basic concepts of photography. In this article, we talk about one crucial element of photography, time.
It's all about the timing
Have you seen one of those pictures where you could see the motion blur of a dancer, or one where they "stop" the flight of a bird. This is achieved by varying the shutter speed of your camera. A slow shutter speed will allow you to show the motion blur of your subject (eg. speeding train) and a faster shutter speed works quite the opposite, it freezes that motion.
When you want to imply movement in your pictures, you select a slower shutter speed. Speed it up when you want to freeze motion.
To change the timing of your shutter speed, switch your camera to the shutter priority mode. This is indicated by either Tv (for Canon cameras), or simply T (for Nikon and Sony users). When you switch into this mode, it means that your camera, once again, goes into semi-automatic. You select the time you want, your camera determines the size of the aperture so that it will make a good exposure based on your scene.
Depending on your camera, as you turn the dial or push the left-right buttons, notice that there's this number that changes. It will marked either by 1/a number, eg. 1/200, or a number", eg. 2". 1/200 means the aperture will open, wait for 1/200 of a second and then closed--pretty fast, where 2" means it will open for 2 seconds. So 1/200 is a faster shutter speed than 2", as it takes less time for your camera to take the shot.
Note: Depending on your camera and lens you use, the slowest and fastest shutter speed can go from 1/8000 all the way to whatever time you specify.
Exercise: Controlling Motion and Freezing Time
The best way to learn a new concept is by trying it out first-hand. So grab your camera and put into practise what we have learned so far.
Tools needed:
A camera, peferably a dSlrYour subject, eg. A piece of tissue you have lying aroundFan. To create motion.Optional: A tripod, or mini-tripod that comes free with most purchases
Setup
Go to your camera settings, and change the AF point to the one in the centre if you have not.
Set your camera to shutter priority mode, and dial to a shutter speed of 1/50Hold your tissue paper in front of the fanFocus on the tissue and take the pictureNext, without shifting your camera around much increase the speed to 1/300. Focus on roughly the same spot and take the picture.Save both your images onto your computer
Notice how on the first image, you captured the tissue flapping around and it's all a blur, whilst on the second image, it's as if the tissue didn't move.
If you've followed through, congratulations! You've just learned how to freeze time. Shooting pictures with shutter priority is great fun! Tell your friends to jump whilst you take a picture, or show the speed of your running nephew.
Summary
Shutter Speed controls the time it takes for your images to be exposedThe slower the speed, the more time you allow your subject to show in your picturesUse the shutter priority mode when you want to imply motion--think flying birds, running kids, or when you want to freeze a fast moving object--think aeroplanes, people jumping.
Take a look at some examples over at Singapore Photography.
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