This article contains my notes for the IOP course.
- Anything below 1/60th of a second for the shutter speed and you will need a tripod.
- Halving and doubling
- e.g. f/11 and 1/250 shutter speed, move the aperture down one stop to f/8 will require you to move the shutter speed up to 1/500.
- Changing the shutter speed is isolation is never a good idea as usually you also require to change the aperture and ISO settings.
- Shutter speeds:
- 1/1000 - Freeze fast moving objects (cars/motorcycles)
- 1/500 - Freeze moving objects (bikes or joggers)
- 1/250 - Freeze slow moving objects (slow moving animals/people walking)
- 1/60 - Panning moving objects close to the camera
- 1/30 - Panning moving objects a distance away from the camera
- 1/15 - Panning slow moving objects( slow moving animals)
- 1/8 - Blurring fast-flowing water close to the camera
- To achieve a very sharp image you require the fastest shutter speed as possible.
- And to achieve a blurred image you would require the slowest shutter speed possible.
- When selecting your shutter speed you must consider camera shake, remember anything below 1/60th of a second will require a tripod.
- Another important factor to consider in blur is focal length, this is because camera have is multiplied when zoomed in.
- The general rule of thumb is 1/Focal length (mm) = Minimum shutter speed (seconds) e.g:
- Focal length 50mm - Minimum shutter speed of 1/50
- Focal length 600mm - Minimum shutter speed of 1/600
- Remember to consider the crop factor in this calculation.
- TOPTIP:Â Manufactures have ranges of lenses for cropped image sensor cameras like the nikon DX range, meaning you don't need consider the crop factor.
- Panning tutorial:
- Get into a good position where you wont be disturbed and have a good range of movement.
- Rehearse your shot, practise moving the camera with the subject in the center of the viewfinder.
- Use shutter priority, start off with 1/60.
- As the subject approaches, track its progress smoothly.
- As you pan, half press the shutter button to focus.
- take the shot when your subject is in the center of the frame, gently press the shutter button to avoid any uneeded camera shake.
- Continue panning with your subject until the shutter closes.
- even after the shot has been taking, continue panning to keep the motion smooth.
- Use continuos mode to improve the chances of getting it right.
- Another technique is fixed point shooting, which gives you the opposite of panning, so the background is in focus and the subject is blurred.
- Fixed point tutorial:
- Keep the camera focussed on a fixed point in the scene.
- Choose a slow shutter speed.
- Press the shutter button.
- Architectural photography
- Get the camera setup on a tripod.
- Choose a shutter speed of 1 second.
- Take the shot.
- This will create a perfectly exposed background in sharp focus and very blurred and almost ghostly image in front of it.