Master Shutter Speed

Oh shutter speed and how I can manipulate you to control time. I feel like I have some power over the universe and the only thing that can stop me is a dead battery! Using shutter speed to your advantage can make you feel like a super hero, but it will actually allow you to control the speed your camera takes a picture. The faster or shorter the shutter speeds make it so less light will enter the camera to expose a picture. The slower or longer the shutter speeds, the longer the exposure is and the camera will allow more light in to expose the picture. If you’re taking pictures of your sons sporting event you will want a fast shutter speed if you want to have clear crisp pictures. This will effectively “freeze” the picture in time. It takes all the action in the picture and brings it into focus. On the other hand, if you want to blur the pictures you want to slow down the shutter speed. This will give you a time lapse style picture that can show motion. It can show the way the player was moving, or the way water was flowing. The blur effect can be intriguing and it can add some artistic expression to the pictures.

                I prefer the pictures with a faster shutter speed and clear crisp pictures. I find that I always go through and delete any pictures that became blurry where I had the shutter speed wrong. After this exercise however, I’m going to take a longer look at these pictures and really see what artistic expression I can get out of them. I had fun completing the exercise because I had access to my son’s soccer practices and games. It happens to be a perfect outlet to test shutter speed. I also enjoy nature photography and I always wanted to blur the water in my pictures. I didn’t get great shots this time around playing with my camera because the weather quickly went south. I will get back out to experiment more. I definitely learned how to manipulate the shutter speed and either freeze my pictures, or give them the essence of motion.

                I believe having a camera capable of fast shutter speeds in a burst shooting is necessary for sports, wildlife, and children. The speeds in which the three of these subjects move is incredible and you need to be shooting at a fast shutter speed to freeze their action. Now if you are shooting water, landscapes, portraits or still life you can afford to slow down your shutter speed and allow more light in to gain more detail and sharpness. Be prepared to mount the camera on a tripod however because the increased shutter time means the camera has to be shake free for the amount of time the shutter is open. Remember you want to boost the shutter speed to match the targets speed, or slow it down to blur your pictures and let more light into your camera.