DECEMBER 2004 MA XIMUMPC
If you’re shooting moving objects (like
Junior riding his new bike), use Shutter
Priority to freeze or capture motion.
Remember that the shutter speed is
the length of time the camera’s sensor
is exposed to the image you want to
capture. Shutter speeds can range from
thousandths of a second to many min-
utes. If you want to freeze action, such
as a speeding race car or your pooch
snagging a Frisbee mid-air, you must
use a really fast shutter speed.
Find a place with moving objects,
like a busy street, a basketball game,
or a waterfall. Switch your camera to
Shutter Priority (S or Tv)—your cam-
era will automatically set a compat-ible aperture for your shutter speed
and composition—and compose your
shot. Set a fast enough shutter to
freeze your subject’s motion: If you’re
shooting cars, try 1/200 of a second; if
you’re shooting guys shooting hoops,
try 1/125. Then shoot and review your
image. If the subject’s blurry, set a
faster shutter. If the subject is frozen
but the image is underexposed (dark),
set a slower shutter that’s fast enough
to freeze the action. This 1/500-second
shutter shot transformed the water flow
into droplets.2 ) CAPTURE MOTION
To add some creativity to objects on
the move, use a slow shutter to capture
motion. A slow shutter can capture the
rush of falling water, the glowing trails
of car headlights at night, or the dizzi-
ness of a merry-go-round. It’ll also cap-
ture camera shake if you’re hand-hold-
ing the camera, so use a tripod if you’ve
got one (or cut back on the caffeine).
Find another moving subject (or chill
with the one you froze above), com-
pose your shot, and set a slow shutter
for your object’s movement. If you’re
shooting cars at night, try 1 second or
longer; if you’re shooting a merry-go-round, try 1/20 of a second. Then shoot
and review. If you have too much move-
ment, set a faster shutter. Not enough?
Set something slower. We used a 4/10 of
a second shutter to capture this.USING THE SHUTTER
1 ) FREEZE ACTION
A fast shutter speed can freeze even
the fastest moving object in flight.Using a low shutter speed lets you add
motion blur to your shots. Anything slow-
er than 1/60 can result in blurry images,
especially if you don’t use a tripod.Sometimes your camera doesn’t cut it.
Your snowboarding shots came out
dark, while your calla lily portrait was
overexposed. It may be time to enlist the
Exposure Compensation (the +/- button).
This control lets you tell your camera you
want a different exposure than what it’s
currently providing.
Most cameras have an exposure
value (EV) range of -2 to +2, typically
divided into 1/3-step increments (you
should see a number in the viewfinder
or on the LCD). Zero (0) means no com-
pensation. If your pics are too dark,boost the EV
number up a
step or two,
and take test
shots until
you get what
you want. If
your images
are too light,
lower the EV
number a
step or two
until you’re
satisfied.GETTING THE RIGHT EXPOSURE
1 ) ENLIST EXPOSURE COMPENSATION
To compensate for an overexposed image—notice how the wood
grain in the left image is blown out—we lowered the exposure a
whole step.4