Photo Plus - UK (2019-12)

50 http://www.digitalcameraworld.com

PROJECT 2

VIDEO ALSO ONLINE

http://bit.ly/pp_159_2

THE MISSION

Learn how to use

different shutter

speeds for creative

effects in photos

Time needed

One hour

Skill level

Intermediate

Kit needed

Tripod

STEP BY STEP CONTROLLING YOUR SHUTTER SPEED

How to set different shutter speeds on your camera to decide what’s sharp or blurred in shot

Shutter speed skills

Control shutter speeds to capture movement in shots with Peter Travers

STOP IT IN

MANUAL

MODE!

If you’re shooting in
Manual mode and
adjusting your shutter
speed, remember to pay
attention to your aperture

• if you up your shutter
  speed by one stop (such
  as from 1/125 sec to
  1/250 sec) you’ll be
  letting half as much light
  onto your sensor. So you’ll
  need to widen your
  aper ture by one stop as
  well (eg f/8 to f/5.6) or
  bump up your ISO instead
  (eg from ISO100 to 200)
  for a good exposure.

02 FAST SHUTTER SPEEDS

The faster your subject is moving, the faster your

shutter speed needs to be to capture photos perfectly

sharp. Experiment by photographing water from a

tap. Start at 1/500 sec and work down to see the

water change from ‘frozen’ to motion blurred.

04 TRIPOD FOR SHARP SHOTS

If your shutter speed is too slow to shoot handheld,

you’ll need to use a tripod, or other stabilization aids.

DSLRs enable you to shoot with very slow shutter

speeds, like 30 secs, which can be used in low light

for scenes with moving waters or clouds skies.

01 TV MODE

If you’re new to shutter speeds, try shooting in

Shutter Priority (Tv) on your Canon camera –

this way you can set your desired shutter speed, then

your camera automatically sets your aperture for a

standard exposure.

03 SLOW SHUTTER SPEEDS

The slower your shutter speed, the more anything

moving becomes blurred – see right for the shots of a

sports car at fast to slow shutter speeds. To capture

slow-moving river or sea water in a landscape, you’re

likely to need to use shutter speeds of 1 sec or slower.

hile the aperture you

select controls the

amount of light that

enters your lens, your

shutter speed tells the

camera how long it has to

allow that light to pass

through. Put simply, how

long the sensor is exposed to

the light, hence ‘exposure’ as

the photographic term. All

Canon EOS cameras allow you to

set the shutter speed, measured in

seconds and fractions of seconds,

like 1/500th second, or 30 seconds.

If you’re hand-holding your

camera, you’ll need to be shooting

with shutter speeds equal or faster

to the focal length on your lens. So

if you’re shooting at 100mm, you’ll

need a shutter speed of 1/100 sec

or faster for sharp shots. Anything

slower than this will show camera

shake, so you’d need to use a tripod

to combat this.

With crop-sensor Canon

cameras, like the EOS 90D, you

need to multiply your focal length

by 1.6 – a 200mm focal length

becomes, effectively, 320mm.

Therefore you’ll need a shutter

speed of 1/320 sec or faster for

sharp handheld shots.

The shutter speed you use will

have a massive effect on how your

picture looks, particularly when

photographing movement, such as

a sports car or waterfall. When

you’re photographing a moving

subject, decide whether you want

to freeze the movement, or capture

the sense of movement with some

motion blur. Your choice will

depend both on your subject

and your artistic vision.

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