Review HW 1:
Contents
Inspiration
Review Shutter Speed
Shutter Speed is the length of time that the sensor is exposed to light to create the photograph. It is measured in seconds or fractions of a second.
The full stops for shutter speed are: 30”, 15”, 8”, 4”, 2”, 1”, . sec, ., 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/125, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000, 1/2000, 1/4000, 1/8000
Doubling the time, doubles the amount of light that reaches the sensor.
When shooting with a cameraphone and the Lightroom Photoshop app, you can set the shutter speed of your cameraphone between 1/10,000 and 1 sec.
The general rule for getting a sharp image is that the shutter speed should be 1/focal length. So a sports photographer using a 500 mm lens should use a shutter speed of 1/500.
A good rule of thumb when shooting with a camera is: Any shutter speeds slower then 1/60 require the use of a tripod. When shooting with a cameraphone, you will need a tripod to shoot at 1/15 or slower.
Image Stabilization can reduce blurriness when photographing a still subject in low light.
Turn off IS when mounting the camera on a tripod or photographing a moving subject..
Strobe Lights
Strobes
Strobes have two bulbs:
- the modeling light which helps you see where the light will fall
- the flash that fires when you press the shutter release
A trigger on the camera uses radio waves to tell the receiver to fire the light. The power pack stores the power used to make the exposure.
Strobe Lights or Flash-The exposure triangle does not hold because the shutter speed is effectively replaced by the flash duration. We adjust the exposure primarily with the aperture or the ISO.
Flash duration
Flash duration is how long the flash of light is that takes the picture. It is the amount of time that the flash head goes from on to off.
If you want to freeze motion with available light, it is the shutter speed that will do it.
If you want to freeze motion with flash or studio strobes it is the flash duration that counts.
The higher the power that you use, the slower the flash duration.
With our Dynalight strobes this is about 1/700th of a second at full power.
Sync Speed
Sync Speed-is the fastest shutter speed for which the shutter curtains are completely open at the time of exposure (or when the flash fires). For shutter speeds above sync speed, the shutter curtains are no longer fully open and so you will see the shutter itself in the photo as a black area. the sync speed for our class cameras is 1/200 sec.
Blurring motion
Blurred motion-moving elements blur with a longer shutter speed.
How to blur motion:
- Use a tripod.
- Use a slower shutter speed – 1/4 sec to 30″ or even longer
- Direction-if the subject moves parallel to the picture plane there is more visible movement than if the subject moves toward or away from the camera.
- Focal length-a subject will appear blurrier when photographed with a telephoto lens than when photographed with a wide-angle lens.
Quiz Questions
- Define shutter speed.
- Set shutter speed to freeze motion in a photograph
- Set shutter speed to blur motion in a photograph.
- Define flash duration and understand its importance to capturing motion.
- Know when to use a tripod.
Lab Exercises
Homework Assignment
Class Schedule
March 1 – Painting with Light – Bring a flashlight or use your phone flashlight
March 8 – Lighting and Mood – Please bring in a small stuffed animal to work with. Try to bring in a toy that is made out of cloth and not plastic as it will be less reflective. So a stuffed animal rather than an action figure.
Also, if you have a string of lights bring that too.
March 15 – Food Photography Basics – Bring a vegetable and something to put it on-a cloth, woven mat, a cutting board.
March 22 – Quiz 1, Toning Images
Quiz 1 – 4 pts. – Review weeks 1 – 5, Composition and framing, depth of field, motion, tripod use, lights and lighting. There will be 3 technical questions with a right or wrong answer and a compare and contrast of two photos graded on correct use of vocabulary.
March 29 – Midterm Presentations
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