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.

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..

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.

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.

  • Matthew Pillsbury
  • Matthew Pillsbury
  • Matthew Pillsbury
  • Duane Michals
  • Duane Michals
  • Duane Michals

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

Freezing and Blurring Motion

Homework Assignment

Midterm Project

Class Schedule

Oct 12 – Lighting Direction – 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.

Quiz 1 – 4 pts. – Review weeks 1 – 5, Composition and framing, depth of field, motion, tripod use, strobes basics. 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.

Oct 19th – class will be online.

Class topic: Digital Darkroom with Lightroom. Everyone should check that you have access to Lightroom from home this week.

Guest Speaker: Malik Dupree

Oct 26th – Class will be online. Midterm presentations.

Nov 1 – In-person class. Studio work.