In this free photography tutorial, I wanted to show you how you could take a pretty average image (shot on a point n shoot camera) and make it a little bit more interesting by using shutter speeds. Let’s have a look at the images I took of my daughter playing air hockey at this resort (we were travelling) and we’re going to focus on shutter speed.
Take a look at this first image I took with a very high shutter speed of 1/400 sec. You’ll notice that the little air hockey pack and the hand are quite sharp and there’s no movement.
In the next image, I’ve reduced the shutter speed to 1/160 sec and we’re starting to get a little bit of movement in her hand.
Moving on to the next one, I’ve reduced it to a medium shutter speed of 1/80 sec. Now we’re starting to see some nice movements. You can see the air hockey pack moving back and forth in her hand but her face is relatively sharp. So this is really a good shutter speed for what she’s doing.
Let’s have a look at the next one here. This is a reduced shutter speed of 1/30 sec. As you can see, we’re starting to get quite a lot of movement in her hand and even in her hair as she was hitting the hockey pack. Her arm is also showing a lot of movement.
This one here is at 1/15 sec. I think this is the lowest that I went. You’ll notice there’s quite a lot of movement down the hockey pack and her hand, and even her face isn’t as sharp as I would like it.
Here’s another image that I took at 1/15 on a very slow shutter speed. You can barely even see her.
This one below is one of the last ones I took at 1/15. I changed my angle from where I was photographing from. You can see that the hockey pack is just a blur at the bottom as well as her hands, but her face is relatively sharp, which is good.
That’s how you use shutter speed to create a dynamic image that’s a little bit more interesting than if you’re just using on automatic mode. Because on automatic mode, I probably would have shot at about 1/160 sec and I may even use the flash. So, that’s one of way of creating dynamic images out of typically quite boring images while you’re travelling.
The Ultimate Guide to Shutter Speed in Photography
That’s how you use shutter speed to create a dynamic image that’s a little bit more interesting than if you’re just using on automatic mode. Because on automatic mode, I probably would have shot at about 1/160 sec and I may even use the flash. So, that’s one of way of creating dynamic images out of typically quite boring images while you’re travelling.
If you like this quick tutorial then you will love my shutter speed explanation in my Essential Skills Video Series. Check it out.
Amazing — this is what I've been looking forward to. It is now beginning to make some sense to me ! Thanks Brent !!!
I love motion blur in the right place. not long ago I did a self portaite first try I wanted to show motion in my hand I wanted to show emotion and I did this low key. However I did this at 1/15 and my hand was lookiing claw like maybe too much blur also my face was not sharp I used a little tip I had seen using a light stand to focus I locked focus and moved the light stand using my self timer at the time I now have a remote however is there more I could have done to show less motion in the hand but still have the face sharp or sharper. this is the photo I am talking about. yet another clean cut easy to understand video keep up the great work.
kind regards Sandy http://flic.kr/p/dK29e8
Hey Brent,
i was just wondering what was the aperture f-stop and was it the AV, TV or M mode you were using?
Thanks
Hello Brent,
In the first pic you have kept higher shutter speed & the whole picture is sharp. But there is abit darkness in the picture its not bright as compare to the low shutter speed. I use to face the same kind of issues while taking my pets pic. With higher shutter speed image is soo sharp but the color are not bright.
What should we do to fix it ?