Setting the right Shutter Speed part 1 – Stopping Action

Posted on May 14, 2012 by

Shutter speed is one of the main camera settings. It determines how long the shutter is open to allow light in to hit the sensor and give you an exposure for an image. Ambient light plays a big part in how fast or how slow of a shutter speed you can achieve.

As we discuss shutter speed we will look at stopping action, blurring action, hand holding, light and variables such as distance, lenses and ISO. Today we start with stopping action.

It’s important that you have a fast enough shutter speed for the subject you are shooting if you want a sharp image. If the subject is moving and the shutter speed is too slow you will get motion blur. How fast do you need? There are a lot of variables but let’s start with this general guide:

  • Slower than 1/15 second you need a tripod and still life
  • Portrait 1/60 second
  • Walking 1/125 second
  • Person running 1/250 second
  • Horse running 1/500 second
  • Bird flying 1/1000 second and faster

You can never have too fast of a shutter speed to stop action, but you can have too slow. In order to achieve the faster shutter speeds you will need to have adequate ambient light. Stopping action indoors or at dusk/dawn is difficult. We’ll discuss solutions for this when I get to ISO.

Exercise: On a bright sunny or cloudy day, not indoors or near sunrise or sunset, try to stop the action of kids playing soccer for example. Set the camera to shutter priority with an ISO of 400, white balance auto, continuous shooting and shutter speed of 1/250 second to start.

Make sure the camera gives you an aperture reading and that it is not blinking (Canon) or showing HI or LO (Nikon). If so you will get an image that is too bright or too dark, in other words the aperture options and the shutter speed you chose will not work under these lighting conditions.  If it is then you will need to adjust the ISO or find a brighter day.

The aperture setting is irrelevant for the exercise, just that you are getting one. Adjust the shutter speed up to 1/500 and 1/1000 and down to 1/125 second to see the results you get. Check images frequently to see if you are getting sharp images. Make sure to zoom in to see if they are really sharp!

Missing focus on a moving target can also cause blurry images so keep trying. A good action photographer is lucky to get 10% of the images that look good!

 

Portrait - 1/60 second

 

Tennis - 1/500 second

 

Horses galloping - 1/640 second

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Camera Setting Basics

Posted on April 24, 2012 by

This is the first of several posts that will address how to control the basic settings on your SLR camera. An SLR is the big camera that you can change lenses on. SLR stands for Single Lens Reflex as there is only one lens. There are also Twin lens reflex cameras out there that use 2 lenses one on top of the other, these are pretty rare.

The primary settings for your camera are – shutter speed, aperture, ISO and exposure. You have to have a combination of these in order to get an image that comes out looking the way you want. I will briefly outline these settings here then subsequent posts will address each in more detail.

Other settings and variables such as light, white balance and flash will be addressed later.

Shutter speed is expressed in seconds and controls how long the shutter is open to allow light to reach the sensor or in the old days, the film. Shutter speed is one variable that controls whether the image will be sharp or not. A 1/500 second shutter speed is fine for the sitting bird but is too slow for the flying bird which results in a blurry bird.

Tufted Titmouse 1/500 second still

Tufted Titmouse 1/500 second in motion

 

Aperture is expressed as f stops and controls the depth of focus. When you focus on a subject, f stop is one variable that controls what is sharp or blurry in the image. Below I focused on the middle spike of the fence, at f 2.8 only the one spike is sharp, but at f 32 all of the spikes are sharp.

Only center spike is sharp at F 2.8

All spikes sharp at F 32

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ISO is how sensitive the sensor or in ages past, film, is to light. A low ISO needs a lot of ambient light while a high ISO can render an image in low lighting at the cost of increased grain or noise in the image.

ISO 200 low grain/noise

ISO 12800 low light high grain/noise

 

Finally, exposure puts all of the above together. Exposure is the result of combining a shutter speed, aperture and ISO setting under ambient light to give you an image that is not too dark or too light, but looks just right. This is where the art of photography comes in. Balancing the settings to get the image you want.

Exposure too dark

Exposure too light

Exposure just right

 

Next time we’ll look at shutter speed in more detail.

 

 

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Spring Abstracts

Posted on April 13, 2012 by

Viewing the world abstractly offers a wealth of creative freedom. Blurring out recognizable subjects or using water reflections are 2 techniques to create abstract images. The first image blurs tulips by using a shutter speed of 1/15 of a second on a windy day. The wind moves the flowers around to create an impressionistic effect.

The second image uses the same shutter speed but now I moved the camera up and down while the shutter is open to create a blur effect.

The next set of images were taken on a pond right after sunrise. The intense warm light creates lovely color on the trees while the gently rippling water distorts the images for a creative effect.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The final image of a lone feather is all that remains in the wake of an epic battle of Mallard males. The tranquility of this image greatly contrasts with how it came to be.

Get creative and try these techniques!

 

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Lightroom 4

Posted on April 4, 2012 by

The newest version of Lightroom is out. I just purchased the program and had no problems with installation. Opening the program for the first time seamlessly updated my current catalog. If you have been considering getting Lightroom now is a good time. The full version is $149 from Amazon and the student/teacher version is $79 from Amazon. Amazing prices for this program.

New features for LR 4 are expanded controls in the Basics Tab. You now have highlights, whites, shadows and blacks replacing brightness, recovery and fill light. This combined with the new process version 2012, which renders a file for editing in Lightroom, helps you recover information in dark and bright areas and define the black and white points with more precision. If you have no idea what I’m talking about I will try to expand more in a future post. There are other new features to talk about!

There are 2 new modules, Maps and Books. Create books and export them to PDF or have them directly printed via Blurb a popular online printing service.  The map module lets you utilize GPS information from the camera, if you have it or apply GPS info via Google maps once you mark the location of the images on the map.

For printing there is a soft proofing control. This gives you an idea of how the image will look printed.  For video buffs there are controls to edit and organize videos. I doubt these are very high end but if you are new to getting into video this may be a good starting point.

So should you upgrade? If you are into editing images and enjoy the process by all means! If you already have Lightroom 3 and are new to the interface, stick with it for now unless any of the new features really grab you or you have to have the latest technology! For a really in depth review of Lightroom 4 and the features it offers visit: http://www.dpreview.com/articles/7481161037/lightroom-4-review

If you don’t have Lightroom at all, well now is the time!

I can’t recommend this program enough. The combination of a friendly interface and variety of editing tools far surpass any other program out there. Photoshop does not have the friendly interface and few programs that come with your camera or iPhoto can match the editing options. Make editing and organizing easier by jumping in with Lightroom 4. To get going take a class, I offer several! Or get a book by Nat Coalson and/or Scott Kelby to help you get started.

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April Events in Charlottesville

Posted on March 27, 2012 by

Farmers Market Tulips

Spring has sprung and there is so much to explore! Not sure where to find cool locations to do some shooting. Here are a few options:

The Farmers Market downtown opens this Saturday April 7th at 7:30am. Great opportunities for shooting. Get there early for good light and to avoid the crowds. By 9a that place is packed and hard to photograph!

Fireworks

The Carnival for the Dogwood Festival opens April 12th and runs through April 29th. I love shooting here at night. The rides and lights are great fun. Hours are M-F 6-11p, Saturday 1-11p and Sunday 1-7p. It’s free if you don’t go on any rides. The Fireworks are Friday the 13th for even more fun. Weeknights M-Thursday will be best to avoid the crowds. Watch the weather.

Dogwood Carnival

The Dogwood Parade is scheduled for April 28th.

Historic Garden week is April 21-29th. Places around here are open the 21st, 22nd and 23rd – several homes in Keswick, Monticello, Morven and the Lawn gardens – but you can do those anytime!

Rotunda and Daffodils

UVA grounds – the gardens are really nice this time of year! Go during the mornings for best light. Park by the Tennis Courts to avoid getting towed.

Ivy Creek Natural Area – wildflowers, trails, streams and barn. The barn will officially reopen on April 21st 2-4p. Join us for the ceremony and tours!

Ivy Creek Natural Area

The Saunders-Monticello Trail that leads from the parking area at the beginning of Rte 53 up to Monticello is 2 miles long with scenic trails, boardwalks and some views. There are numerous side trails to explore and plenty of parking in the overflow lot off of Rte 20 across from PVCC’s main entrance. Lots of nice blooming trees right now.

Saunders-Monticello Trail

So take some time on one of these lovely days and get out to do some shooting!

Wildflowers Monticello Trail

 

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My Morning with the Merganser’s

Posted on March 16, 2012 by
Hooded Merganser Pair

Hooded Merganser Pair

I crawl out of bed long before sunrise, dress, eat and drive to a pond in Crozet, VA. Grabbing 25 pounds of gear I trek across a lumpy wet grass field to my blind.  A quick check with my headlamp confirms no creepy critter has taken up residence so I move in for the morning. I set up my tripod, lens and attach camera; now the waiting begins. I am hunting – hunting ducks or whatever else will pose for me near my blind.
Bathing drake Hooded Merganser

Bathing

Why go through the trouble?   The experience is sooo worth it! It starts with an overwhelming chorus of frogs and toads, a trilling to lift your heart. Then there’s the red wing blackbirds flitting about and screeching their special song. Suddenly they appear, the Hooded Merganser pair, a drake and hen. They winter here in Virginia, you just never think to find them in Central Virginia.

Hooded merganser hen stretching wings

Stretching Wings

Hooded Merganser Hen

Tranquility

It’s still too dark to get any good images, but I shoot a couple anyway, I’ll delete them later. Finally it starts to lighten and they have moved off. This is why I shot a couple earlier you never know how long they’ll stay around and I have to have at least one image! As the sun starts to come up, they come back, thank goodness. They are swimming around looking for breakfast. A tasty toad or frog. Smackdown wrestling takes place as the hen twists, dunks and slams the frog around before gulping it down whole.  Makes my stomach squirm just thinking about it!

 

Wrestling Frog

Next they bathe, the joy of water and rearing up to stretch their wings and realign those pesky feathers. Time for preening, a nap, more preening, a drink of water, more preening then, some sweet lovin’, however being pinned under the water doesn’t sound great to me, but it’s a bird thing. More bathing and preening, then off to find more frogs.

So I spent the last 2 mornings with the Merganser’s. It’s a ducks life!

Drake Hooded Merganser

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Selective Focus

Posted on February 28, 2012 by

 

iron fence

Selective Focus allows you to make a subject stand out from the background or elements around it. When you press the shutter part way the camera focuses on a point a certain distance away. This depends on where you are focusing and how far away the subject is. This plane of focus is parallel to the plane of the sensor.

If you want the subject to stand out you need to set a low aperture to decrease the depth of field. So f 2.8 has a shallower depth of field than f 8, f16 or anything higher. Depth of field is how far in front of and behind the plane of focus that will be rendered sharp in the image. So if you want the subject to stand out you need a shallow depth of field or low f stop.

One final consideration is how far from the subject you are. The closer you get to the subject the easier it is to decrease the depth of field. So being inches from the subject as opposed to feet or being 5 feet as opposed to 10 feet away, will help decrease the depth of field.wine bottles

The example of the iron fence has the focus on the center fence spike with an f stop of 3.2 and I’m relatively close to the subject about 1 foot away.

The next image has the focus on the first wine bottle with f stop of 2.8. This makes it stand out from the others behind it.

The final example uses selective focus to highlight the grapes and then lets the grape picker go blurry but still be recognizable. To achieve this effect I am inches away from the grapes but need a higher f stop of 11 to render enough detail in the background.

grapes

 

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Get the Right Colors!

Posted on February 3, 2012 by

Color Calibration between the monitor and prints has long been a thorn in the side of the photographer. When I first got involved with printing my own images on my Epson almost 10 years ago, nobody knew much of anything. There was one guy in the UK that shed some light on the subject, but there were few tools.

Well we’ve come a long way since then! Now it’s so easy to calibrate your monitor and printer. I recently got a Dell U2410 monitor. Dell says it’s color calibrated for sRGB and Adobe RGB from the factory. And boy did it look good when I plugged it in. Too good actually. Images that I had previously developed looked garish, bright and oversaturated. They were fine when printed. Hmmm a mismatch here.

So I got a Spyder4 from Datacolor the mid level Pro version. And boy was it easy to use. A huge improvement over their previous products. It measures the ambient light, the interface is simple – none of the adjusting brightness to make the logo disappear into the black – you know what I’m talking about if you’ve used older products.

And the results were spot on. Images perfectly matched from screen to my Epson 7800. So if you’re printing and need a solution I highly recommend the Spyder 4!

 

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Icy Weekend

Posted on January 27, 2012 by

Hopefully you got a chance to get out and do some shooting this past weekend. The ice covering was beautiful to see. I ventured out in full winter gear, to stay warm and captured a couple of images. Both were done with a close up or macro lens to get close to the subject.

The problem with close up photography is the depth of field drops off dramatically. So trying to get the entire subject sharp even at f22 may not work. Or you may run into the background coming into focus too much and ruining the shot.

So break out the tripod and take several images changing where you focus each time at f5.6 or f8, then using Photoshop CS5′s auto blend feature or Helicon focus you can stack them to create a sharp image.You can do this manually using layers and masks in any Photoshop, but that’s like work, hours of it.

icy leaf curveicy leaves

 

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People add Scale

Posted on January 20, 2012 by

Many natural wonders are so vast they are hard to express. I personally find the Grand Canyon overwhelming beyond belief! But other natural structures are vast as well. If you just photograph a waterfall or rock formation it may be technically great, compositionally pleasing, but the grand feel you felt from it is lost. What to do?

Add a sense of scale. Use a person in the image to scale the subject. Both of these images give a sense of the scale of the feature. The person on the bridge behind the rainbow is tiny! (My friend and fellow photographer Rod Barbee, check out  his site: www.barbeephoto.com). The person gives a sense of scale to the vast old growth forest and the waterfall in front of him.

The second image to a lesser degree also conveys a sense of scale. I posed my student Sam in this narrow area to show the size of where we were walking. I like the fact you can’t see the top or bottom. It leaves the scale to the imagination.

So next time you are overwhelmed by the sheer vastness of nature, add some scale!

 

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