freeze and blur- How to have fun with shutter speed

Hi

Today's post has changed a bit as I decided that there was more that could be said on Shutter speed!

If you haven't stopped by recently, this post is part of my photography mini course which has taken place over the last two weeks. You can find more about it here.


When this course started up, one of the first things I talked about was shutter speed and how it plays a crucial part in the exposure of each picture.

As a quick re-cap, shutter speed is esentially how fast or slow your shutter is closing, therefore effecting how much light enters the camera.

Shutter speed can be used for something else though..

Imagine the shutter speed has been set to a really low number. As in it is taking a second or longer for the shutter to close. Any movement by the subject in that time will naturally be recorded.

We call this motion blur. Motion blur gives pictures like this...

It is very easy to set up as most cameras have a Shutter speed priority setting (S). Set your shutter speed to around about a second. It helps to have your camera on a tripod or a table.

Ask your subject to run towards you, move their head, wave their hands or run and jump. Click the shutter and voila! You should get some fun blurred shots.

Motion blur has many possibilities. Try getting one person to stand stock still near to a busy road. The cars will all become blurred where as the subject will be in pretty sharp focus. This effect also works when trying to write words with sparklers.


The other end of the spectrum is freeze frame. This is, as you might have guessed is when you set your shutter speed very high. The shutter is closing after a point of a second.

Freeze frame does what it says on the tin. It is great to play around with running water, A fast shutter speed will freeze the water droplets and give this sort of effect...

Knowing about shutter speed and motion blur and freeze frame is useful. Although you won't use them every day, they do give very cool and funky effects!

Thanks for stopping by