Photography Class by Camilla Lesson 2

Okay, this is going to be a fun one I think, and we will be learning together because I haven't used this mode very much.

Shutter Priority mode! On a Canon camera, this is "TV", and on Nikon and Olympus, I believe it is "S"

Shutter priority mode allows you to set your shutter speed and adjusts the other settings to match. If you remember from the previous discussion, shutter speed is like your eyelid. It controls how long the shutter is open, therefore how much light is let in. If you want to freeze action, you will want the shutter to open and close very quickly, if you want to capture a blur or lots of light, keep your shutter open longer. Here are some examples.

A LONG shutter speed of 10 full seconds. For reference, you will usually be shooting at faster than 1/60th of a second during the daytime. I wanted to have the shutter open for a long time to capture all the lights from the passing cars.

The following photos were shot with a relatively long shutter speed. This was because there was little light available so in order to let in more light I needed to slow that shutter down. These were shot at below 1/60sec. Now, I would recommend that if you are shooting below 1/80th a second, you use a tripod, otherwise camera shake will be a problem for you.

Now this photo was shoot at a very fast shutter speed of 1/2000sec. I wanted the shutter to open and close super fast, so that I could freeze the motion of this water drop.

These were all using relatively high shutter speeds as well, over 1/500sec, two were at 1/1000 sec

So now that you have seen these examples of higher and lower shutter speeds, I want you to go out and experiment. Keep it simple. Don't worry about how blurred your background is for now. Set your camera to shutter priority mode, and go experiment with different shutter speeds. Try to freeze action, and try to take a lower light photo with a slower shutter speed (perhaps a candle in the dark?). Experiment and see what results you get. The idea here is to see what happens when you change your shutter speed. Try shooting in different situations.A running doodle, a car passing by, dripping water, a river or waterfall, anything. I want you to all focus on capturing movement. You are welcome to experiment with how this affects lighting as well, but start with a focus on action. Get a blurred shot, get a frozen shot. I would recommend setting your ISO to Auto for this assignment, so you can focus on changing your shutter settings alone.

Good luck!

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Lonnie & Libby Lu on February 23, 2013 at 9:45am

Nancie, what a beautiful little girl! Grandma's sweetheart I'm sure! Your pictures are awesome! All of you amaze me with the photography skills!

Permalink Reply by Nancie & Gracie Doodle on February 23, 2013 at 10:46am

Thanks everyone! Yes, this little girl is a special one...I fly up every month and babysit her while my daughter goes on a business trip so she is almost like my own little girl. She is such a good girl too...so happy, self entertaining, friendly and truly never whines or cries...YET!!! LOL I really enjoy her and miss her so much when I come home. Her first birthday is next month on Easter!!!

So, my settings. First, this was a very impromptu photo session. It was the afternoon before I flew home (Valentine's Day). I had been up there two weeks and never had a chance to pick up my camera. It was sitting there and it was late afternoon. We were in the sun porch room which has skylights and creates amazing lighting. I just grabbed my camera and started shooting. I didn't meter but just kept adjusting until I had what I wanted. All were shot hand held using my 85 mm prime lens using spot focus and no flash. I did go into my color settings and increased the saturation a bit (in camera).

The first one was f3.8, 1/40, ISO 500. Second one was f3.8 1/60, ISO 400. The last one was f3.5, 1/60 ISO 500. I just sort of chased her around the room adjusting my camera and my position to the lighting. This was not a planned shoot but I sure love how they came out.

Permalink Reply by F, Calla & Luca on February 23, 2013 at 11:46am