Shutter

Introduction to Shutter Speed in Digital Photography

Previously I’ve introduced the concept of the Exposure Triangle as a way of thinking about getting out of Auto Mode and exploring the idea of manually adjusting the exposure of your shots.

The three main areas that you can adjust are ISO, Aperture and Shutter speed. I’ve previously looked at making adjustments to ISO and now want to turn our attention to shutter speed.

What is Shutter Speed?

As I’ve written elsewhere, defined most basically – shutter speed is ‘the amount of time that the shutter is open’.

In film photography it was the length of time that the film was exposed to the scene you’re photographing and similarly in digital photography shutter speed is the length of time that your image sensor ‘sees’ the scene you’re attempting to capture.

Let me attempt to break down the topic of “Shutter Speed” into some bite sized pieces that should help digital camera owners trying to get their head around shutter speed:


Shutter speed is measured in seconds – or in most cases fractions of seconds. The bigger the denominator the faster the speed (ie 1/1000 is much faster than 1/30).
In most cases you’ll probably be using shutter speeds of 1/60th of a second or faster. This is because anything slower than this is very difficult to use without getting camera shake. Camera shake is when your camera is moving while the shutter is open and results in blur in your photos.
If you’re using a slow shutter speed (anything slower than 1/60) you will need to either use a tripod or some some type of image stabilization (more and more cameras are coming with this built in).
Shutter speeds available to you on your camera will usually double (approximately) with each setting. As a result you’ll usually have the options for the following shutter speeds – 1/500, 1/250, 1/125, 1/60, 1/30, 1/15, 1/8 etc. This ‘doubling’ is handy to keep in mind as aperture settings also double the amount of light that is let in – as a result increasing shutter speed by one stop and decreasing aperture by one stop should give you similar exposure levels (but we’ll talk more about this in a future post).
Some cameras also give you the option for very slow shutter speeds that are not fractions of seconds but are measured in seconds (for example 1 second, 10 seconds, 30 seconds etc). These are used in very low light situations, when you’re going after special effects and/or when you’re trying to capture a lot of movement in a shot. Some cameras also give you the option to shoot in ‘B’ (or ‘Bulb’) mode. Bulb mode lets you keep the shutter open for as long as you hold it down.
When considering what shutter speed to use in an image you should always ask yourself whether anything in your scene is moving and how you’d like to capture that movement. If there is movement in your scene you have the choice of either freezing the movement (so it looks still) or letting the moving object intentionally blur (giving it a sense of movement).
To freeze movement in an image (like in the surfing shot above) you’ll want to choose a faster shutter speed and to let the movement blur you’ll want to choose a slower shutter speed. The actual speeds you should choose will vary depending upon the speed of the subject in your shot and how much you want it to be blurred.

Motion is not always bad. I spoke to one digital camera owner last week who told me that he always used fast shutter speeds and couldn’t understand why anyone would want motion in their images. There are times when motion is good. For example when you’re taking a photo of a waterfall and want to show how fast the water is flowing, or when you’re taking a shot of a racing car and want to give it a feeling of speed, or when you’re taking a shot of a star scape and want to show how the stars move over a longer period of time. In all of these instances choosing a longer shutter speed will be the way to go. However in all of these cases you need to use a tripod or you’ll run the risk of ruining the shots by adding camera movement (a different type of blur than motion blur).
Focal Length and Shutter Speed - another thing to consider when choosing shutter speed is the focal length of the lens you’re using. Longer focal lengths will accentuate the amount of camera shake you have and so you’ll need to choose a faster shutter speed (unless you have image stabilization in your lens or camera). The ‘rule’ of thumb to use with focal length in non image stabilized situations) is to choose a shutter speed with a denominator that is larger than the focal length of the lens. For example if you have a lens that is 50mm 1/60th is probably ok but if you have a 200mm lens you’ll probably want to shoot at around 1/250.
Shutter Speed – Bringing it Together

Remember that thinking about Shutter Speed in isolation from the other two elements of the Exposure Triangle (aperture and ISO) is not really a good idea. As you change shutter speed you’ll need to change one or both of the other elements to compensate for it.

For example if you speed up your shutter speed one stop (for example from 1/125th to 1/250th) you’re effectively letting half as much light into your camera. To compensate for this you’ll probably need to increase your aperture one stop (for example from f16 to f11). The other alternative would be to choose a faster ISO rating (you might want to move from ISO 100 to ISO 400 for example).

Assignment:

In the article -- "Remember that thinking about Shutter Speed in isolation from the other two elements of the Exposure Triangle (aperture and ISO) is not really a good idea. As you change shutter speed you’ll need to change one or both of the other elements to compensate for it. For example if you speed up your shutter speed one stop (for example from 1/125th to 1/250th) you’re effectively letting half as much light into your camera. To compensate for this you’ll probably need to increase your aperture one stop (for example from f16 to f11). The other alternative would be to choose a faster ISO rating (you might want to move from ISO 100 to ISO 400 for example)."

Find three images online which emphasize shutter speeds at different speed. With the triangle in mind, describe what setting approximately had to be used on the light triangle to achieve this photo (hint: ISO, Aperture, Shutter) so the light was balanced. Put all three images in a google doc with the explanation as noted and share with me -- rmalik@rbrhs.org



World photography

Below are two articles. Please read both and respond to the questions
at the bottom of the second article.
1. In an Age of Likes, Commonplace
Images Prevail
By James Estrin
PERPIGNAN, France — Photographers attending the Visa Pour l’Image festival in this small medieval city stroll through the winding streets, stopping to view carefully crafted news and documentary images exhibited inside ancient buildings.
In most ways it is not much different from years past. There is still a nightly projection, in a cloistered graveyard, where the photographers view a selection of the best images of the year. The prizewinners are applauded by their colleagues in the crowd who seem oblivious to the tsunami of vernacular photographs about to wash away everything in its path.
There are well over a billion camera phones being used to photograph dinners, dogs, cute kids, sunsets and body parts — recording every action as if it were of equal importance.
It is estimated that 380 billion images were taken last year, most with a camera phone. Over 380 million photos are uploaded on Facebook every day. Instagram is growing exponentially and had four billion photos uploaded as of July 2012.
Almost everyone has a camera and is a photographer.
Just as access to pens and paper hasn’t produced thousands of Shakespeares or Nabokovs, this explosion of camera phones doesn’t seem to have led to more Dorothea Langes or Henri Cartier-Bressons. But it has certainly led to many more images of what people ate at lunch.
And while you may not think that my iPhone photo, above, is worth a second look (or even a first glance), I can proudly report that between Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, dozens of people have judged its quality positively by liking it.
And I’m listening to them.
Because of the iPhone and social media, the very meaning of what photographs are and how they function has changed radically in the last four years.
A photograph is no longer predominantly a way of keeping a treasured family memory or even of learning about places or people that we would otherwise not encounter. It is now mainly a chintzy currency in a social interaction and a way of gazing even further into one’s navel.
This is a fundamental change that must be having a powerful effect on how people view the kind of images exhibited this week in Perpignan.
As far as I can see — admittedly from ground level — there are two possible effects on “serious” photography.
1. The flowering of photographers leads to millions of people who are thinking more visually and whom we may be able to entice to become an audience for documentary and photojournalistic images.
2. We are bombarded with so much visual stimuli via the Web and social media that it becomes almost impossible to rise above the flood of images. And if everyone likes everything, no one photograph is better than another.
I have no idea which of these situations might happen. Or if there will be a combination of these effects.
The issue is not whether one chooses to use an iPhone instead of a Leica but the ideas and vision of the photographer.
The effect of the Web on the photography business is ancient news. Film versus digital — prehistoric, at least in the accelerated time chamber of social media and the Web.
Six years ago the core questions we faced were: How do we distribute our work and make a living in the digital age? Since then, some photographers have survived, perhaps with fewer assignments and more crowdsourcing, foundation grants and N.G.O. money.
The proliferation of a commonplace — or vernacular — photography is a much more profound change. The question is not so much whether this is a good thing for society (or a bad thing for photographers). It is happening, a billion times a day, and there is no going back.
The question is: How does the photographic community harness this explosion of visual energy to expand its audience? This is what needs to be focused on.

2. Shooting for Global Change

Some serious photographers might cringe at being called amateurs. Not Antonio Amendola — he wears the badge proudly.

A lawyer by trade and a photographer by choice, he once organized a workshop in his hometown of Bari, Italy, entitled “On the Seriousness of Amateur Photography.”

“If you study Latin and Greek, you know that the word amateur comes from the word amore,” Mr. Amendola said. “So they are the ones who really love photography. We take the title ‘amateur photography’ very seriously.”

He has harnessed the fervor of socially concerned amateur photographers to create Shoot 4 Change, a nonprofit that uses photography to explore little-covered issues while helping small associations and nongovernmental organizations promote their work.

Shoot 4 Change, made up of idealistic amateurs and some professional photographers, has dug into stories on homelessness, hunger, malnutrition and most recently economic distress and related civil unrest in Italy, the United States and elsewhere.

“There are hundreds of small associations, small groups of people, volunteers, that do really good work and need their stories told,” said Mr. Amendola, 41. “There are stories that want to be told, and stories that need to be told. Must be told.”

Antonio Amendola Peaceful protests by the Indignados in Rome turned violent on Tuesday.

Mr. Amendola started his group shortly after the L’Aquila earthquake in central Italy in 2009. His blog on the earthquake’s victims and photography got the attention of many photographers who wanted to volunteer. It has now morphed into a group with over 700 members throughout Italy and in New York, San Francisco and Argentina. He has also enlisted some professional photographers — including Antonio Politano, Ed Kashi, Rajibul Sheik Islam and Alfons Rodriguez — to join.

Photographers are available — at no charge — for volunteer groups and nonprofits that can’t afford photo coverage of their work. If newspapers, magazines or publishers want to use the images, their payment is split, with 60 percent going to the photographer and 40 percent to Shoot 4 Change, which uses the money to defray expenses and support social projects.

He recently started a project highlighting how economic turmoil has affected job prospects for students, the unemployed and underemployed — a generation that is “losing visibility.” The concept is to get people throughout the world to send in low resolution or pixelated photographs of themselves along with a description of how much money they live on monthly. Shoot 4 Change is setting up a Web site and a Facebook page dedicated to the project, which is called “The Low Resolution Generation.”

He said he wants to keep the organization nonpolitical and totally independent, even from sponsorship or advertising.

Mr. Amendola still works full-time as a lawyer, but he spends an equal amount of time on strengthening Shoot 4 Change and encouraging photographers to help to change the world.

“I use the motto, ‘Shoot local, change global,’” he said.

The two articles above you just read, discuss the new photographer of today. Respond to the following.

Email to rmalik@rbrhs.org your response:

1. The website Shoot4change is up and running. Please go to the website, read thru it. Look at the sections and report back, in the post what the site is offering to all photographers and how could it be useful to you right now, as a new photography or civilian.
2. According to what you read what is your opinion about how the smart phone, tablets, instagram, etc. . .have changed the photography world for good and for bad?
3. With the new technology, how do you think photography as a career may be able to reinvent itself and become profitable (be creative)?