Shutter Speed?

W

widge milward

Suspended / Banned
Messages
48
Name
Steven
Edit My Images
No
Hi,

I have been shooting in “aperture mode” and I have now come to terms into what f stop I need for what situations (kind of) but have never taken much notice of the shutter speed.

I want to be able to adjust the shutter speed for each scenario, can anyone explain how it is used etc and what shutter speed for what scenario etc.

Hopefully this makes as much sense in text as it does in my head :)
 
widge milward said:
Hi,

I have been shooting in “aperture mode” and I have now come to terms into what f stop I need for what situations (kind of) but have never taken much notice of the shutter speed.

I want to be able to adjust the shutter speed for each scenario, can anyone explain how it is used etc and what shutter speed for what scenario etc.

Hopefully this makes as much sense in text as it does in my head :)
Click to expand...

You might consider shooting manual and then you'll have control over both aperture and shutter speeds.

When I'm shooting trackside, I usually shoot shutter priority because with such variation in colours of different cars, manual would be a tricky.
 
I always shoot in manual even at motorsports,i can adjust the shutter & what Aperture i want:):thumbs:
 
The shutter speed is the length of time your camera takes to take a photograph. As a rule of thumb its a good idea to have the shutter speed equal or faster than your focal length to keep a sharp, tidy shot.

For example, if you were shooting at 50mm to ahve your shutter speed at 1/60 of a second. Basically the faster the shutter speed the sharper the shot will be, so if you wanted to freeze the action of a football match your shutter speed would normally be 1/250+. You can also create some arty effects with slower shutter speeds to blur waterfalls, coastlines etc. Leaving the shutter open for 2-3 seconds or more will often give water a nice, smooth effect (see the landscape gallery for some examples)

Hope this helps

Iain
 
Shooting in Aperture and Shutter priority is ok when the the light is changing quickly, but suggest you shoot in manual to keep control of both and stop the camera changing things without you doing it. If you suggest some scenarios then perhaps we can advise some shutter speed needs...
 
widge milward said:
I want to be able to adjust the shutter speed for each scenario, can anyone explain how it is used etc and what shutter speed for what scenario etc.
Click to expand...

If your taking a picture of a plant pot you can get away with most shutter speeds and not too important.

If your taking pictures of something moving then you need to watch your shutter speed in order to capture the movement.

If your taking pics of somehting moving quick.. action sports, child playing.. then you want a much quicker shutter speed.


From reading you post I would say your taking things one step at a time and your happy with f-stops and now want to progress to shutter speeds yes?


To get faster shutter speeds you can make your fstop to the widest your lens will get you.. ie f2.8 is better than f4 and f4 is better than f5.6 for getting faster shutter speeds.. You can also up the iso which will also give you faster shutter speeds..

Its up to you to decide how high you want to take your iso (how noisy is ecceptable) and how open you want your lens.. for moving fast subject the usual way is to open the lens as much as you can (f2.8 for example) and then second choice is to up the iso

a lot depends on your camera and how well it handles high iso.. there are no set rules...it depends on what your happy with and what you find acceptable given the choices in settings you ahve :)
 
Thanks for all the quick replies

From reading you post I would say your taking things one step at a time and your happy with f-stops and now want to progress to shutter speeds yes?
Click to expand...

yes i seem to be able to understand F stops and can normally figure out what f-stop to use in what situation. Im now looking to work on shutter speed and try to figure that out, then slowly move on to manual in the long term.

I normally take pictures of my young son (and nephews/nieces etc) both indoor and outdoor.

But also i enjoy taking shots of landscapes and buildings. The occasional sport event (wrestling / judo) normally in a sports centre with poor flourescent lights.

Hope this helps you all to help me :)
 
Are you fully understanding the relationship between shutter speeds and lens apertures (and ISO)? Sorry if you've got this, but they are two halves of the same coin.

The sensor needs a certain amount of light for optimum exposure (though you can vary it with ISO, at the cost of increased noise). Shutter speeds are set in an obviously doubling/halving relationship, eg 1/125sec, 1/250sec etc, and these dove-tail with the doubling/halving of lens f/numbers.

It's not obvious, but f/numbers are linked by the square root of 2, ie 1.414. So, for example f/2.8 lets in twice as much light as f/4 (2.8 x 1.414 = 4), which is twice f/5.6, and so on. You can mix and match these settings with shutter speed to maintain correct exposure, but modifying the effect of shutter speed on movement and f/number on depth of field.

For example, 1/500sec at f/4 delivers the same amount of light (exposure) to the sensor as 1/60sec at f/11. You would use the former settings to freeze action, and the second set would give a lot of depth of field, depending on the subject and the effect you want.

The third corner of the triangle is ISO, which is also linked in the same doubling/halving way. So taking the example above again, if you were shooting at ISO200 but wanted to use an even higher shutter speed for fast action, raising the ISO to 400 would allow you set 1/1000sec at f/4 and still get correct exposure.

Finally, when changing shutter speeds be aware that camera movement (camera shake) is a big problem at longer settings. Camera shake is related to lens magnification so the longer the lens the higher the shutter speed must be to minimise shake. Rule of thumb is the focal length multiplied by the crop factor, eg if you are shooting at 60mm focal length, then the longest shutter speed you should use for hand-holding is 60 x 1.6 = 96.

1.6x is the Canon crop factor (NIkon/Sony is 1.5x) so in this case you would set 1/100sec or faster. Image Stabilisation helps a lot with camera shake, allowing you to use much longer shutter speeds than the rule of thumbs says, but it cannot do anything about subject movement.
 
Try this for a basic explanation which may help.

CLICK
 
Thanks for the detailed response. In theory i understand the triangle so to speak.

I am new to photography so felt it easier to learn how to take pictures using apperture mode and trying to figure out what f-stop to use in what situation (altering the ISO if needed)

But now i want to do the same for the shutter speed, then in time be able to shoot manual.

Or would it be best to shoot straight manual and play it by ear?
 
widge milward said:
Thanks for the detailed response. In theory i understand the triangle so to speak.

I am new to photography so felt it easier to learn how to take pictures using apperture mode and trying to figure out what f-stop to use in what situation (altering the ISO if needed)

But now i want to do the same for the shutter speed, then in time be able to shoot manual.

Or would it be best to shoot straight manual and play it by ear?
Click to expand...

TBH I don't think it makes any difference what mode you use. You still end up with the same exposure. Whichever is easier and suits your way of working.

Another way of looking at manual vs the auto settings, is that manual is also a 'locked' setting - whatever you set stays fixed. When shooting in the auto modes you can still set any combination of f/number and shutter speed you want, but the camera will then shift them if the light moves.

The key to learning is to keep a careful eye on the camera settings, regardless of how they are set, and note the effect.
 
My background is that I learnt on Olympus OM-1's, so I do understand manual exposure methods.

However, most people I know use the built in TTL meter to set their manual exposure. So why is manual any better than automatic if you use the same meter to work out the exposure?

The only time that I still use manual is at Olympia for showjumping because the dark background of the audience throws the meter because the proportion of background changes as you pan with the horse. In this case, I meter off the sandy ground, apply a 1.5 stop over exposure and hold it on manual exposure (checking every 10 shots or so).

The rest of the time, with evaluative metering, automatic is more precise and more accurate than I would be on manual. Plus, with DPP to post process the raw images I have the get out of jail free card.
 
I would have a play with shutter speed before going to manual, it helped me.

Take a photo of water at different speeds to see what happens (slow ones!) - you'll need a tripod (or a rock!) to rest the camera on when going slow.
Take a photo of your son at different speeds and see when his movement begins to blur.

Also important is what speed you can handhold without camera shake!

You can do this in manual (you choose the Fstop and ISO, keep them fixed and change the shutterspead) or in Tv
 
I don't want to confuse matters further, but I agree with Hoppy. I shoot in AV mode most of the time - I might switch to Manual in tricky situations, but I rarely use TV or see much point in it tbh.

What's the point in setting an arbitrary shutter speed in TV mode when you don't even know if the speed is attainable in the light you're shooting in? If you shoot in AV mode, the shutter speed is always visible in the viewfinder anyway, and that's what you need to learn to keep an eye on as it will change with the light.

Taking my own situation shooting birds, a reasonably quick shutter speed is almost always desirable, but if I set AV mode and the widest aperture, I know I'm getting the fastest shutter speed I can get in that light. If it's not fast enough, then I just have to increase the ISO.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top