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Rockin' What You Got - Lesson 2 (May 25th)
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May 24, 2012 21:04:05   #
MWAC Loc: Somewhere East Of Crazy
 
The goal of this weekly challenge is to get comfortable with adjusting the shutter speed and ISO.

ISO is really just a setting to determine how quickly an image will be captured, the higher the ISO the quicker the picture will be captured and the less light that is required. The lower the ISO, the longer it takes for the picture to be captured and more light will be required. (Just a really simple explanation, if you are looking for a more detailed explanation you can find on here. ( http://digital-photography-school.com/iso-settings ). Your ISO settings depend on your surroundings and the amount of light you have available. Right now you might be asking yourself, why can’t I just bump up my ISO to the highest value possible so I don’t have to worry about how much light is available and capture my pictures quickly… well like anything in life there is a trade-off if you set your ISO higher, that trade-off is digital noise. Think of noise like this, the faster your camera captures the picture, the less time it has to be accurate, so your sharpness will suffer. A rule of thumb is anything over an ISO of 800 and you will start to see noise on your image. The higher the ISO, the more noise.

After we have picked our ISO, it’s time to think about Shutter Speed (SS). Shutter Speed is just want it sounds like, the speed in which your camera shutter opens and closes. It can range from seconds (or even minutes if you use the Bulb setting) to faster than 1/1600 of a second. A fast shutter speed will freeze action and a slow shutter speed will create a blurred effect. When you set your SS speed on your camera you will see numbers like 60, 120, 250, 1000, etc these numbers actually represent 1/60th of a second, 1/120 of a second and so on. So the higher the bottom number of the fraction the faster the shutter speed. You will also see numbers like 1”5, this indicates a shutter speed of 1 ½ seconds. If the display says 30”, the shutter will be open for 30 seconds.

If you are using a shutter speed slower than 1/60th of a second or anything with inch marks, use a tripod or have your camera setting on a flat stable surface. If hand holding your camera, a good rules is to keep you shutter speed above 1/60 of a second and keep yourself as steady as possible.

Fast moving objects like birds, dogs, cars, toddlers will need a faster shutter speed in order to freeze the action, start with 1/250.

Have I confused you yet? Good, now on to part 1 of the assignment… The WATER TEST (or when should I use a faster shutter speed?)

You will need:
Your camera
Kitchen sink (if you don’t have a window by your sink try a bathroom sink, water hose, babbling brook, even rain will work).
Turn your camera to Shutter Priority mode (Tv for Canon, S for Nikon).

If you are inside bump up your ISO between 1000 to 1600, unless you have nice available light. If outside try 200 to 400.

1. Find you kitchen sink (or running water source)
2. Locate an object that is going to obstruct the water flowing from the faucet; you want something that will interrupt the flow of water causing the water to “splash” around.
3. Set your shutter speed to 1/160th of a second (remember it will say 160). Turn on the water and take a picture.
4. Now set your shutter speed really high (somewhere around 1/1000 or higher will do the trick) and take the photo again.
What we are looking for is the visual indication that you have “frozen” the water by using a higher shutter speed.

Want to be a Rock Star? Grab your tripod and shot the water again but this time using a REALLY slow shutter speed, such as a half a second (0”5) or even a full second (1”). Look at the effect it gives you now.

(for those working with p/s cameras, set your camera to the action mode (running man mode) to obtain a higher shutter speed. Take a photo in action mode and then a second photo in a different mode, maybe landscape to obtain a slower shutter speed).

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b220/ToadMum/2c681003.jpg

I had to use and outside faucet, my kitchen doesn't get enough natural light. :( The shutter speed here was 160 of a second. I focused on the spot where the water first touches the hose box. As you can see, a slow shutter speed does not visually stop the flow of water.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b220/ToadMum/9522173f.jpg

With a shutter speed of 1000 of a second, I was able to freeze (or stop) the water. If I would have had a more pleasing background you would also notice that we have more DoF happening because my camera automatically picked a lower f/stop to compensate.


http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b220/ToadMum/098f5708.jpg
1/5000 of a second


http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b220/ToadMum/b66b571c.jpg
1/250 of a second

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b220/ToadMum/3dde6970.jpg
1/5 of a second

This is how shutter speed works, the faster the shutter speed, the faster the camera takes the picture. The slower the shutter speed, the slower the camera takes the picture.

I’m sure you’ve realized that now that you’ve picked your Aperture and this week we are working on SS and ISO, what’s coming next… the dreaded Manual Mode… don’t panic, believe it or not you’ve done all the hard work already, now it’s just putting it all together.

* once you've posted the water test, feel free to experiment with other things, people, animals, etc and the results of using a faster or slower shutter speed, please post.

Reply
May 24, 2012 22:32:37   #
martinfisherphoto Loc: Lake Placid Florida
 
Just wanted to add a little something, if you find your shots coming out to dark, maybe try Auto ISO to help with exposure

Reply
May 24, 2012 23:12:19   #
Stef C Loc: Conshohocken (near philly) PA
 
These were both shot at 100 ISO because it was extremely bright out, but it demonstrates the shutter speed you were talking about (both the fish and waterfall)

Clearly, the composition isn't the best (the business), but this was for example's purposes.

I hope this helps!

I zoomed in on the water in the "frozen" shot so you could see.







Reply
 
 
May 25, 2012 06:01:15   #
Scoutman Loc: Orlando, FL
 
MWAC wrote:
The goal of this weekly challenge is to get comfortable with adjusting the shutter speed and ISO.

ISO is really just a setting to determine how quickly an image will be captured, the higher the ISO the quicker the picture will be captured and the less light that is required. The lower the ISO, the longer it takes for the picture to be captured and more light will be required. (Just a really simple explanation, if you are looking for a more detailed explanation you can find on here. ( http://digital-photography-school.com/iso-settings ). Your ISO settings depend on your surroundings and the amount of light you have available. Right now you might be asking yourself, why can’t I just bump up my ISO to the highest value possible so I don’t have to worry about how much light is available and capture my pictures quickly… well like anything in life there is a trade-off if you set your ISO higher, that trade-off is digital noise. Think of noise like this, the faster your camera captures the picture, the less time it has to be accurate, so your sharpness will suffer. A rule of thumb is anything over an ISO of 800 and you will start to see noise on your image. The higher the ISO, the more noise.

After we have picked our ISO, it’s time to think about Shutter Speed (SS). Shutter Speed is just want it sounds like, the speed in which your camera shutter opens and closes. It can range from seconds (or even minutes if you use the Bulb setting) to faster than 1/1600 of a second. A fast shutter speed will freeze action and a slow shutter speed will create a blurred effect. When you set your SS speed on your camera you will see numbers like 60, 120, 250, 1000, etc these numbers actually represent 1/60th of a second, 1/120 of a second and so on. So the higher the bottom number of the fraction the faster the shutter speed. You will also see numbers like 1”5, this indicates a shutter speed of 1 ½ seconds. If the display says 30”, the shutter will be open for 30 seconds.

If you are using a shutter speed slower than 1/60th of a second or anything with inch marks, use a tripod or have your camera setting on a flat stable surface. If hand holding your camera, a good rules is to keep you shutter speed above 1/60 of a second and keep yourself as steady as possible.

Fast moving objects like birds, dogs, cars, toddlers will need a faster shutter speed in order to freeze the action, start with 1/250.

Have I confused you yet? Good, now on to part 1 of the assignment… The WATER TEST (or when should I use a faster shutter speed?)

You will need:
Your camera
Kitchen sink (if you don’t have a window by your sink try a bathroom sink, water hose, babbling brook, even rain will work).
Turn your camera to Shutter Priority mode (Tv for Canon, S for Nikon).

If you are inside bump up your ISO between 1000 to 1600, unless you have nice available light. If outside try 200 to 400.

1. Find you kitchen sink (or running water source)
2. Locate an object that is going to obstruct the water flowing from the faucet; you want something that will interrupt the flow of water causing the water to “splash” around.
3. Set your shutter speed to 1/160th of a second (remember it will say 160). Turn on the water and take a picture.
4. Now set your shutter speed really high (somewhere around 1/1000 or higher will do the trick) and take the photo again.
What we are looking for is the visual indication that you have “frozen” the water by using a higher shutter speed.

Want to be a Rock Star? Grab your tripod and shot the water again but this time using a REALLY slow shutter speed, such as a half a second (0”5) or even a full second (1”). Look at the effect it gives you now.

(for those working with p/s cameras, set your camera to the action mode (running man mode) to obtain a higher shutter speed. Take a photo in action mode and then a second photo in a different mode, maybe landscape to obtain a slower shutter speed).

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b220/ToadMum/2c681003.jpg

I had to use and outside faucet, my kitchen doesn't get enough natural light. :( The shutter speed here was 160 of a second. I focused on the spot where the water first touches the hose box. As you can see, a slow shutter speed does not visually stop the flow of water.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b220/ToadMum/9522173f.jpg

With a shutter speed of 1000 of a second, I was able to freeze (or stop) the water. If I would have had a more pleasing background you would also notice that we have more DoF happening because my camera automatically picked a lower f/stop to compensate.


http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b220/ToadMum/098f5708.jpg
1/5000 of a second


http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b220/ToadMum/b66b571c.jpg
1/250 of a second

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b220/ToadMum/3dde6970.jpg
1/5 of a second

This is how shutter speed works, the faster the shutter speed, the faster the camera takes the picture. The slower the shutter speed, the slower the camera takes the picture.

I’m sure you’ve realized that now that you’ve picked your Aperture and this week we are working on SS and ISO, what’s coming next… the dreaded Manual Mode… don’t panic, believe it or not you’ve done all the hard work already, now it’s just putting it all together.

* once you've posted the water test, feel free to experiment with other things, people, animals, etc and the results of using a faster or slower shutter speed, please post.
The goal of this weekly challenge is to get comfor... (show quote)


Great reference to the Web site on this subject. The article also lists five other relevant references.

Reply
May 25, 2012 09:27:24   #
MWAC Loc: Somewhere East Of Crazy
 
Scoutman wrote:
Great reference to the Web site on this subject. The article also lists five other relevant references.


http://digital-photography-school.com is a great resource :) I highly recommend it. :)

Reply
May 25, 2012 09:29:24   #
MWAC Loc: Somewhere East Of Crazy
 
Stef C wrote:
These were both shot at 100 ISO because it was extremely bright out, but it demonstrates the shutter speed you were talking about (both the fish and waterfall)

Clearly, the composition isn't the best (the business), but this was for example's purposes.

I hope this helps!

I zoomed in on the water in the "frozen" shot so you could see.


OK I am really jealous of your backyard :). I love how you can see the difference in speed, not only in the waterfall but the fish as well.

Reply
May 25, 2012 10:26:02   #
Stef C Loc: Conshohocken (near philly) PA
 
MWAC wrote:
Stef C wrote:
These were both shot at 100 ISO because it was extremely bright out, but it demonstrates the shutter speed you were talking about (both the fish and waterfall)

Clearly, the composition isn't the best (the business), but this was for example's purposes.

I hope this helps!

I zoomed in on the water in the "frozen" shot so you could see.


OK I am really jealous of your backyard :). I love how you can see the difference in speed, not only in the waterfall but the fish as well.
quote=Stef C These were both shot at 100 ISO beca... (show quote)


I wish it was my backyard, I went home to my parent's for Mother's day. I love their house :)

Reply
 
 
May 25, 2012 11:08:58   #
lmch921 Loc: Harrisburg PA
 
Stef, I love the second one!!! Very nice job!!!

Reply
May 25, 2012 11:41:36   #
les_stockton Loc: Eastern Oklahoma
 
I like that you are experimenting and researching, and then turning around and sharing. Good job.

Reply
May 25, 2012 15:13:45   #
Peanut Loc: St Augustine, Fl
 
Great examples so far..happy i have a week to practice!

Reply
May 25, 2012 20:45:14   #
Scarlet Loc: Western Australia
 
The second one of the carp is nice and sharp, but I do love the intensity of colour in the fish in the first shot and the sense of movement.
I have a plan of attack for this assignment set by MWAC Just need some time and waves.

Reply
 
 
May 25, 2012 21:15:44   #
Indi Loc: L. I., NY, Palm Beach Cty when it's cold.
 
MWAC, you might want to suggest using a short telephoto or back up so as not to get the camera & lens wet. Pretty much understood but some newbies might not think about that.

Reply
May 25, 2012 21:48:02   #
LittleRedFish Loc: Naw'lens (New Orleans)
 
Boy, I really need this lesson. Thanks good one. Look forward to it.

Reply
May 25, 2012 22:27:49   #
shirl2sg Loc: Northern Minnesota
 
Looks Great!

Reply
May 26, 2012 02:22:10   #
unanchored Loc: san diego ca
 
wow we get to bring out the inner little kid - play w/ water and make splash

photo's up coming

Reply
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