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.