Shutter Time!

One of the most enjoyable aspects of photography when shooting in M (manual) mode is the ability to control the speed of the shutter. In my opinion, the shutter speed is the core of experimenting with your camera; of course you always have to balance your ISO and F-Stop for the correct desired result (more on that in the future).

Below is an image I recently took on a trip to Costa Rica of a wild macaw in flight. Although it’s 1/640 isn’t necessarily a super-fast shutter speed, it is still fast enough to capture a bird like this in flight. Remember, fast shutter speeds are okay handheld, but the slower speeds, usually anything less than 1/90sec, a tripod is advisable for sharp results. 

This shot was a shot at 1/640 of a second at F 4.5 with 400 ISO in the jungle of Costa Rica.   

Now this image taken in Jamaica of a freshwater waterfall falling into the ocean is the complete opposite of the flying macaw. The silky look you get from the water is a result of the slow shutter. Shots of this speed basically can’t be hand held (in most instances) if you want to get the "silky" look. You must use a tripod or you run a high risk of blurry or out of focus images.

When shooting slow, however, remember that motion will appear in the images. A slow shutter will display the movement. That's why the water looks like it does. So remember what your subject is before shooting. If you are trying to shoot your child playing in a park or an animal that is moving, the slow shutter will result in the subject becoming blurred because of the motion. It is about experimentation though. Try a slow shutter speed on moving subjects too...you might like the artsy result as well.  

This image was captured 1/15 sec at F-8 with 200 ISO.

My advice to new photographers or to photographers who aren't quite comfortable shooting M mode 100% of the time is to practice shooting in Time Value Mode. This is where you as the photographer select the Shutter Speed and the camera’s computer picks the aperture for the scene.  In Canon camera’s this is known as Tv Mode on the top dial and on Nikon’s it’s designated as S-Mode on the top dial. So go on out and experiment with your shutters…it’s the only way to learn! -cg