Week Four: Shutter Speed Workshop

In week four, our workshop was focused on shutter speed. Shutter speed is the speed at which the shutter of the camera closes. A faster shutter speed means that the lens is open for a shorter amount of time, and thus less light enters the lens- creating a shorter exposure.

Whereas, a slower shutter speed gives the photographer a longer exposure, meaning that more light enters the lens.

For our task we went outside and experimented with both fast and slow shutter speeds.

1/1600 5.0

I liked the effect the wind movement created in this particular shot. Although Sapphire wasn’t moving, the wind was strong. I chose to use a fast shutter speed meaning that the photo was clearer.

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For this shot, I took a photo of Sapphire mid-jump. I used a fast shutter speed in order to achieve minimal blur, meaning that the photo was clearer. A fast shutter speed achieves an effect that freezes action, and is often used to photograph moving objects-such as birds.

Sapphire stood on side of the road as a car drives past

Shutter speed- 1/40 F.13

For this photograph, I used a slower shutter speed which meant that the image was brighter.

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For the portraits of Sapphire, stood in front of moving vehicles, I used a slow shutter speed. I asked Sapphire to stay still. The busy road behind Sapphire provided a background with lots of movement which created an interesting, motion-blur effect.

Slow shutter speeds are often used to help illuminate darker scenes.

Rai stood on side of the road as a car drives past

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I used the same busy background for this shot with Rai. But this time, the participant was moving. This created an interesting effect.

ISO Task- Extra Credit

Shooting Outdoors:

As part of the extra credit task, we were instructed to set our cameras to manual mode, set the aperture to a middle F stop and put the shutter speed to 160.

I then experimented with different ISO levels.

ISO is the camera’s sensitivity to light, it is a setting which determines whether the photograph will be brighter or darker.