Just can't get it.

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Name
Nikki
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Ok I just can't get shutter speed. My dyslexic is so getting better of me. Have read read and re read about it but won't sink in. In mega simple way how can I use it.
Was just trying to take pics of granddaughter in garden iso 400. Wb cloudy but can't understand speed. :-(
 
Every increment of aperture up you go, then the shutter speed needs to come down 1 increment. Same going the other way. Going up an ISO increment decreases the shutter speed an increment.
 
What is it exactly you want to know as you are not really making it clear?

Shutter speed is based on the subject you want to shoot, fast cars require fast shutter speeds, static objects, require anything depending on the conditions and if you want to use a tripod.

Handheld you cant go far wrong with a shutter speed 1/60 upwards, anything less and you are going to get blur.
 
For example my garden is 30ft long. I'm one end. Faith is other. She's coming at my on her scooter. How would I set shutter speed.
:-(
 
For example my garden is 30ft long. I'm one end. Faith is other. She's coming at my on her scooter. How would I set shutter speed.
:-(

Assuming you do not want the picture to show any motion blur you're going to want to keep the shutter speed up above say 1/250. Higher if possible. Use the aperture and ISO to compensate.

There's a little more to it than that though. Being honest I didn't really understand any of this until I read the 'understanding exposure' book. It tells you everything you need to know about aperture, iso, and shutter speed or the 'exposure triangle' as you may hear it called.
 
A good little rule of thumb, try to keep the shutter speed higher or the same as your focal length.

If you are say shooting at 150mm then your shutter speed normally (but not always) should be 150 or above. so adjust the iso or apperturere to suit or both.

Hope that sounds right, it did in my head lol

spike
 
A good little rule of thumb, try to keep the shutter speed higher or the same as your focal length.

If you are say shooting at 150mm then your shutter speed normally (but not always) should be 150 or above. so adjust the iso or apperturere to suit or both.

Hope that sounds right, it did in my head lol

spike


This is a good rule to follow but just to clarify, this rule is for use when hand holding the camera. It is intended to nullify any hand shake affecting your picture. On a tripod, you can use whatever you like.
 
Hi Nikki,

it's all a bit of a balancing act - shutter speed, aperture and iso. As long as you're not shooting in manual mode when you change shutter speed the camera will change the aperture automatically and vice versa. As above you need to set the shutter speed to minimise motion blur. If the light is not great then the camera may struggle achieving a big enough aperture (low f number), and that's when you need to up the iso. I always shoot with the lowest iso possible to minimise noise. You should also use continuous focus to cope with the moving person.
 
This is a good rule to follow but just to clarify, this rule is for use when hand holding the camera. It is intended to nullify any hand shake affecting your picture. On a tripod, you can use whatever you like.

Except that if it's too slow a moving person would blur
 
Thank you. Will keep reading your posts and hopefully I will go in. :-)
 
Do you know any one else into photography who can show you hands on I am dyslexic and you might find it better face to face and hands on keep at it
 
Yeah I know some one and I'm gonna try and email him tomorrow. That's the thing I have to actually be shown cause reading takes ages to go in.
Could be fun as just signed up for pp bootcamp ;-)
 
Yeah I know some one and I'm gonna try and email him tomorrow. That's the thing I have to actually be shown cause reading takes ages to go in.
Could be fun as just signed up for pp bootcamp ;-)

You can do this yourself if you have a spare half hour.

Stand where you can take pictures of moving cars, start at one end of the shutter speed scale and move up. review the pictures as your taking them and you can see the change in movement, just take a not of what shutter speeds you have adjusted.
 
The best advice is probably just have a play and see what effects the different shutter speeds have. As others have said, start off with something around the focal length of the lens then go faster/slower to make it sharper/blurred.
 
a big aperture - fast shutter

small aperture - slow shutter speed

something not moving - slow shutter

something moving fast - fast shutter

so a shot of your grandkid, as she is moving fast you would need a fast shutter because if it was slow, then in the time it would take for the shutter to open and then close your grandkid would have moved so it would blurr the shot of her,if you are using a fast shutter speed you would need a big aperture because the shutter would not be open very long so a big aperture would let enough light in for the shot to be correctly exposed.
 
Hi Nikki,

Basic settings for a shot of you granddaughter riding her scooter coming towards you:

Most important -
Autofocus Mode needs to be in 'Continuous Mode' AF-C the picture of a surfer in the menu's I think on your camera.

Next -
Autofocus Area set to 'Centre Weighted', the picture of the motorbike in the settings. This will give you a single focus point in the viewfinder.

Put the camera into 'S' - shutter priority

Set the shutter speed to around 1/200 or 1/320. Don't worry about the aperture, the camera will sort that out.

Start with ISO at 200 and if you cannot get shutter speed you want because the available light is not good enough then up the ISO until you can.

Hope this helps, please forgive the way I have written the above, I am trying to make it easier for you to understand taking your dyslexic into account, sorry if I have missed the mark a little.

Keep at it
Paul
 
A good little rule of thumb, try to keep the shutter speed higher or the same as your focal length.

If you are say shooting at 150mm then your shutter speed normally (but not always) should be 150 or above. so adjust the iso or apperturere to suit or both.

Hope that sounds right, it did in my head lol

spike

It also depend on the EFFECTIVE focal length of your lens (just to confuse matters).

If you use a 1.6 crop camera then the minimum shutter speed should be 150x1.6=240.

Therefore the minimum shutter speed for the above example would be 1/250 sec.

To photograph your daughter coming towards you that would probably do but I would use an IS lens and a high shutter speed.

But on many cameras the AF might not keep up.

There is a simple answer used for decades in the days of film - pre-focus on a spot on the ground and then when your daughter reaches that point take the pic.

Also remember that using a high shutter speed will also need a wider aperture leading to a reduced DOF or a higher ISO.

It's always a matter of compromise.

.
 
This all sounds a little complicated...

Before even bothering with settings, does the OP know what shutter speed is and understand why you might even want to change it?
 
Me??

Well, do you know what shutter speed is? if so, do you know why you might want to change it?
 
Shutter speed controls the degree of blur in an image. The faster the shutter speed (higher number) the less blur - the slower the shutter speed (lower number) the greater the potential blur.

So, to shoot a fast moving subject - without blur - you need a fast shutter speed - high number - e.g. 1/500th - one 500th of a second.

Shutter speed also effects exposure and the higher the shutter speed the wider the aperture you have to use to compensate. So, 1/500th sec @ f/8 will give the same exposure as 1/125th sec @ f/16 - BUT the degree of blur in the image could be different and the depth of field will also be different. Depth of field - DoF - is the amount of acceptably sharp focus and varies with the aperture you use.

There are many other factors to take into account - but one step at a time.
 
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Shutter speed controls the degree of blur in an image. The faster the shutter speed (higher number) the less blur - the slower the shutter speed (lower number) the greater the potential blur.

So, to shoot a fast moving subject - without blur - you need a fast shutter speed - high number - e.g. 1/500th - one 500th of a second.

Shutter speed also effects exposure and the higher the shutter speed the wider the aperture you have to use to compensate. So, 1/500th sec @ f/8 will give the same exposure as 1/125th sec @ f/16 - BUT the degree of blur in the image could be different and the depth of field will also be different. Depth of field - DoF - is the amount of acceptably sharp focus and varies with the aperture you use.

There are many other factors to take into account - but one step at a time.

This is another Bryan Peterson tutorial which explains what AWP says:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8NEa-ghHbo
 
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