Shutter speed

Paul870

Paul870

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Had a play with shutter speed when out in Southport today, but i'm abit puzzled with results I finished with.

Lake side I was aiming for a focused background and with a low shutter speed have the moving water blurred ( just to dabble around to see if it worked )
However the outcome was every photo taken was blown out, completely white.

Is what I was trying to acheive possible? or do I have to alter more besides just the shutter speed?


Also I tried played with Shutter Speed again with cars, I couldnt find a nice balance at all, either cars looked stationary with it being too high, or very blurry.
The aim was for a focused body with 'motion' wheels, is this something im aiming too high for considering i've only been used to SLR for a few weeks? If not then some advice here would also be great!
 
With regards to your first point you need to also adjust the ISO and/or the aperture to gain a correctly exposed image. By reducing the ISO, you will reduce the CMOS sensor's 'sensitivity' to light. Try setting it at 100 (or 50) if the camera allows and see if it's still over exposed.

If it is still over exposed, you will also need to reduce the size of the aperture to decrease the amount of light entering the light chamber and reaching the sensor. However, this will have the effect of increasing depth of field - whether you want that or not is up to you.

If neither of the above work, or if you wish to keep your ISO and DOF at what it is currently, then you could invest in an ND filter - perhaps one offering 3-4 stops such as an ND8 or ND16 - these will effectively decrease the amount of light reaching the sensor and allow you to shoot a correctly exposed photograph at your desired aperture and shutter speed to achieve the result you're after. It's how most people would achieve the 'blurred water' effect in bright sunshine/daylight.
 
As above for the long exposure. You don't say what shutter speed you were using but in bright sun it's quite likely that the camera will run out of options to reduce the amount of light coming through the lens for such a long time. So you need an ND filter - that's neutral density, dark grey, like dark glasses for your camera.

For the car, it sounds like you need to learn about 'panning' where you track the car as it passes by. If you get the shutter speed right, the car will remain sharp as it stays relatively stationary in the viewfinder, but the background will be blurred as you swivel the camera from side to side. Likewise, the wheels will also be blurred.

The shutter speed you want depends on various things, mainly the speed of the car and how close you are to it. Try 1/125sec and work up/down from there. It's not an easy technique to get right every time, but that's the gist of it.
 
Thank you guys for the help, has opened the door abit more for me I feel!

My panning was 'ok' I think, the cars were always in good view of the shot taken but I couldnt figure what to do with the options.
From what i've read now i'll have to give it another go and see if I can post up some results!
 
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