Shutter Speed

Research Into Shutter Speed

Secondary Sources

This photograph uses a fast shutter speed in order to capture the movement of the glass without much of a blur. This results in a clear shot capturing the glass as it smashes, which happens very quickly. A shutter speed of at least 1/1000 would have had to be used, and then compensated for by increasing the aperture. This make a 'freeze frame' of the bulb smashing, which is very interesting to look at as usually this exact image happens too quickly to be seen by the human eye.

This image of a hummingbird was taken with a fast shutter speed, as a hummingbird's wings can beat at up to 50 times a second, so a shutter speed of at least 1/800 is recommended to take photos of these birds. Because of the small size of these birds, it is difficult to take a photograph using a tripod, so the ISO may be higher to allow for the image to be more likely to work. Because hummingbirds move so fast, you are unlikely to even be able to see one clearly during flight, so this photograph allows people to see what the creatures look like.

In this photograph a slow shutter speed has been used in order to create the wing effect behind the man. A sparkler has been moved to make the light pattern, and the slow speed has allowed the image created to stay, as if suspended. A tripod would have likely been used to minimise motion blur, but there is still a little blur around the man due to his own movement. Because the image has been taken during the night, a low aperture would have been used, but not as low as if the photo had been taken during the day, as there is less light.

A slow shutter speed is used in this photo to capture the movement of the stars. A really slow shutter speed would have been used to create this image, possibly over an hour. The effect shows the spiralling moment of the stars as the earth turns, and the result is very 'Starry Night'-esque. A tripod would certainly have been used, as the image is so clear with no motion blur (except that of the stars), which helps to make the movement all the more dramatic.

Primary Sources

To get this photograph I used a fast shutter speed that managed to isolate the sparks flying off the sparkler. The rest of the image is very dark, as to compensate for the fast shutter speed the aperture had to be large, but as the room was already dark the aperture was not large enough to lighten the surroundings. The fast shutter speed is successful in showing the detail of the sparks, but is a little slow, so there is still some light trails behind the sparks, but this is successful in making the image 'pop' more.

 
For this distorted image I used a slow shutter speed and moved me head from left to right, causing the image to be captured with a motion blur. This makes a dramatic impact through the distortion, while also remaining recognizable as a human face. The slow shutter speed let a lot of light in, which caused some of the detail in the face to be lost because the aperture of my camera did not go low enough to make up for the light.