Amateur Photography - Shutter Speeds (Water)

 

Nothing Is Too Fast For A Quick Shutter!

Rain droplets falling from the gutter. Picture was taken at 1/1200 of a second using the ISO-80 setting.

Continuing from the last article of pictures that I took during the Salvation Army retreat in North Texas to Camp Hoblitzelle, this article will focus on shutter speeds. As mentioned in the last article, the shutter speed is essentially the speed that the picture is taken at. A slow shutter will result in a blurred picture if the camera is in movement, while a fast shutter will result in a sharper picture for a moving target. There was plenty of opportunity to test out these speeds in great detail. There was constant spotty showers while I was at camp, so one would have the opportunity to take picture of water droplets, as demonstrated from the picture above. As mentioned previously, Lake Hoblitzelle is one of my favorite subjects for photography.  

A camera can take pictures using different shutter speeds. As mentioned in the previous article, a shutter speed of 1/30 meant that a still frame was taken at 1/30th of a second. A 1/60 setting means that the picture was taken at 1/60 of a second. On the Kodak PIXPRO digital camera that I use, the shutter speeds can go up to 1/2000 of a second. Their are trade-offs though when using these faster shutter speeds. The faster the shutter speed is set, the less light that the lens has to absorb the surrounding light. As a result, it's not possible to use fast shutter speeds at night for this reason. One can tell because the pictures demonstrating the fast shutter were all taken during the daytime. Also, for these pictures, they are all water-oriented, as moving water can greatly demonstrate the awesome effects of using a fast shutter.

Anyway, on with the pictures!

Picture using the ISO-80 setting with a shutter speed 1/280.

A water fountain was recently installed at Lake Hoblitzelle. This allowed me to practice both magnification and shutter photography simultaneously.

ISO-200 setting with a shutter speed of 1/2000 of a second.

Closeup of the same picture.

Picture showing a slow shutter (1/4 of a second).

The picture above shows the results of using a slow shutter. The photo above was taken at a speed of 1/4 of a second. The main result for this was that the sun had set by this time, so the only light available was the ambient twilight before total darkness occurred. As a result, using a fast shutter would have resulted in a picture that would have been pitch black. The camera, is automatic mode, chosen a slower shutter speed as a result. The camera was mounted on a solid surface, so I didn't have to worry about a blurred picture from movement. The lake fountain is illuminated at night, so it still makes for a good evening/nighttime photo. Even then though, the light that is released by the fountain wouldn't have been bright enough to permit the use of a fast shutter. The spewing water leaves a trail as a result of the slower shutter speed. I would argue that a slower speed works well to this image advantage because it leaves a glowing, water trail effect from the illuminated fountain.

Picture using the ISO-80 setting and a shutter speed of 1/2000 of a second.

Closeup of the same picture

As shown in the picture above, it appears as if the water droplets themselves are almost still in appearance because they were captured at a very fast speed. It leaves for a very interesting effect, taking into consideration that the reflecting sunlight is leaving a interesting color effect on the water, which is being captured into the image.

I hoped that you enjoyed getting a quick 101 on shutter speed settings, shutter speeds. Awesome pictures can be taken when using a fast shutter speed, and knowing the best circumstances of taking those pictures can result in some very high quality photos. With that said, enjoy, have a good week, and take some awesome pictures!