Usksider's Photo Blog

Time for my old bones to hit the mattress....

Goodnight all!

No, no... not the drug induced state that does all kinds of strange things to the mind... not even the exhilaration of driving down a deserted motorway at hrumph MPH....

I want to spend a moment talking about shutter speed... I know, those of you not interested in the technicalities of photography are already yawning... I understand that... skip straight to the images.

Do you photograph moving water?

Are you happy with your results?

Maybe you need to experiment a little with your camera's shutter speed...

Here's an image of water running free over a small weir. Note the water looks kind of stationary against the crispness of the odd rocks... it's an okay image, but it's nothing special...

Okay, in the above example the camera's shutter speed was set to 1/350s so is relatively fast. Not fast enough to 'freeze' the water, but certainly fast enough to 'steady' it.

Slowing the shutter speed will allow more water to pass the camera during exposure... this will creates an illusion of movement. If you experiment here you'll find you get some interesting results.

Here's a second example, this time the camera's exposure is set to 1/50s... just look at the difference in the texture of the water.

To me, the water here is far more pleasing... but here's a tip for you. If you want to generate some really stunning results, set your camera on a tripod and try shutter speeds of 1s, 2s, 4s, 10s.... trust me, you will not be disappointed!

Happy Speeding!

This little chap was obviously hungry... he was stood on the corner of a picnic table singing his little heart out.

I had nothing to offer him, but I did stop and listen to his song.