shutterspeed

Shutter speed illustration by MikeRun (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The Fascinating History and Confusing Reality of Shutter Speed

Filmmaker Alan Melikdjanian, known by millions of fans as "Captain Disillusion" on YouTube, creates entertaining and educational content where Captain Disillusion reveals the truth surrounding video effects and editing. Captain Disillusion also regularly dives into camera technology, as in his latest video all about shutter speed.

Shutter Speed in Photography: A Complete Guide

As perhaps the most important parameter to understand in photography, shutter speed should be one of your first considerations when making a photograph. It’s one of the biggest reasons that photographers might find themselves unhappy with their shots, and having a great understanding of it is crucial to making great images.

How to Use Bulb Mode on a Camera for Long Exposure Photos

When you hear “long exposure,” you probably think of a shutter speed that’s too slow to hand-hold and produce a sharp image. It might be something like ¼”, or maybe as long as 30”, which is the most common slowest shutter speed in DSLR and mirrorless cameras. However, shutter speeds slower than 30” can be advantageous in many long-exposure scenarios.

HSS Does Not Freeze Motion: Light is the Key, Not Shutter Speed

How do photographers freeze motion? With shutter speed, of course! This is something fundamental that everyone starting out in photography learns to do. If you’re shooting sports, for example, just crank the ISO up, set a high shutter speed, and expect a good frozen-in-time image. However, when using a flash, things are a little different. In fact, shutter speed is by far the worst way to freeze motion. Here’s why.

How To Get Super-Sharp Photos Every Time, With Any Camera

As a professional photographer, I use a lot of different cameras. At any given time, I can use really expensive full-frame cameras combined with the best glass money can buy, to mid-range cameras with kit lenses, all the way down to even compact cameras that fit in my pocket.

Using Water to Explain the Properties of Light and the Exposure Triangle

Photographer Robert Hall recently released a simple-yet-brilliant explainer that uses water to illustrate the properties of light and explain a few concepts that frequently confuse beginners, including: what is a "stop" of light, how do you use the exposure triangle, and how do various flashes and flash modifiers affect your image.

Sock Puppet Teaches You How to Use Your Camera’s Manual Settings

If you've been looking for a fresh, entertaining take on the standard beginner's guide to
getting out of Auto Mode, look no further. The YouTube channel TheCrafsMan SteadyCraftin has released the strangest (and yet still very informative) tutorial we've seen in this genre.

Camera Basics: Understanding Shutter Speed

Do you know your camera basics? Today we dive into shutter speed and teach you all the ways you can use shutter speed to unlock your creativity and expand your photography style. Learn how to show fluid movement or capture a split second and what styles of photography these shutters speed options are best for.

Beginner’s Guide to Mastering Manual and Avoiding Auto Mode Mistakes

Getting a proper exposure means that you’re letting enough light through the lens and onto your sensor/film to capture your subject and the environment. To achieve a proper exposure, you’ll have to balance shutter speed, aperture, and ISO according to your purpose. The key word there is “purpose.”

3 Camera Settings To Master For Landscape Photography

When you purchase a new camera, how much time do you spend reading the manual? I find most camera manuals rather difficult to follow along with, and I for one very rarely use them. What’s interesting is that camera manuals only describe the technical “how to” side of things, like how to turn on your camera or how to attach a lens, but it doesn’t tell you how to truly become comfortable with your camera.

The Exposure Triangle: A Beginner’s Guide

How important is exposure in photography? What are the components of exposure? What is the "Exposure Triangle"? These are the questions I will attempt to answer in this introductory article about ISO, aperture, and shutter speed -- the components of achieving a properly exposed photo.

The Challenge of Shooting with High-Speed Cameras

In the 16-minute video above, Gavin Free of the The Slow Mo Guys answers a question he often receives: “Is using a high-speed camera similar to using a normal camera?” The answer is “Yes and No”, and we end up looking into the biggest challenges in using high-speed cameras.

A Beginner’s Guide to Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO in Photography

This guide to photographic exposure aims to help you take full control of your camera. I often tell my students that I want them to move away from the idea “taking a photograph” and towards the idea of "making a photograph." I teach them how to take the camera off auto mode and take full control of the settings themselves in order to create the photograph they want.

The Power of Shutter Speed In Two Photographs

Shutter speed is one of the first elements of photography that you learn as a beginner. Learning how to control your camera’s shutter speed to make sure your images are sharp and well exposed is Photography 101. Learning how to use shutter speed creatively to manipulate the look and feel of an image is something else entirely, and something that I continue to experiment with a lot.

Red Dot Camera App Brings the Leica M Experience to Your iPhone

If you've always wanted to play around with the idea of using a Leica M rangefinder but don't want to shell out the cash, Lifelike Apps has a new app for you. Called Red Dot Camera, the iOS app aims to bring the feel of a Leica camera to your iPad or iPhone; it was “inspired by the retro craftsmanship of the classic M camera series” and does “without the interference of gimmicky filters.”

The Manual App Gives You Full Manual Control of All Your iPhone’s Camera Settings

The now-public iOS 8 brings about a number of updated features that give users more control than ever before, and one of the most talked-about ones is the ability for developers to integrate full manual control of the camera into their applications.

A number of major camera apps have already done that, but there’s a new app out that focuses on full manual controls and full manual controls alone: it’s called (go figure) Manual, and without any extra bells or whistles, it emphasizes giving you complete control over you iOS device’s camera without any other distractions.

Back to Basics: Short Walkthrough Covers the Exposure Triangle for Beginners

When you're first learning the basics of photography, one of the first things you find out about after dropping out of 'auto' is the exposure triangle.

Consisting of shutter speed, aperture, and ISO, the exposure triangle is a system that takes into account each of those variables, making exposure adjustments a breeze when you need to change one of the variables for a particular situation (say, freezing motion or achieving a shallow depth of field).

Camera Synchronized to Chopper Blades Creates Amazing Illusion

Here's an old-ish video that's been making the rounds again lately (viral videos are like viruses -- they don't go away very easily). Titled "Camera shutter speed synchronized with helicopter blade frequency," it shows what can happen when your camera is synchronized with the RPM of a helicopter's rotor blades. The resulting footage makes the helicopter look as though it's just floating in the air!

Gloomy Crowds Captured as Shadows After Soviet Union Collapse

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, photographer Alexey Titarenko observed how St. Petersburg streets that used to be lively and filled with joyful people had suddenly turned dark and gloomy, with people confused, malnourished, and worn out. He decided to capture this change by shooting the streets at slow shutter speeds, turning the downtrodden crowds into shadowy figures. He titled the resulting project "City of Shadows".