Lesson Three: Master Shutter Speed - My thoughts

Lesson Three:  Master Shutter Speed

                 I have always wondered how a moving object could be captured without blur or distortion.  I thought it had something to do with the speed and accuracy of the photographer in capturing the action as it was occurring.  Now I understand it is about setting the shutter speed.

 I prefer to stop the action completely in my photographs.  It is great to see a moment that might have been missed in live action.  However it can be interesting to show the energy of the scene at a slower shutter speed.  If I set the shutter speed at 1/2000second I can freeze the object in motion.  I really enjoyed taking pictures of birds at this speed.  I was able to catch bird in flight as its wings are stretched and frozen in time.  It is a great way to look at the wing span and the beauty of flight.  The same bird at a slower shutter speed appears blurred.  It is more difficult to see the wings but you have a better sense of the speed.  Another benefit to a fast shutter speed is a larger aperture.  The background becomes so blurred that the viewer focus is on the subject of the photograph.  Once I tried the fast shutter speed a few times it was pretty easy to capture pretty good images.  The challenge was in finding a good subject.  I enjoyed brainstorming ideas of subjects in motions.  I came up with birds, flag, water, and pouring top soil.  One thing I didn’t have to worry about as I took pictures at a high shutter speed was camera shake.  The picture is captures so quickly that the camera doesn’t have time to shake.  I realize that the shutter speed I choose depends on the effect I’m looking for (blurred or frozen in time) and the speed the object is moving.  If I wanted to freeze the motion of a hummingbird, I would probably use a shutter speed of 1/4000sec, however if I was wanted the same effect for a kite in the breeze I would probably only need 1/500sec to capture a good shot.  Understanding how the shutter speed can affect a picture is very helpful.  I can now capture moments that I could never capture clearly such as: blowing out the birthday candles, jumping on the trampoline and catching a fly ball at a baseball game.  These are some of the shots that I would love to capture in the future.