"I Hate My Camera" - Understanding the Shutter

ISO 100, f/10, 1/10 sec, 24mm

I hated swimming. The summer I took swimming lessons was one of the most traumatic summers of my life. I was a guppy; that was the name of the group of fearful swimmers to which I was assigned. At the end of our week or two (seemed like an eternity to me) we had to jump off the diving board into water that would be, for the first time, over my head. UGH!

I remember my instructor holding out a bamboo pole so that I could hold on to it and jump. It took me a while but I did.

Pressing the shutter button on a camera might cause some of you the same fear. You scan the scene in front of you and determine the shot. You pull the camera to your eye, study the scene, put your finger on the shutter button but immediately freeze. You can't push the button, pull the trigger, jump into the pool.

WHAT IF SOMETHING GOES WRONG!?!?

Yes, the picture might not turn out the way you envisioned it, but fear of pushing the shutter button shouldn't concern you, especially in these days of pixels instead of film. Other than purchasing your camera, the only price you pay for these pictures is space on your hard drive.

This shutter button is connected to the actual camera shutter.  This shutter covers the aperture until you push the shutter button.  It then remains open for a specified length of time, allowing light to enter your camera and burn an image on your sensor or film.

The SHUTTER is one third of the photographic trinity. The last blog I wrote on this topic covered the aperture (you can click the hyperlink to read that article, or click on the hyperlink to the introduction if you want an overview of aperture, shutter and ISO.)

The APERTURE will determine how long your shutter needs to remain open to capture an image that is properly exposed (aperture priority mode), AND the SHUTTER will determine how open your aperture needs to be in order to properly expose your picture (shutter priority mode).

The PURPOSE of your picture will determine whether you set your camera to aperture or shutter priority.

Generally speaking (and I mean generally), if your goal is to control the depth of field then you will probably shoot in APERTURE PRIORITY mode.

If your purpose is to focus on action, then you'll probably choose in SHUTTER PRIORITY mode. Basically, you will want to either STOP fast action, or you will want to make the object look like it's MOVING as in the picture above.

A FAST shutter speed will FREEZE action, whereas a SLOW shutter speed will give the allusion of MOVEMENT.

YOU CAN CONTROL THE SHUTTER SPEED!

Once again, you might be fearful of controlling your shutter. Actually the shutter is crying out for you to change it. It's tired of the program mode telling it, as well as the aperture, what to do. It would you rather tell it how fast or slow it should open.

Controlling your shutter speed will allow you to let the creative juices flow, but like any skill, it takes practice and experimentation--which means it will take some time.

I suggest that you start experimenting by putting your camera into SHUTTER PRIORITY mode and go take some pictures. Here are my suggestions for how you go about shooting in shutter priority mode which are similar to setting your camera in aperture priority mode.

1. Pull out your camera's manual and find where it talks about how to set your camera to Shutter Priority. Read this section carefully. Shutter Priority means that the aperture will adjust to the setting of you shutter. In other words, if you set your camera to a Shutter Priority 1/125 second, that setting will remain constant. The aperture will change to give you a correct exposure.
2. Set your camera’s ISO to ISO 400. Don’t worry about what ISO means at this time, just do it. It’s even better if you camera has “Auto ISO.” Then you won’t have to worry about ISO for this project. In the next blog I’ll explain ISO. Consult your manual to find out how to set your camera’s ISO
3. Start playing with with different shutter settings. We’re not worried about what the pictures look like at this time. The only thing we’re trying to accomplish is learning HOW to use your camera in Shutter Priority Mode. Pay attention to what happens to the aperture size when you adjust the shutter speed.
4. NOW THE REALLY FUN PART. Start taking pictures of things that are moving with different shutter speeds. Upload your pictures to your computer and notice what happens with different shutter speeds. If you’re really geeky you’ll take notes.

Here are some tips on taking pictures in Shutter Priority.

• Pan with the moving object. Panning is where you move the camera with the object that is moving. Try this with both fast and slow shutter speeds to see the difference. This is a good time to tell your child or grandchild to ride their bike in front of you because you want to take pictures.
• Keeping your camera still (on a monopod or tripod would be preferred), have your child or grandchild walk in front of your camera from left to right or right to left. If your camera can do multiple pictures with one shutter release (burst) then use that function. Again, do this with with multiple shutter speeds to see the difference. 
• If you plan on hand holding your camera, avoid using shutter speeds slower than 1/60 sec. Slower speeds might cause a blurry picture. Some cameras can handle slower speeds with image stabilization.  You will need to experiment.  Two good general purpose shutter speeds are 1/125 and 1/250 sec.

TWO COOL FACTS ABOUT USING YOUR SHUTTER BUTTON!!!

Before we leave this topic of the shutter, I'd like to address two great things you can do with your shutter button on most cameras, including point-and-shoots.

1. Say you want to focus on your grandson, but you want him to the left of you picture. Every time you place him to the side and press the shutter button he goes out of focus because the camera, being a stupid piece of computer parts, will focus on whats in the middle of your frame. Here's how you trick your camera. Move your camera so that your grandson is in the middle of your frame and push the shutter button HALFWAY DOWN. You might hear an electronic noise at this point.  Most cameras will now lock in the focus. With your finger still on the shutter move your camera so that your grandson is to the side of the frame and push the shutter the rest of the way down. He will now be in focus and where you you want him in your picture.
2. Say that you're taking a beautiful landscape and your camera keeps metering the light of the very bright sky making the rest of the picture dark. Try this to lighten the landscape. Exclude as much of the sky in your frame as possible and push the shutter button HALFWAY DOWN. Keeping your finger on the shutter button lift the camera to the picture you desire and push the button the rest of the way down. The sky might be brighter than you'd like, but the landscape should be okay.

Here's another UNRELATED tip for taking landscapes. If you have a cloudless sky, try to exclude as much of the sky as you can. IT'S BORING, NEGATIVE SPACE! Actually, there's another blog...negative space.

Happy shooting!