Shutter Speed

[2jamesl]

I recently bought a kodak p880 and i have certain options. I tried out shutter priority and set it to the fastest -- 1,4000th of a second. The only trouble i have is that the picture is black, is this normal? And if so can i get around it?

[Frik]

The faster the shutter speed, the less time the shutter is open and so a much smaller amount of light is reaching it.

In all but the brightest conditions, a shutter speed this fast will record barely any information - hence the darkness of the shot.

HTH.

[beano500]

...and remember folks:


SPEED MATTERS!

[GetCarter]

leave it on auto for a few weeks...

...then if you want to shoot in speed priority - select 60th sec for landscapes and 400th sec for portraits.

See how you get on.

One tip though... avoid 4,000th sec (cos it'll be black).

[Gemm]

Aperture has to be large enough to get 1/4000s of shutter speed, e.g. f2.8, and obviously your camera/lens's aperture isn't large enough for it. To get the fastest shutter speed with available light, set it to aperture priority and use the largest aperture (smallest f-number). Isn't there an indicator in the viewfinder to show if the image will be under/over-exposed?

Personally I'd use aperture priority for both landscapes and portraits. (Small aperture for landscapes to get maximum DoF, and larger aperture for portraits to get minimum DoF to blur the background)

Edited by Gemm on Wednesday 21st June 19:24

[2jamesl]

well i was using it for taking pictures of moving cars. They are quite far away. It does have an exposure indicator but i dont think it works in Shutter priority. whats the fastest you think i can get away with and whats the point in having 1,4000th of asecond if it doesnt work?

Thanks for the answers so far!

[Gemm]

2jamesl said:

well i was using it for taking pictures of moving cars. They are quite far away. It does have an exposure indicator but i dont think it works in Shutter priority. whats the fastest you think i can get away with and whats the point in having 1,4000th of asecond if it doesnt work?

Thanks for the answers so far!

For moving cars, the slower the shutter speed, the better. It depends on the speed of the cars, but try starting around 1/250s, then follow the car as you press the shutter (panning).

1/4000s would work fine in very bright light (and/or when using a large aperture) and/or when using a high ISO.

[cannedheat]

Gemm said:

2jamesl said:

well i was using it for taking pictures of moving cars. They are quite far away. It does have an exposure indicator but i dont think it works in Shutter priority. whats the fastest you think i can get away with and whats the point in having 1,4000th of asecond if it doesnt work?

Thanks for the answers so far!

For moving cars, the slower the shutter speed, the better. It depends on the speed of the cars, but try starting around 1/250s, then follow the car as you press the shutter (panning).

1/4000s would work fine in very bright light (and/or when using a large aperture) and/or when using a high ISO.

Gemm, with regards the shots you have on pbase, were you using some sort of ND filter in order to get those 180+s exposures? or is there some other trick?

[Gemm]

cannedheat said:

Gemm, with regards the shots you have on pbase, were you using some sort of ND filter in order to get those 180+s exposures? or is there some other trick?

No, no filter at all for panning shots. And there's really no trick either. Just set the camera on shutter priority (that will adjust the aperture accordingly), then reduce the ISO if the light level is good, or increase the ISO if the light level is poor.

But I have used a polariser (used as ND filter) for some of the head-on shots, as I had to use the maximum aperture but still wanted to keep the shutter speed low enough to show the blur on the tyres. This becomes necessary in bright sunlight.

Edited by Gemm on Thursday 22 June 08:25

[cannedheat]

Gemm said:

cannedheat said:

Gemm, with regards the shots you have on pbase, were you using some sort of ND filter in order to get those 180+s exposures? or is there some other trick?

No, no filter at all for panning shots. And there's really no trick either. Just set the camera on shutter priority (that will adjust the aperture accordingly), then reduce the ISO if the light level is good, or increase the ISO if the light level is poor.

But I have used a polariser (used as ND filter) for some of the head-on shots, as I had to use the maximum aperture but still wanted to keep the shutter speed low enough to show the blur on the tyres. This becomes necessary in bright sunlight.

Edited by Gemm on Thursday 22 June 08:25

I was thinking more of those pics down by the sea where you've got the water to look all misty by using super long shutter speeds... Were they taken using any sort of ND or just in low light conditions?

[beano500]

cannedheat said:

.... where you've got the water to look all misty by using super long shutter speeds...

Which are stunning and very inspiring btw...

[Gemm]

cannedheat said:

I was thinking more of those pics down by the sea where you've got the water to look all misty by using super long shutter speeds... Were they taken using any sort of ND or just in low light conditions?

Ooooops, sorry, I should've read it properly.

The ones very early in the morning well before sunrise are taken without any filters, but once the sun has risen (or started to rise), I needed a ND filter (and some with ND + polariser) to get long enough shutter speed to blur the water. Some of them even had to be deliberately over-exposed by up to 2/3 stops to get longer shutter speed.

And I forgot to add... some shots were composite of 2 images, one metered off the water and one off the sky, then put together in post-processing.

Edited by Gemm on Thursday 22 June 13:53

[GetCarter]

Nice seascape pics Gemm.

Steve

[2jamesl]

But how do you do this? Get the car in focus and blur the background. Do you pan?

www.pbase.com/gemmf/image/59447880

Edited by 2jamesl on Thursday 22 June 17:24

[_dobbo_]

The ferrari is actually on a conveyor belt which moves at exactly the same speed as the wheels, meaning that the ferrari is not actually moving, but the world is zooming behind it.

Under these conditions, the car will never take off.

sorry about that

He is panning - best thing is to experiment, varied shutter speed and varied car speeds can get you some nice results:




Exposure Time: (1/15)
Aperture: f/13.0



Car was doing about 20mph in this case.

Edited by _dobbo_ on Thursday 22 June 17:37

[2jamesl]

_dobbo_ said:

The ferrari is actually on a conveyor belt which moves at exactly the same speed as the wheels, meaning that the ferrari is not actually moving, but the world is zooming behind it.

Under these conditions, the car will never take off.

sorry about that

He is panning - best thing is to experiment, varied shutter speed and varied car speeds can get you some nice results:




Exposure Time: (1/15)
Aperture: f/13.0



Car was doing about 20mph in this case.

Edited by _dobbo_ on Thursday 22 June 17:37

You did a photo shoot with Tuan?

[Frik]

2jamesl said:

You did a photo shoot with Tuan?

I believe he's Tuan's official photographer.

[_dobbo_]

Frik said:

2jamesl said:

You did a photo shoot with Tuan?

I believe he's Tuan's official photographer.

I prefer to be called his Guru/Advisor

PS He's much shorter in real life than on the TV, and much uglier, hard as that is to believe.

[Gemm]

2jamesl said:

But how do you do this? Get the car in focus and blur the background. Do you pan?

It was shot with 1/80s, f8. Yes, just follow and track the car in focus. It was a bit of a pain on that day as the cars were going pretty slow (and often stopping in traffic jam!!) and doing all sorts of different speed. But it was particularly important to blur the background as the people were right behind the cars.

[2jamesl]

i tried a few shots running along with my brother. They werent to successful. I cant use flash can i? Its bound to take some practice and i couldnt have my camera level.