Some practical examples of shutter speed...

Sunset sky long shutter panning abstract image at the beach.

Along with ISO sensitivity and the physical size (those dreaded f/numbers) of the internal lens aperture opening, shutter speed defines the exposure triangle.

These three aspects, first and foremost, determine the appearance of the image. Secondly, they have to be in balance in terms of what the camera/lens combination can and can't do in the light you are working with. This article will focus purely on a few practical examples of shutter speeds.

It is my opinion that a great image starts with the artistic vision and camera settings need to be brought to the vision. For a very large part of my life I did it the "wrong" way round.

Lugar, a German Short-haired Pointer in action

Now this image above shows a fairly fast shutter speed of probably 1/1000 of a second and possibly faster. It was shot hand-held with a long telephoto zoom lens in good (flattish overcast) outdoor midday light. Long lenses with moderate maximum apertures of around f/4 or f/5,6 want lots of light when such a fast shutter is used.

Sacramento Rock Gulley

In my latest outings I went for long exposures during bright midday hours. These are not typical landscape photography hours.

Midday light...well, anything beyond about two hours after sunrise up to about an hour before sunset, is often and mostly way too harsh and bright. Getting exposures long enough to blur movement in this way require good filters and one or two other tricks. Exactly how long your shutter speed should be is often a hit-n-miss series of experiments that boil down to personal taste. I wish to show a few examples of that in this article.

Getting a straight horizon in ACR

Waves crashing over rocks at Sacramento Trail, Port Elizabeth - ISO 100, f/11 and 1/100 shutter.

This image above shows a typical daytime exposure as the camera's light meter would guide you. The spray crashing over the rocks looks OK but the water is not completely "frozen".

There is a lot of bright areas in this image. The sky and the white foam in the breaking waves trick the light meter and this will guide you in the wrong direction towards underexposing.

There is also a fair amount of dark shadow which will trick the light meter the other way but not as much as the bright parts. The camera light meter will sway toward the majority of brightness. This could cause you to underexpose. Please remember that the camera, via it's light meter, guides you to a "good" exposure. It has no idea of your subject matter or effect you wish to achieve. It measures the quantity of light and guides you to settings that will give you a "good" exposure.

Now you want to take it to the next level. You wish to get that really nice image that shows a bit of artistic flair. The problem is that you may not be able to visit the scene multiple times. Tides and many other things change and you have to work with what you have at that time...

Cape St Francis beach panorama

This is one of our recent happy places. I made this panorama using 7 stitched images and it covers an angle of view of about 130 degrees from left to right. Now I am still very much coming to grips with a variety of new toys I had to upgrade to when I was recently forced to do so. For this reason I try to revisit and shoot some specific locations often. Hardly ever will you visit a new location and shoot an image that you consider the definitive capture. I know I definitely can't.

Experimenting with settings will get you much closer to bringing home pleasing images.

So I was reasonably pleased with this image but looking at it critically I felt that I wanted more colour in the foreground water.

For a start I would have liked to shoot this on or just after sunset. On the day this was not possible.

The individual images were shot with a 13 second exposure. To do such long exposures you need the right filters in front of the lens. My choice is Nisi and you can get them here if you are in South Africa. I used a solid 10-stop filter to get my shutter speed to 13 seconds and a 3-stop soft grad filter for the bright sky. ISO sensitivity was at 100 and f/11 aperture was used. Even in late afternoon sun 13 seconds is a long time and all the movement in the surf reflects a LOT of light. This is why there is more pale white than sea green tones.

A 4 second exposure at f/5,6 - Canon 16-35mm f/4 at 24mm

A 2 second exposure at f/4, Canon 16-35mm f/4 at 24mm

Looking at these last two images shot with much faster shutter speeds, it is easy to see the possible benefits of shutter speeds faster than 13 seconds. Much more colour is retained in the foreground water and detail is seen in the breaking waves. Stitching multiple images with more detail in breaking waves might bring new fun to the party unless your timing is very lucky.

For some random info, these last two single frame images show darkened corners. This is called vignetting. It is a common thing with wide-angle lenses, especially when they are shot wide open at f/2,8 or f.4.

Well, I trust that will be of value and help you to make more pleasing images. Don't be afraid to experiment. The camera is nothing more than a tool in your hand but it often helps to use the tool correctly. There is no real right or wrong. What counts is producing an image that shows your planned vision of what you captured.

Happy shooting!

Anton