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Exposure 30 seconds as indicated. Fast and long exposure in photography. Eliminating bugs globally

Exposure (shutter speed) is the amount of time that the shutter remains open and light hits the film or digital sensor. The right combination of exposure settings - shutter speed, aperture, and ISO - produces rich, clear and high-contrast images. Learn to set the shutter speed you want and the quality of your photos will increase.

Steps

Part 1

Selecting the shutter speed

    Choose a shutter speed at which stationary subjects will not be blurred. The main thing you need to achieve when taking photos is to avoid camera shake. Use a fast shutter speed to avoid blurry images. For this type of photograph, try setting it to at least 1/60. With a steady hand and the ability to hold the camera still, good results are possible even at a shutter speed of 1/30.

    • In this case, changing the shutter speed will not play a fundamental role, in addition to changing the exposure settings in general, unless movement occurs during exposure, due to which the image is smeared at least by a pixel. Even then, the picture will only be slightly less sharp. The only real difference will be seen when there is a noticeable movement (concussion).
    • The built-in Image Stabilizer in your lens or camera will slow the shutter speed down by a step or two when shooting handheld. A tighter grip on the camera also contributes to this.
    • By attaching the camera to a tripod or other fixed support, you will get rid of the shake, which is especially important when shooting with long exposures.
  1. Choose a fast shutter speed to freeze the moment movement in the frame. To set the shutter speed, you need to decide whether you are shooting a stationary or a moving subject. To capture a subject in motion, the shutter speed should be fast.

    SPECIALIST'S ADVICE

    Photographer

    Photographer

    Photographer Rosalinda Lutski advises:“To understand what exposure is, imagine that you are photographing a waterfall. It will take a fast shutter speed to capture individual water droplets, and a slower shutter speed to capture the movement of the water in general and smooth it out. ”

    Use a slow shutter speed to achieve a motion blur effect. When you photograph a moving subject, a slow shutter speed will blur the image, creating the illusion of movement in the frame. This technique is especially suitable for sports photography. With a slow shutter speed, the background is blurred.

    Set your shutter speed according to the lighting conditions. Light affects the exposure of the frame. Its source determines which shutter speed to choose. If you let in too much light, the picture will come out overexposed (overexposed, bleached). If there is too little light, the picture will be underexposed (underexposed, darkened).

    SPECIALIST'S ADVICE

    Photographer

    Rosalind Lacki has been practicing photography as a hobby since 2010. She shot portraits, worked as a concert photographer, was engaged in film photography, but most of all she loves to photograph nature.

    Photographer

    Rosalind Lutski adds:“When I photograph a star, I often set my shutter speed to 30 seconds, and when the light is dim, it’s more than a minute. Use a tripod or something else to secure the camera. I once used a stone for this purpose, so be creative with that too! "

    Part 2

    What is excerpt
    1. Understand what shutter and shutter speed are. A shutter is a device in a camera that regulates the entry of light into it. When you take a photo, it opens for a short time and a certain amount of light hits the camera sensor. The shutter then closes again, obstructing the light.

      • Shutter speed is the amount of time that the shutter remains open. In other words, it is the length of time during which light falls on the camera's sensor. Usually it is equal to only a fraction of a second.
    2. Find out how shutter speed is measured. Exposure is measured in seconds and their fractions. Its value can vary from 1/8000 to several seconds. Most often, a shutter speed of 1/60 or shorter is used.

      Understand the difference between short and long exposure. To choose the right shutter speed for a given situation, you first need to know what a fast and slow shutter speed is (fast or slow shutter speed). A value of 1/60 is usually considered borderline.

      Find shutter priority mode in the settings. Most cameras allow you to shoot with shutter priority. This means that you choose the shutter speed depending on the shooting conditions and artistic intent, and the camera automatically selects the corresponding aperture value.

      Consider the focal length. The longer the focal length of the lens, the higher the shake sensitivity. Therefore, it must be taken into account when choosing a shutter speed. If you are shooting with a telephoto lens, you should use a faster shutter speed.

Your camera is a tool that will help you capture any moment, be it the setting sun on the seashore or a beautiful girl model in the studio. Taking a good photo is sometimes not easy. Each camera has automatic settings, but these are limited in many ways. The most important concepts you need to know in order to independently control the process of photographing are sensitivity, aperture and shutter speed.

Required settings

The camera designates Creative Modes as P, S, A, M. Choosing one of these modes gives you more options to customize your camera settings to your liking. So, in the program mode (P), you can change the sensitivity of the matrix (ISO) and white balance; shutter priority (S, Tv) or aperture priority (A, Av), respectively, allow you to set the shutter speed and aperture parameters desired by the photographer. Of greatest interest is the manual mode (M), in which all of the above nuances are completely dependent on the user. This, in turn, allows you to implement the idea associated with obtaining a certain picture as a result.

Aperture (or aperture) is a hole in a camera lens, the size of which is controlled by a baffle. The partition can be opened more or less, which affects the characteristics of the resulting photograph: not only the degree of illumination, but its depth. Subjects can be all in focus, including the background, or they can be only partially, while one subject or its elements will be clear, and everything that is behind will be relatively blurred. This effect is most suitable for making an expressive photograph of flowers, animals, or a portrait of a person. The aperture can have values ​​from 1 to 32, depending on the perfection of technology, and is denoted as f / k, where k are its coefficients.

Shutter speed is the amount of time it takes for a certain amount of light to penetrate the shutter of a photographic lens. Accordingly, it is measured in seconds. The shutter speed range of the camera can be from 30 seconds and up to hundredths and thousandths, for example, 1/500, 1/1000 and less. Exposure can make the frame lighter or darker, and the sharpness of the picture also depends on it.

Light sensitivity. Its relationship with aperture and shutter speed

Aperture and camera shutter speed are two important parameters that determine the correct exposure of the frame. But, in addition to them, there is one more - light sensitivity, that is, the sensitivity of the camera matrix to light. 100, 200, 400 and 800 are standard values ​​for ISO, but the range can be larger. The lower the light sensitivity, the higher the image quality, the more - the lower, there is a lot of noise in the picture. At the same time, high sensitivity allows you to shoot even at night.

The potential of the camera in terms of setting the required shutter speed or aperture value in the environment can be quite small. In this case, the photosensitivity parameter will come to the rescue. To be able to better adjust the timing and opening of the lens, you just need to raise the ISO a little.

The simpler the camera, the easier it is to set some parameter on it. In a semi-professional or professional technique, you can use not only the main menu for this. Usually the camera has a button marked “i”, it provides information on the current settings, based on which the picture will be taken, and allows you to edit them. When you press it, we go to the section with different designations - letters and numbers. Using the arrows on the right of the panel, you can select to change the image size, focus point, shutter speed, etc. For convenience, the shutter speed on the camera can be adjusted by rotating the control dial located at the top right. By the way, the “+/-” button refers to the diaphragm, and if you press and hold it while scrolling the aforementioned dial, you can vary the size of the hole through which the light passes through the lens.

Exposure features

Exposure on the camera is very important for obtaining good shots, because such an important fact as the clarity and brightness of the image depends on it. To use it correctly, you need to know some basics. To begin with, if a slow shutter speed is selected, the photo will be of high quality with all the details preserved - you will get a well-lit landscape, portrait or subject, but if they are at rest. You can take pictures in darker conditions. A slow shutter speed on the camera is often used in this case with a tripod that stabilizes the camera. Otherwise, any movement of the hand can blur the picture. For a short time interval, little light penetrates the matrix, so the picture may be underexposed at its high definition. The advantage of a short shutter speed is the ability to shoot in motion.

Do not forget that the aperture and shutter speed of the camera depend on each other, affecting the entire exposure. Small apertures require slower shutter speeds as the amount of light will initially be limited. Also, a wide open aperture will determine a shorter exposure time. The opposite is also true.

Shutter speed for moving subjects and sports

The question arises, how to make a shutter speed on the camera when it comes to reporting or photographing sports? As it was said, unlike a slow shutter speed, a short shutter speed is able to “freeze the moment” of moving something or someone, while maintaining the sharpness of the image. And with a long frame, it will turn out to be blurry, although in some cases such blur may be appropriate.

So, the speed of an object or subject is inversely related to shutter speed:

  1. Walking, slow running - 1 / 125-1 / 250 seconds.
  2. Hockey, boxing, etc. - 1 / 250-1 / 500 sec.
  3. Auto, motor sports - about 1/1000 sec.
  4. Photo with object tracking - no more than 1 / 30-1 / 60 sec.

Think about the plot itself, it doesn't have to be boring. To do this, you need to study the terrain and interesting shooting points. If it's football, hockey, etc., then the ball or puck should be in the frame. You should also leave a certain distance, free space in front of a moving object or person. It is useful to pay attention to the emotions of the athletes during and after the game - very interesting moments can be captured. All this will give liveliness to the report.

Long exposure experiments

By changing the value of just one parameter - this is the shutter speed on the camera - you can present familiar subjects in a new way and create new techniques. Slow shutter speeds are especially amazing. An example is the classic photographing of water in a river, raindrops, blizzards, when, thanks to blur, the magic of the landscape is created.

Let's say you are photographing at night. Here, using a long exposure, you can shoot the movement of cars so that only the road remains in the picture, since it is stable, and there are stretching yellow-red light rays on it - the movement of cars with the headlights on. The dynamics will appear throughout the frame. Professional photographers use this effect to vividly capture the movement of the stars. For this, a tripod or a stationary flat surface is required.

Long Exposures in Bulb Mode

Any camera has a shutter speed setting function, and it can be set to a maximum of 30 seconds, which is quite enough to get interesting pictures. However, there are more professional cameras equipped with an additional “Bulb Mode”. It provides the author with the opportunity to choose any time interval - minutes or even hours, during which the camera shutter will be opened. Despite the fact that the Bulb requires a lot of energy for its work, a fixture for fixing equipment and, ideally, a remote control, it will soon pay off in the work. Fireworks, night sky, light painting and much more will become available in full.

Golden mean

In the opinion of professionals, the light sensitivity of the sensor, the aperture, or aperture, and the shutter speed on the camera are the “three pillars of photography”. Their various combinations determine at the output the clarity of the elements being photographed, the brightness of the colors, the degree of illumination of the objects, the blur of the background, etc. Skillful handling of the settings will allow you to shoot in almost any external conditions and with any effects. The study of specialized literature and, of course, personal practice will help in mastering the multifaceted art of photography.

The acquisition of an image in photography depends on physical or chemical processes occurring on the surface of a photosensitive material or an electronic matrix. They are initiated by the incoming radiation and are determined by its amount, expressed by the term exposure. The latter is calculated by multiplying the illumination by the shutter speed. Let's take a closer look at what exposure means in a camera.

Camera shutter speed is one of the key concepts that affect image quality. It is equal to the time during which light freely enters the photosensitive elements through the open shutter of the camera. Together with the aperture, it is responsible for the correct exposure. If the balance is disturbed, the result will be a picture that does not meet the requirements of natural perception and the intention of the photographer.

This indicator affects:

  • the degree of illumination of the frame;
  • clarity of the image;
  • the appearance of additional effects when photographing moving objects.

If the exposure time is insufficient in low light conditions, the probability of obtaining a dark image is high, and if the exposure time is excessive, it will be strongly illuminated. Short exposure in bright light allows you to capture an interesting phase of any phenomenon or moving object. Long exposure on the camera when shooting fast-moving objects leads to the appearance of blurred lines and a decrease in the clarity of borders. Sometimes this is done deliberately, achieving emphasis on high speed. Taking photographs of clear skies or cityscapes at night while deliberately increasing the shutter speed makes it possible to capture the shifting stars and traffic.

Exposure mechanism operation

At the dawn of photography, low-activity reagents were used, which required a long exposure time. The operator simply removed the lens cap, counted the seconds, and replaced it. Now this function is performed by built-in shutter opening at a predetermined interval. On digital devices, the duration of exposure to the luminous flux on the matrix can be adjusted by turning it on and off. In this regard, gates are divided into:

  • mechanical;

  • electronic.

The first option has the form of movable curtains moving perpendicular to the luminous flux. They are:

  • central;
  • curtain-slotted.

Located between the objective lenses. It consists of two halves that move apart for a short time from the center to the edges of the chamber. Slotted shutter has an adjustable gap between the opaque plates moving in one direction. The exposure time in this case is determined by the speed of movement and the width of the slit.


Electronic shutter is a switch controlled by a built-in processor on your phone or camera. When it is triggered, the matrix is ​​reset to zero, followed by reading the information. The interval between zeroing and reading is the exposure time.

In some models of cameras, instead of a mechanical shutter, the electro-optical. It contains a liquid crystal located between two polarized plates. When voltage is applied to the crystal, it changes the plane of polarization, becoming absolutely opaque.

Such a device is characterized by simplicity, reliability and minimum response time.

Modern equipment allows you to set the shutter speed in automatic mode, depending on the lighting situation. But in a real situation, there are many factors that affect the quality of the frame. The presence of a light source or a bright object can cause the automation to make a mistake. The professional photographer always strives to make all the settings by hand on his own, based on his own instinct and experience. So, to get a good picture, you need to follow his example.

Types of aging and their application

The exposure time value is expressed in seconds and their fractions... Long exposure is considered to be more than 0.5 seconds. With its help, deliberately blurred images and drawings are created that are obtained when moving light sources in the dark. Fast shutter speeds from 1/60 to 1/8000 are needed to get clear pictures with dynamic picture changes. It is used only with good sensitivity of the receiving element and bright illumination.

Even an imperceptible shake of the hand can affect the picture quality in this situation, so it is recommended to use a tripod.

As mentioned above, modern photographic equipment allows you to select the shutter speed on the camera in automatic mode, depending on the illumination and the assigned standard situation template available in the menu. When self-setting the settings, the manual mode is selected, after which the desired interval is set using a rotating drum. The designation of the shutter speed on the camera appears in the corresponding area of ​​the display and is controlled by the position of the marks of the jog wheel. In practice, after the initial setting of the settings, several shots are taken, achieving the desired result by making several successive adjustments.

Some cameras provide a Bulb mode for artistic images at any exposure time. It holds the shutter open while the shutter button is pressed.

From the article, you learned what the exposure affects camera exposure time... Now it's time to move on to the practical part and learn how to properly set the shutter speed on your camera.

First, let's see in which shooting modes the camera will allow us to manually control the shutter speed. To do this, turn the shooting mode dial and note when the field with the shutter speed is active (highlighted). remember, that holding time denoted like this: 1/200, 1/8, 1 ', etc. In Canon cameras, the shutter speed is indicated in the box located in the upper left corner of the display.


Thus, we have experimentally established that it is possible to manually control the shutter speed of the camera in only two modes - shutter priority Tv and completely manual mode M... In both cases, the shutter speed value in the camera is set by the same set of actions.


To set camera shutter speed, switch to shutter priority mode or manual shooting mode. The shutter speed field will be highlighted. This means that when you scroll the wheel for changing the shooting parameters, the set shutter speed will change. If you turn the wheel to the left, the exposure time will be lengthened, to the right - it will be shortened.

Remember, in shutter priority mode, you only control the camera exposure, and the aperture value is selected automatically, depending on the illumination of the scene in the frame. In manual mode, you will have to install it yourself, i.e. control both shutter speed and aperture at once. So when you change one of these parameters, don't forget to take care of the other! I will tell you more about how to properly control shooting parameters in manual mode in the article “Shooting in manual mode”, as well as in the basic course on photography.

Now it's time to really practice! After you have learned how to set the shutter speed on the camera, you need to learn to see how it affects your result. To do this, I suggest doing a few simple exercises.

For starters, shoot in Tv mode only. This is very important in order not to get confused and learn to perceive the result.

Normal exposure. Ask a friend, girlfriend, or grandmother to eventually help you practice your photography. First, set the exposure time from 1/40 to 1/80 and ask the model not to move. Take a few shots and ask your grandmother (girlfriend, boyfriend) to wave her hand. Now see what came of it? A blurred palm spoils the whole frame.

Short exposure. Go outside when the sun is shining brightly. If there is an opportunity to find a river, lake or at least a fountain with water - great! If not, bring a bottle of water with you. The point of the exercise is to try and freeze water droplets in flight. Ask your model to spray with water and shoot at 1/80, 1/100, 1/160, 1/200, etc. Go to 1/640. At home, on a computer, carefully consider how the water droplets turned out at different values ​​of the camera shutter speed. For yourself, note at what shutter speed they stopped looking blurry.

Another short exposure exercise. Also on a sunny day, set a value between 1/200 and 1/640. Now ask the model to move away and run to your meeting (it is better to leave the grandmother at home). At short shutter speeds, we get funny shots of a man running. Do the same with the model, making her jump a little.

Long exposure. For long exposures (1/30 and slower) you need additional accessories. Therefore, we will talk more about this technique in the following articles. I will share all the tricks and techniques for working with long exposures in my basic photography course. Stay tuned for updates on the site site

I am still waiting for questions on the topic of the article in the comments below.

Good luck with your pictures!

Updated 08.08. Views 4317 Comments 45

If you bought a camera that is more serious than a regular soap dish, then most likely you will want to master the manual settings (although they can also be found on soap dishes). And I would even advise you to do it as soon as possible, so that even if you shoot in automatic mode, you will understand what is happening.

The main parameters on the camera that you will control are few, but they are all closely interconnected: shutter speed, aperture, ISO, white balance. There is also such a parameter as depth of field (depth of field), which itself is not set in any way, but it turns out due to other parameters. I'm afraid for the first reading all this will seem too complicated and scary, but here I can only advise you how to try as much as possible at first. Shoot the same shot with different settings and then see what happens, look for relationships, analyze. And do not forget about the instructions for the camera, this is practically a reference book at first.

All parts of my Beginner Photographers FAQ

The main settings for a digital camera are shutter speed and aperture, their ratio is called exposure. Therefore, when they say you need to choose an exposure, they mean that you need to set these two values.

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