How to use shutter speed to make water more appealing and exciting by capturing movement.
That’s exactly what I wanted to do while on vacation with the family in Africa! We stopped at a wave-pool to watch these surfers having the time of their lives, riding a standing-wave (a wave that is not moving forwards) and pushing the limits.
This gave me the perfect opportunity to capture the thrill of the moment.
So, how did I do this? Watch now to find out!
In this episode:
(1:03) – Yes! You CAN Freeze Time
(2:20) – Moving Pictures
(3:10) – Fast vs. Slow Shutter Speeds
Yes! You CAN Freeze Time!
There are two main ways to capture movement through photography: You can freeze the action, or you can give the illusion of movement. And both create interesting pictures.
In this image, I was able to stop the motion of the wave, freezing it in time, by using a very fast shutter speed of just 1/1250th of a second. You can even see the droplets of water when you zoom in!
This is cool, but what I really wanted to show you is the difference between this approach and a slow shutter speed on the exact same scene.
Moving Pictures
By using a slow shutter speed of only 1/15th of a second, I was able to create the illusion of the surfer moving through the wave. Notice the surfer remains reasonably sharp, but you can see the wave curling up around him.
The slower the shutter, the more movement you will capture, so you have to experiment to see what works best. I wanted to keep the surfer pretty sharp and tried 1/30th and 1/60th, but 1/15th was best for the effect I was going for.
The Ultimate Guide to Shutter Speed in Photography
Summary
There are two main effects you can capture when it comes to movement:
- You can freeze the action, or
- You can show the movement
- Your shutter speed will determine which effect you get.
- To “freeze time”, use a very fast shutter speed. I used 1/250th of a second in my photo
- To show the passage of time (action/motion), use a slow shutter speed. I found 1/15th of a second to be good for this shoot.
Both will give you unique pictures. It just depends on the vibe you’re going for.
Here are some other pictures I took at the wave pool. Notice how different the feel of each is. Can you tell which is the fast shutter speed and which is the slow?
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Do This Now
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Thank you for sharing this video Brent and thank you for explaining step by step to understand. It’s a great tutorial.
Senth
Great stuff Brent! Love the tutorial 🙂
Thx Sarah
Hi Brent
Love the way you tell us what shutter speeds were used to achieve this look. Had the opportunity to take a picture of my first waterfall, was at 1/2sec at F14 and I achieved the blurred soft look similar to yours above.
Cheers
Lyn
Glad you could apply what you have learned – well done. Brent
hello brend thank u for your vedios its good explanation and also a wonderful image u capture a beutiful photos i would like to travel in south africa with u i live in Ethiopia in Africa if u can Ethiopia is one of Beutiful country there have so many place u must see may be in the next year u can add Ethiopia in your program thank u
Beautiful. Your explanation was clear and concise. Beginners to semi-professionals can gather the difference between slow and fast shutter speed also the gist of whats a shutter. Not only is your professionalism glaring but you ability to TEACH Photography. Well done.
To my surfers eyes the 1250fps shot is full of visual cues of movement. Movement is implicit in a wave and the fact that gravity requires that the rider is moving relative to the water. Also the parallel lines of foam running up the face of the wave are obvious visual cues of fast moving water.
In the 15fps image the features of the wave have been smoothed so much that it looks like a plastic model, a static object.
I guess we all look at world, and images of it, in different ways.
I am enjoying this video series.
15fps and 1250fps should have read 1/15th sec and 1/1250th sec.
I would love to go on this but my concern is how pricey it might be.
I live in Vancouver BC, canada.
Would this be for a week ?
Maybe you could send some information to me.
This would be quite the experience.
Thank you Brent
Hi Richard. African trip is now planned for May next year, going into winter in Africa, better time for spotting game. Shoot me an email and I'll add you to the list of people interested in the trip. Cheers, Brent
Great video. Simple and effective. Playing with shutter speed can give great result, but it takes some experimenting to get it right.
Brent – THANK YOU !! Finally someone can help me learn the shutter speeds, which (for some reason) I'm having trouble with. I would love to try to go to Africa – but do you have trips inside the USA also ???
Hi Brent, I look forward to getting your tutorials, they are very easy to follow and I learn heaps from them.
Hi brent thank you for your videos these are such great examples and with explaination they help me to get a better idea with my photography
Thanks Margaret. Brent
thumbs up! good examples and explanations.