Hey guys, what does a good beer, a ski resort, & flags in the background have in common? Stick around and find out.
Highlights from this video:
0:44 Tutorial on Shutter Speed
0:49 Images shot with varying shutter speeds
2:50 Ideal shutter speed for moving flags
3:10 Capture movement with shutter speeds
Great Beer at the bottom of Thredbo Ski Resort
The answer to this question is that we were at the bottom of the ski resort having a beer and I noticed the flags flying with the wind and I thought, what is the best way to photograph these flags to show movement?
Shutter Speed
In this free tutorial, I’m going to talk about shutter speed and how you can show movement by just playing with the shutter speed a little bit.
First Image: 1/125 Sec
The first shot of this flag, I photographed it at 1/125 sec. That’s quite a fast shutter speed. You’ll notice that the flag is very still; it looks like it’s frozen in time. There’s no real movement there.
Second Image: 1/60 sec reduced shutter speed
To show more movement, I reduced the shutter speed to 1/60 sec. That’s half the shutter speed of the first image. You’ll notice that we’re starting to see a little bit of blurring at the edge, but the flag is still a little bit sharp as well as the background.
Third Image: 1/30 sec
I went a little bit lower at 1/30 sec and now the flag is starting to show some movement. It’s fluttering in the wind and it’s got blurring, but you can still see the Canadian flag and the background is just awesome
Fourth Image: 1/15 sec
This one is at 1/15 sec and now you’ll notice that the flag has quite a lot of movement. There’s quite a lot of blurring. I like this shot because the background is still sharp, the flagpole is pretty sharp, but the flag is definitely moving. This is a much more interesting image than the first one
Fifth Image: 1/8 sec
Let’s go down to 1/8 sec . You’ll notice that there’s a lot of ghosting and blurring on the end of this flag as it gets blown by the wind. The background is starting to get a little more blurred because I was hand-holding the camera (no tripod). At this speed, you get some movement from breathing and hand-holding the camera. But you can still see the Canadian flag beautifully blown in the wind.
Sixth Image: 1/4 sec
Let’s go even slower than that. Now, you’ll notice that the background and the building over there is quite blurred. I’m battling to hold this lens still. I probably should’ve used a tripod. But you can see that we’re getting a lot of movement there
Best Shutter Speed for Moving Flags
Probably, 1/15 sec is the best shot I’ve got where it’s showing the flag movement but the background is awesomely sharp. That’s one way of capturing movement using shutter speed or shutter priority of your camera. The images above are taken with my Canon EOS 60D. That’s a consumer-grade SLR camera.
Photography Tip
So here’s a good tutorial. If you see something moving and you want to make the image more dynamic, play around with your shutter speed and go from a really fast shutter speed to a really slow one, and have a look at how your images change.
The Ultimate Guide to Shutter Speed in Photography
Brent here, have a great day!
Good day Brent:
Just want to say you have some mad skills as a teacher, video maker and brander. I imagine the US lesson has a US flag etc. Excellent video and really have enjoyed every one of them. Congrats on being able to move into a new life paradigm and good luck with the selling of the Portrait business.
In this tutorial, my gut feeling was to stick with the 1/15 th speed. (I don’t have a digital SLR, but your teaching method is applicable to any type camera). Regrettably, I missed several of your previous posts … not through any fault of yours, but rather because of a bug in gmail.
(I don’t know if it is fixed). I had created a filter for your tutorials “subscription”, it seems that the particular bug in gmail ‘hid’ all my filtered mails. Only by doing a specific search for ‘unread’ emails did yours and other filtered emails show up.
Consequently, I have deleted all my filters, which is somewhat of an annoyance. (With the filter / label, I could quickly spot your posts in my inbox.)
Greets and ATB from Montréal! 😉
Brent, I liked this on a couple of levels. The shutter speed off course showed more movement, but I also noticed the aperture was shrinking as the shutter speed slowed. This was good for me as I am trying to use creative modes more. This was spot on.
Dennis
Exactly Dennis. As the shutter speed speed gets slower the aperture needs to compensate for the increase in light, so it closes more and gets smaller. That way, the camera maintains the correct exposure all the time. 2 lessons in one! Brent
Hi Brent,
I want to photograph my friend while they jump from ground. So, which Shutter Speed I should choose for great photos, great effects ?
Thank you.
Hi John. Thats difficult to say, what lens are you using, how far are you from the subject, and how much light is there? Start at 1/60th second, experiment with the shutter speed, go faster and then slower. Try it out. Brent
Thanks for so quick reply.
I use Nikon D300 with AFD 35mm f2/0 . I can’t imagine what is the best for great photos : distance, shutter speed. This weekend, we ‘ll travel to a countryside in a sunny day. I’m afraid that everybody will not be fun if I just try and try so many times.
Thank you, every video I learn more and more.
Glad you like this video. You can have so much fun with shutter speed. Brent