Elke W has selected me to host the next challenge.
Do some of the camera settings intimidate you? Do you want to learn how to develop your photography skills and learn how to use your camera effectively without always going back to the “auto” function? These challenges are for you!
This week’s challenge is: 1/200
Explanation:
With any photo there are three things that make up any image. Aperture, ISO and Shutter speed. In this weeks challenge we are going to work on your Shutter speed.
Being able to control the shutter speed and understanding what shutter speed to use for the image that you want to display is very important to get that message of movement across and along with the use of a strobe/flash you can also change the over all image dramatically.
You challenge this week is to put your cameras shutter speed on 1/200 and see how it affect different subjects.
Few Tips (optional):
While 1/200 is fast enough to freeze most moving subject it is not quick enough t freeze all. Go out and play and see what works with this speed and what doesn't. Take photos of moving object, or partial moving objects like someone running. Some of the image will be frozen in time while other parts will have motion blur.
Take photos of a dog running or using it so follow a moving object and see how much of the background is frozen.
Take photos of water coming from a tap and then turn the tap on more and see how that affects the image.
Not all images are about freezing motion.
Now try the same thing using your flash and see how that changes the image.
Few links to learn from:
Have a look at these image that use their shutter speed to affect the image.
Experienced photographers who are knowledgeable in this particular setting are encouraged to offer “kind and constructive” suggestions on the posted entries. Those entering this challenge want to learn and improve.
This challenge starts Saturday, 12th and ends Wednesday, 16th 12:00pm Central Standard Time. All photos must be taken during these dates to be considered. TAG YOUR PHOTO CSC-2 AND post your picture in this thread to receive feedback from other experienced photographers specific to this challenge. Voting will take place Thursday, 17th and the winner will be announced 18th. The winner of the challenge will select an experienced photographer to host a new challenge. It is the winner’s option on who they want to host the next challenge; it may be someone they follow whose work they admire, or someone who is active offering suggestions on previous CSC challenges. Expect to receive constructive suggests on how to improve your skills.
How to post your photo on this link:
1) Go to your page that has the photo you wish to post.
2) Copy the “share” code in the bottom right section of that page.
3) Return to this thread and paste the code under comments
Could another Nikon user please help with undoubtedly dumb question? Is dialing the shutter speed to 200 the same as 1/200? I get very easily confused when numbers don't look the same:( @shadesofgrey
@agima
Thanks Brendan...I have been reading the manual, and thought that would be the case, but only saw it written as a fraction of a second in the book, and just the straight number on the camera. At least I have learnt how to change the shutter speed!!!
Brenden this is so timely. I was just wondering how you change a shutter speed and you selected this for the challenge. This is going to be fun to learn and I can't wait to try it. I will have to learn.
I have a dumb question too - For the Aperture setting there was the M setting to use or the A mode. Is there a Shutter Speed mode too?
@myhrhelper - Kathy, there should be an "S" on your D5100's dial. That is shutter priority setting. Shutter priority allows you to set the shutter speed and the camera takes care of the rest. Or, you can use M and set everything yourself.
@agima Thank you mr Maunder for hosting the challenge! Although it's pretty windy today, and I have been playing with the setting I have yet to find a subject to focus on.
@elke Great choice in challenge host! I'm excited about this weeks challenge. I'm watching someone's boys during the challenge so I should be able to get action shots and practice.
Congratulations again on your fantastic pic for the last challenge!
Another dumb question - but that is what this challenge is for right?!
What is asked in Camera Setting Challenges stay in Camera Setting Challenges - right?!
I see the term ISO speed and I see shutter speed listed separately.
are they the same thing?
@myhrhelper Lets see if this Dutchy can explain this in proper English ;-)
ISO is the sensitivity of the sensor to the light.. the lower the number, the less sensitive and the "harder" it is to use a fast shutter speed in low light... that is if you want to freeze motion ;-) A high ISO number (very sensitive) can cause digital noise in the picture, but I've heard that the sensor of the d5100 deals pretty well with (extremely) high ISO. For example, my little camera will start to show noise at a measly ISO 800 LOL
Shutter speed is the amount of exposure time; the duration the shutter will open to let the light in to reach the sensor. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shutter_speed
This is a great project, I will be doing 1/200 shots this week. Thanks for starting this, missed the first lesson but that's okay! Im here now, better late than never. Thanks
An example is: you have your shutter set at 1/200 as it is exactly the right speed to capture a running horse however the image is under exposed. To get around this you can either open your aperture up (say from f5.6 to f2.8) or you can increase your ISO. Changing your aperture will blur the background more and change the look if the image and not just brighter then image. Increasing the ISO will brighter the image without changing the image.
As mentioned increasing your ISO will introduce noise, some camera handle it better then others. In general the more expensive the better it handles noise.
@agima I was also intending to say... in the old days you would buy a roll of Kodak with lets say 400 ASA...these days you'll set you're camera to 400 ISO ;-) (My mom still talks about ASA when she means ISO.... lol) @myhrhelper
Hello everyone. I took this shot of a swinging necklace and found out that it was blurred without and in focus and frozen with flash. Also tried the tab-tip, @agima, was really interesting. It was interesting to try and I will keep trying as the week goes on. Thanks for your feedback in advance =)
So I didn't find a "natural fast moving object" today... well to be honest I was hoping for the group of stallions in the field next to ours to run a mock ;-).... But my camera will be "stuck at" 1/200 for the duration of this challenge. So I played around with some "Queen Anne's lace" this eve with the sunset as a background (and lighting) and altered the Aperture to get three different effects (normally I would have altered the shutter speed to do so) It was very windy today... so there is still some motion blur LOL
at f/5.4
at f/8.0
at f/13.0
I do have some other idea's...if the stallions won't co-operate some time soon ;-)
@traeumerlein87 Do you happen to have to photos with and without flash that you can share? It would be interested for the group to see how flash effects the shutter speed on a moving object.
@elke Now that is a great example how chaning the aperture can affect the image. Well done.
@mikehamm I assume you were tracking the plane as the other objects have the motion blur?
When shooting movement it is better that it is going from left to right or right to left in the image. If it is coming straight at you it is much harder to catch.
It also helps the close the subject is to you the faster you have to move so the more blur you will have.
Try it out.... Stand next to a road and shoot cars going from left to right or right to left. Then move closer take some shots them move further away and take some more.
Its all trial and error but the more you do the more you learn what you can and can not take at 1/200.
@agima Erm... very good question and my answer is: I have no idea. I just know that the same thing happened for the tab pictures.
Maybe the flash kind of "replaces" the shutter speed?
What I want to say is: the sensor might only record the picture of the moment the flash lights up the scene and that is quicker than 1/200?
Curious to know the answer now :) and I will definitely try to swing it around in circles today, should be fun!
I'm not entering this for the challenge because I took it on auto but when I saw the different movement I thought '1/200??' And it was 1/200 so I'm posting this to say 'thanks Brendan' for teaching me about this particular setting - it's fun learning new stuff even when you used it by accident!
Is the point to have some motion blur or is the point to catch the movement in a crisp shot?
You put your right foot in, you put your right foot out....
you put your right foot in and you shake it all about. You do the "Hokey Pokey" and you turn yourself around, that's what it's all about! This is one of our month old chicks balancing on the edge of the run. It reminded me of the "Hokey Pokey" This was practice for the camera settings challenge #2.
There is some motion blur on the foot in the air....I'm not very skilled at taking motion photos. It's an area that I could really use improvement.
This one is from our 6 mile hike today. A view of the road from the trail we were on. From the challenge perspective, I like the oof area in the foreground with the road and background in focus. Aperture was at f9 on this one with ISO at 200.
I don't think I am getting the movement part of this challenge...how do I force the flash on in manual...oh I will go try to find it in the book. I am not giving up!
When the flash fires it fires at something like 1/6000 of a second and it is this flash that is captured in the camera and it over rides the shutter speed in a dark situation.
It is for that reason when you talk about strobe you will see some are made for action and some are not. The action strobes are quicker than the non action one.
@doorknee71 The reason why you didnt notice is the water is not moving fast enough and the flash didn't have the power to override the shutter.
@judithg great example as you can see the motion blur in the horse at the back but the others are still. Well done.
@snipsnap The real point is to let you expereiment and understand at what point 1/200 makes a sharp picture and at what point it has motion blur. At 1/200 you will some thing that will be blured and some sharp in the same image. It is this type of image I would be trying to achive and enter in the comp. :)
@mikehamm I would try and capture the same image with a high speed can in frame. that way it will give some understanding of the shutter speed.
@polarvrtx good example as you can still see the person and the feet have some blur. Oh there is no wrong time of the day, it just means we have to learn how to work with that time of the day. I must say you have picked a hard subject i.e. a black horse... :) Black things are very very hard to photograph if there are other non black things in the picture.
@snipsnap Well done a great example. When you look at the fan it becomes more blurred as you move out from the center.
@httpgeffed I wouldn't worry about the flash for now as it will just complicate things. I would also pick a subject that is moving much faster. It is unlikely that the water will be moving fast enough to have some blur at 1/200.
Oh if you just pop up the flash it should fire. There is a button on the side of the camera that does this. NOTE: If you flash is not the type where it pops up there it will be in the menu to force the flash to fire.
Ok I tried getting some kids to jump up & down but they had their own idea's. Feedback Please! OK - now I looked at the setting description - it says 10/2000 is that the same thing? I tried to set it on 1/200? I'm confused. I tried to change the lighting by changing the ISO but set the "S" mode to 1/200.
HELP!
I spent a lot of time in the bushes today working on this challenge. Here are three more shots of bumblebees. I was really happy to get one "going in for the landing" because it looks like frozen motion, which is cool. I also tried some shots of vehicles passing by, but I'm way out in the country and they were all going way too fast!
@myhrhelper - Kathy, 10/2000 is the same as 1/200.
Just remove the 0 from the 10 and the last 0 from the 2000. As long as you remove the 0 from both sides of the equation, then the result is the same. And, as Lisa mentions it's also the same as .005 of a second. 10 divided by 2000 or 1 divided by 200 will equal .005.
I brought some flowers home for DW and tried out a water drop with the flowers in the backdround. Also used the on-camera flash.
The flowers look as if they are nearly in focus in the bottom drop although the drop is blurry. Interesting. Definitely need to work with drops some more. First real attempt at them.
Tried the 1/200 shutter speed today on a lot of pictures. Feedback welcome. Interesting to see how the images don't blur and the moment almost freezes. Will keep trying to do more of these. Thank you for challenge.
@agima more movement I guess the water stopped more midair...maybe that is the problem, I don't really get how to stop movement for the blur. I have to photo a 5K and 10K next weekend and I hope to capture the moment, but I am not sure if I should use this setting or go to something with a slower shutter speed and take more portrait type photos...
@httpgeffed 1/200 is quite fast. I see you do have some motion blur. I think I would try something that is a bit more defined. In your picture you have fast moving parts but there is not a good separation between the two.
@cheribug You need to pick faster subject. :). If you look at your second photo there s a girl running and yo can see motion blur in her hair whe the rest of the image is frozen. N your third image the water at the front is blurred where the rest is frozen.
It's a fine line between what will have motion blur and wh will not sot it is a bit of playing around to see what works.
Okay, I tried again today. I think the motion might not have been quick enough or does the b&w not allow to see it enough? When zooming in one can see motion blur of the car. Hm. Ideas, please (=
@traeumerlein87 I think the setting of 200 is not slow enough for motion pics. My opinion only , if you tried it with a slower shutter speed might be different? Im sure I will be proved wrong...lol.....
@myhrhelper Now we are talking tha is fantastic. If I had a comment on what to change, would turn the hips a fraction as it makes for a better drive. :)
Is this the kind of thing? I wasn't sure whether the moving object, in this case a spinning UFO, should be in focus or blurred!
I had problems with light with this shutter speed setting. I tried messing with the ISO but it didn't help so I just used the flash. Is 1/200 better for daylight conditions rather than indoors?
@djepie If you have any suggestions as it relates to this specific challenge I would recommend that you make those comments on this page so everyone can learn. We are looking for gentle suggestions in order to grow and improve our skills.
Also, there are people who may have questions or are struggling with any particular challenge so we would love to have other experienced photographers make suggests, answer questions, etc. The host of the challenge always offers some, but we would like to encourage others such as yourself to add helpful tips as well.
@roachling If you have a read back up through this post I touched on using flash. In short as soon as you use flash it will override you shutter speed so the image will appear to be frozen. So to get motion blur you need to not use flash or be in a well lit place so that the flash is not the over powering the shot.
To answere your question you can do it inside or out as long as there is enought light.
Okay, after having commented to other ones' challenge photos, today also one of mine. Feel free to give critisicm.
Dutch picture that reminds me to an old painting my grandfather painted on about a square meter linen. I always admired it when we visited their appartment.
The 1/200s together with ISO100 resulted in aperture f/4, so a small DOF, but on this distance you will not notice.
@tigerdreamer Ah, see you made your first panning pics and it worked out well. Indeed composition could be better, but panning was the challenge here, so no problem. Needed much photos before you had the one you were looking for? The background blur is perfect. Lighting can me be improved in processing, but first: compliments with the panning. You see even with 1/200 you can almost freeze cars or get them racing; it just depends on their speed.
@roachling Great shot. Freezing spinning UFO and so resulting in a balancing UFO everyone will ask how it can balance this way. 1/200 indeed is a bit difficult indoor. The latest DSLRs can make shots with about ISO2000 without problems, but here you perfectly used the flash, you prevented from a black background and an overexposed UFO.
@agima
Thanks for that info - I obviously missed the bit about the flash but oh well, at least I had a play atound with some manual settings - that's the point of this after all! I'll learn one day!
@djepie
Thanks for your input - I thought it came out quite well but I didn't know that using a flash over rides the shutter speed! I think the camera I was using only went up to ISO 1600 so I would have to try it outdoors.
@agima Brendan thank you so much for this challenge this week! It was so fun and I learned SO MUCH by doing this. You have been an awesome host as well offering very useful tips and suggestions!.
Just want your opinion - (I replied to everyone who responded in this thread, rather than look at each entry and copy the names) but I value everyone's respond.
I would like to get the voting for this challenge started (typically voting is all day Thursday, even starting Wednesdays is fine). If Brendan doesn't start the voting process so I am thinking about having Elke select the top 5 and start the voting. Do you agree?
i really want this challenge to continue since I'm learning so much and I hope many of you feel the same way.
If Elke doesn't respond then I will ask our last experienced photographer to select the top 5.
I'm hoping Brendan does since he did such a wonderful job with this challenge.
I was waiting for the end of this week's challenge to hit the voting stage as the weekend was drawing near to start the next one, sounds fine to me Kathy
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@shadesofgrey
Thanks Brendan...I have been reading the manual, and thought that would be the case, but only saw it written as a fraction of a second in the book, and just the straight number on the camera. At least I have learnt how to change the shutter speed!!!
Thats how it is on the Nikon, from 1" to 30" sec...its the big numbers that confused me!!
@cheribug
Someone has to ask the obvious!!
I have a dumb question too - For the Aperture setting there was the M setting to use or the A mode. Is there a Shutter Speed mode too?
@mikehamm
Congratulations again on your fantastic pic for the last challenge!
What is asked in Camera Setting Challenges stay in Camera Setting Challenges - right?!
I see the term ISO speed and I see shutter speed listed separately.
are they the same thing?
ISO is the sensitivity of the sensor to the light.. the lower the number, the less sensitive and the "harder" it is to use a fast shutter speed in low light... that is if you want to freeze motion ;-) A high ISO number (very sensitive) can cause digital noise in the picture, but I've heard that the sensor of the d5100 deals pretty well with (extremely) high ISO. For example, my little camera will start to show noise at a measly ISO 800 LOL
Shutter speed is the amount of exposure time; the duration the shutter will open to let the light in to reach the sensor. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shutter_speed
Kathy - here are a couple links about the exposure triangle. HTH
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnVzXVsKdXU
Fun with sliders on this one. http://www.kamerasimulator.se/eng/?page_id=2
An example is: you have your shutter set at 1/200 as it is exactly the right speed to capture a running horse however the image is under exposed. To get around this you can either open your aperture up (say from f5.6 to f2.8) or you can increase your ISO. Changing your aperture will blur the background more and change the look if the image and not just brighter then image. Increasing the ISO will brighter the image without changing the image.
As mentioned increasing your ISO will introduce noise, some camera handle it better then others. In general the more expensive the better it handles noise.
Try them at different speeds and see at what speed they blur
@myhrhelper
at f/5.4
at f/8.0
at f/13.0
I do have some other idea's...if the stallions won't co-operate some time soon ;-)
@elke Now that is a great example how chaning the aperture can affect the image. Well done.
@mikehamm I assume you were tracking the plane as the other objects have the motion blur?
Now I am off to take some photos at a horse event. I should have some good examples when I get back.
I'm not really into motion type shots so it was a real challenge for me to work on this.
Yep for me too.....more practice is good.
When shooting movement it is better that it is going from left to right or right to left in the image. If it is coming straight at you it is much harder to catch.
It also helps the close the subject is to you the faster you have to move so the more blur you will have.
Try it out.... Stand next to a road and shoot cars going from left to right or right to left. Then move closer take some shots them move further away and take some more.
Its all trial and error but the more you do the more you learn what you can and can not take at 1/200.
Now a question... Do you know why the one without flash has motion blur where the one with flash does not?
Hey do you know what might make a good photo... Swinging it around in circles.
Maybe the flash kind of "replaces" the shutter speed?
What I want to say is: the sensor might only record the picture of the moment the flash lights up the scene and that is quicker than 1/200?
Curious to know the answer now :) and I will definitely try to swing it around in circles today, should be fun!
PS @myhrhelper Love the action there!
Is the point to have some motion blur or is the point to catch the movement in a crisp shot?
You put your right foot in, you put your right foot out....
you put your right foot in and you shake it all about. You do the "Hokey Pokey" and you turn yourself around, that's what it's all about! This is one of our month old chicks balancing on the edge of the run. It reminded me of the "Hokey Pokey" This was practice for the camera settings challenge #2.
There is some motion blur on the foot in the air....I'm not very skilled at taking motion photos. It's an area that I could really use improvement.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
I don't think I am getting the movement part of this challenge...how do I force the flash on in manual...oh I will go try to find it in the book. I am not giving up!
When the flash fires it fires at something like 1/6000 of a second and it is this flash that is captured in the camera and it over rides the shutter speed in a dark situation.
It is for that reason when you talk about strobe you will see some are made for action and some are not. The action strobes are quicker than the non action one.
@judithg great example as you can see the motion blur in the horse at the back but the others are still. Well done.
@snipsnap The real point is to let you expereiment and understand at what point 1/200 makes a sharp picture and at what point it has motion blur. At 1/200 you will some thing that will be blured and some sharp in the same image. It is this type of image I would be trying to achive and enter in the comp. :)
@traeumerlein87 good example once again.
@mikehamm I would try and capture the same image with a high speed can in frame. that way it will give some understanding of the shutter speed.
@polarvrtx good example as you can still see the person and the feet have some blur. Oh there is no wrong time of the day, it just means we have to learn how to work with that time of the day. I must say you have picked a hard subject i.e. a black horse... :) Black things are very very hard to photograph if there are other non black things in the picture.
@snipsnap Well done a great example. When you look at the fan it becomes more blurred as you move out from the center.
@httpgeffed I wouldn't worry about the flash for now as it will just complicate things. I would also pick a subject that is moving much faster. It is unlikely that the water will be moving fast enough to have some blur at 1/200.
Oh if you just pop up the flash it should fire. There is a button on the side of the camera that does this. NOTE: If you flash is not the type where it pops up there it will be in the menu to force the flash to fire.
HELP!
I suppose part of what I'm trying to show is getting a proper exposure while limited to a specific shutter speed. But, motion shots to come.
Just remove the 0 from the 10 and the last 0 from the 2000. As long as you remove the 0 from both sides of the equation, then the result is the same. And, as Lisa mentions it's also the same as .005 of a second. 10 divided by 2000 or 1 divided by 200 will equal .005.
I still trying to figure this out!
How great to see a slight blur in the moving cars, but not so much to get a total distortion!
The flowers look as if they are nearly in focus in the bottom drop although the drop is blurry. Interesting. Definitely need to work with drops some more. First real attempt at them.
what am I doing wrong?
Tried the 1/200 shutter speed today on a lot of pictures. Feedback welcome. Interesting to see how the images don't blur and the moment almost freezes. Will keep trying to do more of these. Thank you for challenge.
OK help, this is not what I wanted
It's a fine line between what will have motion blur and wh will not sot it is a bit of playing around to see what works.
thank you..
I was surprised with the pink background on the picture. I will definitely play with this setting some more.
I had problems with light with this shutter speed setting. I tried messing with the ISO but it didn't help so I just used the flash. Is 1/200 better for daylight conditions rather than indoors?
Also, there are people who may have questions or are struggling with any particular challenge so we would love to have other experienced photographers make suggests, answer questions, etc. The host of the challenge always offers some, but we would like to encourage others such as yourself to add helpful tips as well.
To answere your question you can do it inside or out as long as there is enought light.
Another attempt. Not a lot of movement in the water though, so may not have been a great subject to try this on.
Dutch picture that reminds me to an old painting my grandfather painted on about a square meter linen. I always admired it when we visited their appartment.
The 1/200s together with ISO100 resulted in aperture f/4, so a small DOF, but on this distance you will not notice.
Thanks for that info - I obviously missed the bit about the flash but oh well, at least I had a play atound with some manual settings - that's the point of this after all! I'll learn one day!
@djepie
Thanks for your input - I thought it came out quite well but I didn't know that using a flash over rides the shutter speed! I think the camera I was using only went up to ISO 1600 so I would have to try it outdoors.
Can't wait to start the voting process!
I would like to get the voting for this challenge started (typically voting is all day Thursday, even starting Wednesdays is fine). If Brendan doesn't start the voting process so I am thinking about having Elke select the top 5 and start the voting. Do you agree?
i really want this challenge to continue since I'm learning so much and I hope many of you feel the same way.
If Elke doesn't respond then I will ask our last experienced photographer to select the top 5.
I'm hoping Brendan does since he did such a wonderful job with this challenge.
What are your thoughts?
agima @chantal @alpeedee @mikehamm @roachling @carolinedreams @djepie @henrir @smithak @smithak @tigerdreamer @jannkc @tigerdreamer @roachling @chantal @traeumerlein87 @henrir @mortisa @onie @wenbow @cheribug @httpgeffed @debrac @smithak @tigerdreamer @cheribug @elke @doorknee71 @mikehamm @geertje @elke @traeumerlein87 @snipsnap @cjdkc555 @rockinrobyn @polarvrtx @jlhopgood @onie @judithg
Sounds good (someone Elke or Brendan) needs to pick the top 5, I'm ready to vote and start the next challenge!
Thanks Brendan!