Reposted from my project (I didn't really shoot this last August, I'm just using up a "hole" on an "extra" shot from yesterday).
The goal: I was trying to do a "frozen motion" shot of these little pink pills falling, falling, falling.
What I got: See below.
My setup: I used a piece of white foam core as the backdrop, angled against the wall. Lighting was from the patio door right next to me. I had the camera up on a stack of books, and shot on continuous with a high ISO and fast shutter speed (several different ones at different attempts). I shot some with my regular lens, then some much closer up with my macro lens, but all were blurrier than I hoped. This one has been lightened up quite a bit so you can see what I was "trying" to do. I would roll the pills down the foam core while the camera shot. Most were blurry and unappealing (like this one).
So my questions: what can I do to improve my setup? Is it a camera settings issue? A lighting issue? The "rolling" motion of the pills? Any ideas on how to improve this, or how to go about it better?
your shutter speed in this shot is 1/320, you'd have to make it a lot faster in order to freeze the pills.
Lots of light and a higher shutter speed or a higher shutter speed with a speedlite should do it.
Are you using flash? If not, try it. It's better to use a speedlight than a built in flash (more overall control) It would be preferable to put your camera into Manual, set the sync speed to just less than that which your speedlight can handle, but the output power down to about an eight and then set something similar on the flash in Manual. This will mean that you can freeze motion better and the flash will recycle faster but you will need to be closer to the subject to illuminate it. It will be a case of trial and error until you get it about right. That is how I managed to get this water crown as crisp as it looks. http://365project.org/steampowered/365/2014-01-21
So there is potentially two issues here: 1) shutter speed, 2) focus point.
Shutter speed: I'm not sure what mode this was shot with, but this is where Manual will really pay off. 1/320 is pretty quick, especially for "rolling" pills rather than falling, but given how close the subject is to the lens, a higher shutter speed is needed if focus isn't the issue here. I notice the aperture is at f/13 which is pretty narrow. For this type of shot you should be able to open up the aperture as far as the lens will let you...may I suggest at least f/4 at a minimum. Just this will give you a three more stops of shutter speed up to 1/2000s which will surely freeze the motion. ISO is already at 1600 which is pretty high. With aperture opening to f/4 you may be able to drop ISO to 800 putting shutter around 1/1000s which still should be plenty fast enough. Some recommended flash. I have to disagree that flash is the best answer in this particular setup because your shutter speed was already at 1/320s which is FASTER than standard sync speed of 1/250s. When using flash your camera's shutter speed will be limited to 1/250s (excepting high-end cameras with leaf shutters which can go much higher). Based on the settings for the photo you posted I personally think you can achieve your goal without flash by opening up aperture - there is room for several stops of exposure here. I think the instinct to use flash is that "more light = faster shutter". In cases of poor lighting where the shutter speed is well below sync speed, aperture is already open as far as able, and ISO as high as able, then a flash may help by allowing the shutter speed to potentially get up to 1/250s. But 1/250s is not *always* fast enough to freeze motion and so therefore flash is not *always* the answer to freezing motion.
Focus: 1/320 may actually have been fast enough shutter speed, and it is focus may be the real issue here. If autofocus was on, and especially with the solid color background, it may be trying to "hunt" for the focus at the start of shooting never really locking in. May I suggest switching to manual focus, and manually focusing prior to shooting. This takes some effort and care to be certain the position of camera and subject is the same between the focusing and the actual shooting.
Finally, a 'tiny' bit of motion blur may be warranted to show that the pills are in fact moving. Otherwise the viewer may assume (unless otherwise told) that the pills are still and not in motion. But that of course is very much your call based on what you are wanting to achieve and express.
Flash will definitely "freeze" the motion. Go fully manual and get the exposure sorted out first, then use manual focus to pre-focus before taking the shot
Option #2 ---- take some pics of the pills falling (as you already have). Then ..... lay the background on a floor or table and arrange the pills as they are in your pic(s) ... but they are lying flat now. Then position your camera above them a shoot away. You could use pins or something to push some ends up for a more 3D effect.
Well since you don't have any reference point that it's vertical, it may as well be horizontal, right? ;) You could then add something in in editing to give some indication of the shot being "vertical".
Personally, I think this shot needs to have the motion blur, otherwise as @kaesebiscuit says, if you want everything perfectly sharp, just shoot it from the top down with the foamboard flat and the pills positioned appropriately.
What I would aim to do would be:
Bring considerably more 'continuous' lighting to the scene -- desk lamps, ceiling lights, shoot it next to a window on a bright day, whatever works. I would be aiming to get the exposure to around 1/60th-1/100th of a second at ISO 200, give or take, shooting in aperture priority mode.
Remember to check your histogram, as you are shooting a white surface, so the camera will try and make it grey. You can fix this by increasing the exposure compensation. Once you've got the lighting levels about right, you can widen or narrow the aperture to get the ISO and shutter speed in about that range.
Now, when you roll the pills down the board, you'll get even more motion blur, but it'll be well exposed and without any noise.
Once you've got that working (and I'd go as far as taking a shot like this onto the computer, to make sure everything is in focus, the exposure is correct, and there's not too much noise), I'd add the flash.
Go into your camera settings and set your flash to operate in 'second curtain sync' mode. (The setting is a bit hidden, but it's explained in the manual). If you have an external flash, you may need to set this on the flash, rather than the camera. This means that instead of the flash firing when the shutter opens, it will fire just before the shutter closes.
The result of this will be that you get the motion blur of the pills rolling, showing them moving, but then just before the shutter closes, the flash will fire, freezing a brighter image of the pills in place, clearly and sharply defined. (If you leave the flash on first curtain sync, the default, the flash will fire as soon as the shutter opens, meaning the sharp image will be at the top of the blurred trails, making it look like the pills are rolling uphill!)
You may also want to adjust the flash exposure compensation (this controls just the brightness of the flash) to get the brightness of the frozen pills as you like them (ideally slightly brighter than the blurred trails).
Once you've got the shot, don't forget to put your flash settings (flash exposure compensation and curtain sync) back to the default values, otherwise next time you use the flash for a more normal photo, it'll do weird and unexpected things!
That's all kinda complication, so let me know if you have any questions :)
@mace508 if you have a flash you could set up your shot manual focus and a f stop of around 8 then set your flash to manual and restrict it's output to say 1/4 output. Then completely darken room open shutter for a few seconds drop the pills and manually release the flash. The flash is over very very quickly and should stop any motion. Adjust flash f stop ISO as required to get exposure right.
Another option would be to go outside on a bright day. The bright light will allow you to increase your shutter speed. I would guess that you would want a speed of 1/800 or faster
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Lots of light and a higher shutter speed or a higher shutter speed with a speedlite should do it.
Shutter speed: I'm not sure what mode this was shot with, but this is where Manual will really pay off. 1/320 is pretty quick, especially for "rolling" pills rather than falling, but given how close the subject is to the lens, a higher shutter speed is needed if focus isn't the issue here. I notice the aperture is at f/13 which is pretty narrow. For this type of shot you should be able to open up the aperture as far as the lens will let you...may I suggest at least f/4 at a minimum. Just this will give you a three more stops of shutter speed up to 1/2000s which will surely freeze the motion. ISO is already at 1600 which is pretty high. With aperture opening to f/4 you may be able to drop ISO to 800 putting shutter around 1/1000s which still should be plenty fast enough. Some recommended flash. I have to disagree that flash is the best answer in this particular setup because your shutter speed was already at 1/320s which is FASTER than standard sync speed of 1/250s. When using flash your camera's shutter speed will be limited to 1/250s (excepting high-end cameras with leaf shutters which can go much higher). Based on the settings for the photo you posted I personally think you can achieve your goal without flash by opening up aperture - there is room for several stops of exposure here. I think the instinct to use flash is that "more light = faster shutter". In cases of poor lighting where the shutter speed is well below sync speed, aperture is already open as far as able, and ISO as high as able, then a flash may help by allowing the shutter speed to potentially get up to 1/250s. But 1/250s is not *always* fast enough to freeze motion and so therefore flash is not *always* the answer to freezing motion.
Focus: 1/320 may actually have been fast enough shutter speed, and it is focus may be the real issue here. If autofocus was on, and especially with the solid color background, it may be trying to "hunt" for the focus at the start of shooting never really locking in. May I suggest switching to manual focus, and manually focusing prior to shooting. This takes some effort and care to be certain the position of camera and subject is the same between the focusing and the actual shooting.
Finally, a 'tiny' bit of motion blur may be warranted to show that the pills are in fact moving. Otherwise the viewer may assume (unless otherwise told) that the pills are still and not in motion. But that of course is very much your call based on what you are wanting to achieve and express.
Hope this has been helpful!
Manual exposure. Use a higher ISO to get the needed shutter speed. Use a smaller aperture (f11-f16).
What I would aim to do would be:
Bring considerably more 'continuous' lighting to the scene -- desk lamps, ceiling lights, shoot it next to a window on a bright day, whatever works. I would be aiming to get the exposure to around 1/60th-1/100th of a second at ISO 200, give or take, shooting in aperture priority mode.
Remember to check your histogram, as you are shooting a white surface, so the camera will try and make it grey. You can fix this by increasing the exposure compensation. Once you've got the lighting levels about right, you can widen or narrow the aperture to get the ISO and shutter speed in about that range.
Now, when you roll the pills down the board, you'll get even more motion blur, but it'll be well exposed and without any noise.
Once you've got that working (and I'd go as far as taking a shot like this onto the computer, to make sure everything is in focus, the exposure is correct, and there's not too much noise), I'd add the flash.
Go into your camera settings and set your flash to operate in 'second curtain sync' mode. (The setting is a bit hidden, but it's explained in the manual). If you have an external flash, you may need to set this on the flash, rather than the camera. This means that instead of the flash firing when the shutter opens, it will fire just before the shutter closes.
The result of this will be that you get the motion blur of the pills rolling, showing them moving, but then just before the shutter closes, the flash will fire, freezing a brighter image of the pills in place, clearly and sharply defined. (If you leave the flash on first curtain sync, the default, the flash will fire as soon as the shutter opens, meaning the sharp image will be at the top of the blurred trails, making it look like the pills are rolling uphill!)
You may also want to adjust the flash exposure compensation (this controls just the brightness of the flash) to get the brightness of the frozen pills as you like them (ideally slightly brighter than the blurred trails).
Once you've got the shot, don't forget to put your flash settings (flash exposure compensation and curtain sync) back to the default values, otherwise next time you use the flash for a more normal photo, it'll do weird and unexpected things!
That's all kinda complication, so let me know if you have any questions :)
Thanks for explaining this! Can't wait to try this out!
For example- my shutter was open for over 3 seconds in a dark room for this shot. The flash it what captured and froze the image: