How to Use Shutter Speed to Get the Photos You Want



Cameras and photography can be quite confusing.  I mean there is a lot to think about all at once; adjusting your settings to suit the light, thinking about your depth of field, getting the shot in focus (der!), not to mention all the artistic things you need to worry about, like framing, the rule of thirds, backgrounds, composition, colour, scale, the use of props...... the list goes on. 

You can, of course, make it as confusing, or as simple as you like.  A simple 'point and shoot' camera will take care of a lot of this for you, at least the technical details, so all you need worry about is creating pretty pictures.  A smartphone will do a similar job.  But sometimes you want to have just a bit more control over your camera because there is a specific photo that you want to capture.  Whether it be for a blog post, for work or just to capture you kids soccer match, sometimes you want to be able to get the shot you want when you want it.  Shutter speed is one of those things, if you break it down, you can simplify it to cause yourself WAY less of a headache and still get the end result you were after.



The first thing is to not be scared of your DSLR camera.  While it is very easy to take photos with the automatic settings switched on, and there is no problem with that of course, try giving the other settings a go.  Have a play with it!  To change your shutter speed the setting you are looking for is the one marked 'TV'.  This is the shutter priority setting and the 'TV' stands for Time Value.  By using this you can control the shutter speed, but don't need to worry about anything else...your camera will choose the correct aperture to suit the brightness of the subject. 

Now, you can adjust your shutter speed by using the full manual settings on your camera, which is where you have to adjust everything, so the aperture and ISO as well, but to keep it simple, and to just concentrate on your shutter speed for the moment, lets just work with the 'TV' setting.

Now in the photo above the shutter speed was set to a faster time; therefore a higher number.  The higher the number the faster the shutter opens and closes, therefore you are able to freeze the action.  This is seen with the horse above that I photographed at the local harness racing.  As the shutter was set to a very high speed the horse has been captured in this photo in such a way that he has all feet off the ground and he effectively looks like he is frozen in mid-air.  When taking photos of sporting events particularly, people want to see the action, not a blur, so having a faster shutter speed is highly desirable. 

This photo of my husband, clinging for dear life to his horse (this was the very first time he had ridden Sabre after buying him that morning....and the saddle was WAY too small....so forgive the slightly terrified expression....), is another good example of motion frozen in time.  What's great about the use of a faster shutter speed here is it really has captured the tension of the moment.  My husband is a very good rider, but here he actually was a bit apprehensive and unsure because this was the first time he had ridden this particular horse.

Often when you read anything about shutter speed it is illustrated by the use of waterfall photos.  I'm sure you know what I mean.  If you don't I will explain.  There will be two photos; one with a photo of a waterfall with the water perfectly frozen, so you can see the water drops clearly, then the other shot will show one where all the water is just one big blur.  The first is taken using a fast shutter speed, the second a slow shutter speed.  Simple.  By slowing down the speed of your shutter, therefore having it set to a lower number, you are leaving the shutter open longer when you click it.....so.....whatever moving object you are taking a photo of will appear blurred.  But wait...Why would you want something in your photo to be blurry?  Surely we want to have nice, in focus photos.  Not necessarily, and not always.  Having blurred objects in our photos, and by this I mean a moving objects (not just a whoopsie and something that is accidently out of focus...!), will give the feeling of movement within you photo.  I could have showed you a typical waterfall shot...but instead I have chosen another farmy type photo and used this shot (above) of the rouseabout throwing the fleece in the shearing shed.  You do see fantastic shots of wool being thrown, and they are perfectly frozen in the air, the shot taken with a fast shutter speed, but I quite like this photo.  The fleece really is moving in this shot.  To me the photo has life, it has movement and I was happy with it.

Another shearing shot, and this is my husband featuring again (minus the horse but plus a hand piece), but it is also another shot where the shutter speed has been set at a slower speed.  Why you might ask?  Why, when I'm taking photos of people moving at a fairly fast rate?  Shouldn't I have set it to a faster speed so that he was frozen, the perfect action shot?  If you look closely you can see that his hand and arms are blurred, which does give this photo the feeling of movement.  In this case, it wasn't actually planned.  This photo was taken using a tripod and the shutter speed was lowered due to the fact that it was fairly gloomy in this shed.  I didn't want to use a flash, preferring to use what little natural light there was, and as a result I have the blur.  This wasn't a bad thing, in fact this photo was used in the magazine article I took these photos for...and this photo took up a whole page on its own.  (Note: this photo was taken using my old camera which is no where near as light sensitive as my new one...which would have handled this low-light situation a lot better.  Also the tripod was necessary to avoid camera shake with the lower shutter speed.)

As discovered above, lowering the speed that our shutter goes off isn't always because of the motion going on in front of us.  Sometimes there is not enough light on our subject and a way to capture the photo is to let in more light by opening up the shutter of the camera for a longer period of time.  Here I am reading a book.  Well actually I'm staring wistfully out the window.  It wasn't overly dark inside but the camera was having to adjust to the light coming in through the window and me being in shadow, so setting up my camera on a tripod and slowing down the shutter speed was a great way to get the photo I wanted without resorting to using a flash.  Personally I dislike flash photography and will go to great lengths to avoid it.  For a shot like this you MUST use a tripod, or rest your camera on something flat and secure.

These are just some simple points, like all things to do with photography you can go into much more depth on the subject, but I hope these have been helpful.  















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How to Take Better Landscape Photos

This week I am away 'up north'.  When I say 'up north' this is where I mean when my husband goes away shearing.  My in-laws have a farm near where we live and they also have one up here in New South Wales, at a place called Wakool, which is about 30 minutes or so west of Deniliquin.  It is a very different landscape to where we live.  There is also a lot of wide open spaces so I thought I would have a look at landscape photography for today's Tips Tuesday.

There is one thing with landscape photography that I always find disappointing.  The photo never seems to do the scenery justice.  What I mean is, you go on holiday somewhere, see this fabulous view, thing "Quick I must take a photo so I can show the folks back home," and yet the photograph never seems to truly capture the splendid scene that you saw spread out before you.  It never seems to give you a true sense of scale, or capture the glowing afternoon light, or leave you that giddy feeling that the view from the cliff did.

For me, who doesn't take brilliant landscape photos, (I actually don't own a wide angled lens) I find mine a little...well...boring.  So, I've come up with a few tricks.  In the photo above I have included a sheep and a water tower in the foreground.  It has broken up the photo so that you look through to the tree and created some interest in what would have otherwise been a fairly flat uninteresting shot.

The use of leading lines can help you look into your photo.  These tyre tracks leading off into the distance give you something to focus on in this shot...instead of just a rather uninteresting row of trees at the bottom of the paddock.  (This track is actually leading to the tip...but shhh...don't tell anyone)

This big gum tree on the edge of the photo gives it a nice frame.  It also gives the photo a good sense of scale.  I have shot this looking in towards the rising sun, which also looks a lot nicer with it peeking through the trees, instead of blowing up in my face and causing a lot of glare. 

Mix up your landscape photos by making good use of different levels of light.  This sunset had an unusual red sun, which is further highlighted by the silhouette of the buildings and tree in the foreground.

I find shots of the sea really really boring.  All that blue expanse... it does nothing for me.  It's a personal thing of course, because I would rather look at the countryside, but I always feel the water is better broken up with a bit of coastline showing, and even having a person in the foreground.  Once again, you get a better sense of scale with my son in this shot.  You also get the feeling that this water is cold!

This is more my style of landscape shot...I mean at least it's the countryside, and the hills give you something to look towards, but having the shed in the middle ground gives you a good balance within the photo.  It gives you an idea of the space of the great outdoors, with the shed being off in the distance, and as it is dwarfed by the hills in the background, it gives it a further feeling of isolation.  Again it's thinking about that sense of scale, so think about what can be in the shot that will give the viewer an idea of how grand and fabulous everything is.

This dry and barren landscape is not particularly interesting.  It has wonderful rustic character but without the girl in the foreground, frankly it would be a really boring photo.  The colours of the landscape aren't that rich or exciting either...but give the girl some bright pink balloons and BANG!  (no...don't pop the balloons!)...the photo is given some life, but also the contrast of the plain background suddenly looks great against the bright colours.  Remember, your background, middle ground and foreground are all a part of a whole.  Don't forget to look at everything in your shot and tie them all together.

Great landscape photos are everywhere you look, it just takes a bit of getting used to seeing them and perhaps shifting your focus to take in the whole view.  The paddock above is lovely, but I think the clouds really make this shot.  Who would have thunk it!?!























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How to Take Photos of Food

For today's Tips Tuesday I am going to have a bit of a look at Food Photography.  Now Food Photography is not my area of expertise at all, and certainly not the Food Styling part of it, that's a whole career in itself.  But, I have, in my travels as a photographer, had to take photos of food for the magazine I work for, as well as my blog.  I also, like a lot of people, take shots of food to upload to my Instagram account (when I've encountered a particularly delicious bit of cake at a café or a 'too-good-too-be-true hot chocolate).  So today I thought I would discuss taking food shots for your blog or for sharing on social media.

Taking shots of your meal that you order in a restaurant or café so that you can share it with friends (and perhaps make them jealous!) is such a common thing nowadays that you probably don't even get a single sideways glance when you whip out your camera and make your partner wait for ten minutes while you get the perfect shot of his steak sandwich.  With the use of the Smartphone camera this has become a lot easier, and a lot less obvious, and straight away you can send that piece of cake into cyberspace and have your friends drooling over it in no time.  Usually you are trying to get the shot done as quickly as possible, (I know I am...so as not to draw too much attention to myself in a crowded café) but try to remember a few things.  Go for some different angles; so not always just front on.  Stand up and quickly get a shot from above, or to make it a little more interesting...eat a spoonful of the cake, or have a few crumbs on the plate, or even the fork resting on the side.  Get a little inventive.

These nut butters looked better when taken from above...you get the lovely textures of the different types and it really makes you want to stick your finger in and have a taste!  This is what food photography is all about.  You want people to look at your photo and almost taste the food.

Sometimes you might get all 'clever in the kitchen' and feel the urge to do some baking.  Why not share your creations on social media?!  These cupcakes I made for my boys...it was someone's birthday, can't remember which one now (!).... but I felt they were worthy of a photo.  They probably would have looked nicer resting on a different surface, instead of the cooling rack...even the bench would have looked fine, but I am happy with the background in this shot.  There is just a bit of kitchen flotsam and jetsam floating around in the back there, but as I have taken the shot with a shallow depth of field, the background is sufficiently out of focus to look quite good.  So to get this blurry background, remember to set your aperture to a lower number.  (Tip.  Lower the number..Less in focus!)

Sometimes you might want to take a really set up shot, kind of like a product photo.  You don't always have to have a white background, by any means, but sometimes you might want to have a nice clean background so that your food really 'pops'.  This photo is just some random bits I threw together...as you can see...I'm no food stylist...but I have put it together to highlight the white background.  Make sure you can either shoot near a window or set up a light box, with your artificial light sources coming from both sides.  You may have to adjust the white balance, but you can do this later during your editing.  I have taken this shot from above, so just using a white piece of paper, and set it up next to a large window, but you can also use something white (either paper or material for example) and create a seamless backdrop, (ie. where the white covers the back 'wall' and then curves around to cover the 'floor' as well.  For smaller items you can use a piece of paper.  For larger items I have the back of a window blind that does the job.)

Sometimes food photography can be a bit like a work of art, or even be quite abstract, like the photo above.  Three guesses as to what it is!  Is it the centre of a flower?  Is a spinning vortex of death?  No!  It's what I found when I took the lid off the chocolate flavoured gelato!  This was how it looked before I put a spoon in and ate probably the entire contents in one hit!  The pattern was too fantastic to not take a photo!  Don't be scared to get out the macro lens on your food!  You can come up with some unusual abstract, yet fantastic photos.

Occasionally, with my magazine work, I need to showcase food as part of the article.  This will occur if I am doing a story on a cafe or a food producer, for example I have done a number of stories on farms that make their own cheese.

For these two photos above I have been conscious that the food displayed was fairly bland in colour.  In both cases they really needed the 'pop' of colour with the flowers (I could have used something else to create the same effect) to help lift the photo.  This was particularly the case in the second photo because it was a lot of 'white on white'.

Taking photos of food on display is something else I do a bit of.  It does tend to look better if it's not too cluttered.  This photo above is not the greatest as it has a little bit too much going on.  It's not bad but I find myself getting a tad distracted.  The photo below is better.

It's not as 'busy', and the bench top, despite having a pattern on it, works in really well.  It gives it a lift.  Think about what your food is resting on and what is in the background when you take the shot.

Markets are great places to practice taking photos of food.  These meringues were delicious by the way.

You can get a real sense of a 'story' when you take photos at a market.  Here it obviously was a beautiful day, there is farm fresh produce available, it was a country market, which is hinted at by the wicker baskets and chalk written sign...it was an all round lovely morning.  This photo has made the food seem fresh and natural...which is what it should be.















Sometimes I have to take shots of meals!  They always look delicious!  And that is your aim when taking these types of photos.  To get up close and personal and make them look like you can taste them.  A few of my shots like these have ended up within advertisements in the magazine, so the food really does need to look delicious so readers see it and think..."oooo...that looks sooooo good, let's go to that restaurant".

Think about the angle that you are taking the photo from.  For example this wrap would have looked boring if I had taken the shot from the other end...ie. you wouldn't have seem what was IN the wrap.  Plus the chips are this end.  It's a bit of a no brainer but sometimes in the confusion of doing things in a hurry, which is often the case when I'm out on these types of jobs, it's things you don't think of in your haste.

Sometimes you just have to do the best you can.  This is a dessert and that burgundy blob is sorbet...and it was melting as fast as you can say "wait a minute it's melting."  I had the chef (who put this dessert together) standing behind my shoulder, so this was a pressure shot.  Sometimes you've just got to do the best you can with the time you have.  Needless to say this photo wasn't used, and the other shots I got of this dessert were worse...the sorbet was one big puddle!

This dessert (yes! It is a dessert!) was much easier to photograph.  It just sat there like good 'pretend eggs with little pretend edible bits of twig in them'.  Yes, weird I know.  I played with this one a bit, turning it around until I got the right angle.  Later this shot was cropped a bit to get that edge of the glass in the top right corner out of the photo, which improved the shot too.  Editing can be your best friend, so keep that in mind with your food shots.

When taking photos of someone else's creation keep in mind that you are not the only 'artist' at work.  The chef was hovering over my shoulder here, but this was his dish, with a lot of fore-thought and planning gone into it, plus he was someone that was proud of his craft.  Always try and do food justice when you take a photo of it, particularly when you share it with your friends!

 

I hope this post was helpful!





















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How to Take Photographs of Animals

Today's Tips Tuesday is about taking photographs of those other important loved ones in your lives; your pets, as well as other animals you may deem particularly photo worthy.

Taking photos of animals requires an extraordinary amount of patience and time.  You can ask a dog to 'sit', but that doesn't necessarily mean he is going to look at the camera, if that's what you want him to do.  Cats can either be difficult or easy, depending whether they are in their 16 hour sleep cycle or enjoying that fifteen minutes of terrorising the dog.

The trick is to have your camera either permanently attached to your face, or in an easily accessible place.  I leave mine on the kitchen bench all the time, so if a photographic opportunity presents itself it's within grabbing reach.

Taking photos of animals when they are just hanging out doing their own thing is often best.  You really get a true sense of their personality and capture them in a 'moment'.  I used my zoom lens to get this photo of the cat.  Having a shallower depth of field works well too.

I really like this shot of these horses.  Try and think outside the square a little.  This isn't your usual 'person on horse' type of photo, nor is it a standard sort of horse shot.  These two were snuggling up together and it made for a different photo.  I also cropped a lot out of this shot, their legs for example, which I think makes it work better.  Think about what is within your frame.  Sometimes closer is better.

It is, of course, great to get people in with your animal shots.  Casual, un-posed shots work well.

Animals can create some awesome action shots!

And it is great to sneak up on them having a quiet moment.  Remember that the same rules of photography apply, for example, taking photos of people during that 'golden hour' in the late afternoon will give you the best light.  This old dog is highlighted beautifully in the early evening glow.

Zoom up on your subject.  You will capture all those fine little details, like the feathers on this chook.

As well as the lighting think about what is in the background.  These sheep were wedged in this pen waiting to be shorn.  The old door in the background gives this photo a lovely rustic feel, and the light behind it really makes this photo.  (so much so that I actually won 1st prize with this photo on the weekend!...very pleased!!)

Don't just stalk your pets!  Get some shots while you're out and about.  Cows make fantastic subjects!  They're so mooo-ving.  (sorry, couldn't help myself)

And don't be afraid to get dirty!  Get down and in amongst it.  You'll get some fantastic shots if you get down on an animal's eye level.













 

















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How to Take Great Photos of Your Family

There are some of us who are lucky enough to take photos for a living.  For the last year I have been one of these lucky people.  I still have to pinch myself actually.  But for many more of us we have no desire to turn our photos into something that is hopefully going to pay the bills, but rather cameras are used to record precious moments of our families.  Now, I actually start to think of these people as the lucky ones...those who have time to pull out their cameras for these special times, rather than having to pull it out ALL the time and try and get the perfect shot for work.  Strangely, despite being a photographer, I have no photos of my children on the walls!

Anyway, today for my Tips Tuesday I thought I would focus on taking photos of your loved ones, and how to make them a little better.  It doesn't take great technical skill, just a little forethought, and a considerable amount of stalking!

This is my son Jesse.  I actually had planned to get photos of my children on this particular day...as you might notice he has a clean face, for a change, and his hair has been 'styled'.  As well as trying to tidy your children up (!) think about what is in the background.  To really make my son stand out in his stripy shirt I have caught him in front of a background that is not plain, but being all the one colour, he stands out.  Paying attention to what is behind the subject can really help make for a better photo.  He's not smiling here but that doesn't matter.  I really like this shot.

A similar background here for my other son Austen, except this time I have snapped him at a different angle.  I didn't ask him to pose, he was busy cloud watching and rolling down a little hill in the playground, so probably another lucky photo on my part, but it really works.  Remember, you don't always have to get 'straight on, standing up and smiling' photos of your kids!

I love this one of my boys together.  I didn't set this up either.  Patience is key when you are taking photos of children.  Wait.  Watch.  You will be rewarded.

This is my husband.  He HATES having his photo taken.  I, on the other hand, like taking photos of him, so will get a sneaky shot in here and there because one day when we are old and grey I want to have something to look back on.  Of course...we all do.  I find with camera shy people it is great to get a sneaky shot when they are doing something they either enjoy, (ok...so my husband doesn't actually enjoy shearing!)...or doing something that typifies who they are.  My husband is a shearer, it's actually not a hugely common profession any more, I'm proud of him and THIS is him.  Shearing is part of who he is.  So take some shots of your partner doing their everyday thing.  Not only are they great to look back on but you will catch them being themselves in their everyday environment.

I actually just had this photo printed today, something that is really rare for me to do I'm afraid to say.  I need to do it more.  Anyway, I've left it with my Dad to frame (he's so conveniently a picture framer!)  I adore this shot.  It was one of the photos from one of my outfit posts and this is my little girl.  She was just running about doing her own thing and I love the movement in it.  It's just one of those perfect natural shots.  To me this is what photography of people is all about.  Particularly children.  Not posed shots.  There is life in this photo.  Try and capture the life.  Take your kids somewhere fun, like the park for example, and just start snapping away.

There is nothing wrong with taking photos without smiley faces in them.  You don't even have to have them facing the camera.  This is my eldest son Ethan with his little sister.  There is a 10 year age difference.  It's not a perfect shot in terms of pretty backgrounds or fancy perfect clothes, it was just one of those 'opportunity shots' but I love it.  It will be one to look back on when he is a grumpy teenager and she is his 'annoying younger sister'!

Kids sports are great places for photos.  They might not be pretty, they will probably be covered in mud and pulling funny faces of exertion, but they really put you in the moment.  Just make sure you have your camera shutter speed set to a higher speed.

As well as your shutter speed sometimes you need to adjust yourself.  Get down on the same level as your kids so your photos are not always angled down as you stand above them.  I would have not been able to see my son's face or expression of concentration if I had just shot this from above.  An all round better photo.

Another 'behind' photo, my son Jesse with his older cousins, which will be great to look back on when he is older because no doubt he will be the one towering over the girls!  Remember to quickly think about where the light is coming from.  I wasn't shooting directly into the sun here, but it really works because the elongated shadows give a great sense of not only the time of day, but seem to connect them all.  I don't know...it just works.  I managed to step to one side with this one and avoid shooting directly into the light, and avoid any sun glare.

 

Now, for that husband who doesn't like having his photo taken.....

Make sure you get a photo of him standing on his ute, holding a lizard while talking on the phone...

Have him sharing a moment....and his cup of tea....with his horse....

Make sure you get him on his horse....he'll like that...

....although you'd better make it an action shot....he'll like that even better!

 

And as for yourself.....well...if you're anything like me you seem to be strangely absent from EVERY family function because you're always the one behind the camera, but having a tripod and a remote is really handy.  Remember to get some shots of yourself (either a selfie or too!!) or hand your camera to someone else!

This is me, quite a while ago, with two kelpie pups.  This wasn't set up this shot, and my son took it.





























My son also took this shot, but it was obviously posed.  If you miss out on having photos taken of yourself, because you're always the one behind the camera, then go out of your way to get in front of it.  Set up a shot like this (ok, maybe minus the cows), and pretend you're in a fashion shoot for a magazine....it's so much fun!!  And you can create something really magical!





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