My Favourite Slow Shutter Speed Photograph

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This is my favorite photograph out of my slow shutter speed photo shoot.  I like particularly how the effects of different techniques work well and compliment each other in capturing the sense of movement in the photograph.   For example: the rule of thirds link the person and the tree well nicely establishing a sort of connection.  Also,  the composition of the trees and bushes is effective in capturing the stillness of the setting of the photograph and the person.  This is because the blackness and shadow of the tree is bold and therefore quite effective in enhancing the blackness on the person’s suit.  As trees are known to be still objects, the fact through the dark tones we have established a relationship between the person and the trees, we start to believe the person is almost part of the tree and so his stillness is enhanced.  By making the person and the surrounding objects quite still and bold, the sense of movement of the light is enhanced.   Also,  the angle of the lens taking the photograph is effective because  again the sense of movement is enhanced.  For example the fact the lens is looking slightly up and is placed on the corner gives the photograph a sense of direction.  This makes the viewer curious as to what could be round the corner.  I therefore like how around the corner the enhanced brightness of the street light acts almost as a light source for the headlights passing through the middle third of the photograph.  This makes us more curious as to what could be round the corner.  By taking the photograph incorporating the person in the middle third of the photograph, puts our questions of what is around the corner into his hoes an so we can relate to what the person might be feeling.  I also like how the leaves being blown around on the ground capture the speed of the vehicle passing by, making us feel what the person is feeling with that breeze that comes after a car comes past.  Finally, I enhanced the photograph by adjusting the brightness and contrast to be increased.  This gave the photograph an exaggeration in emotions to communicate them more easily to the viewer.

 

 

Contact Sheet for Shutter Speed // Inspiration: Francesca Woodman

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I carried out a photoshoot at home in the style of Francesca Woodman. I then edited these images to look like Woodman’s.

I photographed myself and my family and to do this, I used a DIY tripod made up of the camera on a chair balanced on my bed! I set a self-timer of time seconds and after the timer was over, I set the camera to shoot ten successive shots. I told my subjects to move about as much as they could to create a sense of quick, sharp movements using a slow shutter speed to capture a blur.

Shutter Speed techniques

Shutter speed is the unit of measurement which determines how long shutter remains open as the picture is taken. The slower the shutter speed, the longer the exposure time. The shutter speed and aperture together control the total amount of light reaching the sensor. Zoom burst is a technique in photography. Using the technique involves zooming while the shutter is open with a relatively slow shutter speed, generally below 1/60th of a second.  Panning is very simple, just set shutter speed to a high setting 1/2000 of a second, hold your camera and pan along with moving subject.

 

Shutter Speed Experimentation 2

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In today’s lesson we experimented further with shutter speed. This allowed me to hone and enhance my abilities with this particular skill in photography. I was able to plan and think out what I wanted to achieve more thoroughly than last time which proved beneficial as the outcome is of higher quality.

From the shoot, I created three contact sheets which allows me to display them to you in a logical order and helps me evacuate my work as I can see the images all in one place.

I attempted to use the zoom pan and whip pan in this photoshoot also and in my opinion, it worked out well and complements the shutter speeds.

This time around, I focused on the outside environment, and cars in particular. Their fast movement paired with a slow shutter speed made for a great outcome! There are only handful of good ones from the shoot and just one or two great ones but these are noticeable as the best ones have the car in focus and the background as a blur which was what I aimed for!

The bright colours of the cars against the plain, green background makes them stand out. Your eyes naturally are tempted to follow the path of the car across the photo.

If I was to do a photoshoot on shutter speed again, I would focus on a different subject; perhaps portraits again to develop my skills in that area.

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My favourite image – ORIGINAL