What is Shutter Speed?

Shutter Speed controls how fast the shutter closes which determines the amount of light the camera takes in. So the faster the shutter, the clearer the picture.

Slow Shutter Speed:

It closes for longer and then opens, which will include more light, therefore it will take in the streams from car lights.

Fast Shutter Speed:

It closes faster and then opens, which will take in less light, so it will take exactly that frame right there.

Simply think of it as how clear the photo will be, and that the faster the shutter the clearer and the slower the more blurry.

Put it simply:

How it works?

Inside the camera is the shutter, it’s what closes when you press the button to take a photo and your camera window goes black for a moment.

They look like this:

When is closes, and if you set the shutter speed to slow, it will stay closed for a little longer than normal, that is the lens capturing all the light and will keep capturing the light until it opens again.

The resulting picture, if you took a picture of something moving, will cause a stream of movements the object made during that time and will be all put into one picture.

Photo Games

For these two images I used a fast shutter speed, around 1/250, which is why the balls are sharp, clear and in focus in the image and not blurry.

This image is blurrier than the other two as it had a lower shutter speed making the balls burry and not as sharp as the images with a fast shutter speed.

---

These photos have a fast shutter speed of around 1/250s. This means the moving balls are in focus.

However, this photo was taken with a slower shutter speed, so the balls are not sharp and the image is blurred. The camera’s captured the movement of the camera and balls

 

The portrait – I chose my Mum as she has grown up and lived in Jersey for the majority of her life. Jersey is a very sentimental place for her as generations of her family have lived on the island.

The background – I took this picture at Le Don Perre (National Trust). The reason I have chosen this space is because when my Mum was growing up she often went here, due to its amazing view of the sea. She feels that this point of the Island is one of the most beautiful she has been to. It is also a spectacular place to watch the sunset.

This picture – I chose this picture because growing up my Mum lived on a farm with her family and this was where her passion for horticultural aspects grew. My Mum is a keen gardener and one of her favourite plants is the bougainvillea which is shown in the picture.  

John Stezaker uses a mixture of photographs and combines them together no matter how diverse they are, He creates his work digitally or by hand to try and create an emotional or surreal attachment with his work and the audience. In the picture that I have chosen we can see that he has decided to use a young looking woman as the background and then edit in an older man who is dressed in business wear and then continues to combine the pictures. He may of done this due to the huge contrast that both of the pictures have with each other and the only similarity is that both of the pictures are a portrait. The way that he has combined the faces looks like he is trying to align them in a unison manner to almost create a new, Abnormal being. He may also of done this to create a shared sense of solemness and ideas between the beings. Which captures the thought of even though every human is different we all share parts of each other even if that shared ability is just our species.

Johns work re-examines the various relationships to the photographic image: as a picture of truth and symbol of modern culture. John finds images found in books, magazines, and postcards and uses them as the bases of his work. John adopts the content and contexts of the original images to create his own sentimental and poignant meanings. John started Using publicity shots of classic film stars where he overlaps famous faces, creating hybrid ‘icons’ that dissociate the familiar to create sensations of the uncanny. He usually pairs up male and female identity into unified characters where the difference both complements the whole entirety of the piece. John started using stylistic images from Hollywood’s golden era where he both temporally and abstractly engages with his interest in surrealism. His portraits also retain their passion of glamour. Similar to the photos of ‘primitivism’ published in George Bastille’s Documents, Johns portraits celebrate the grotesque and gruesome, surrendering the romance with modernism and equally compelling and uncooperative.

Q1: What is the etymology (origin & history) of the word photography?

A. Writing with light.
B. Capturing light.
C. Painting with light.
D. Filming light.

Q2: What year was the first photograph made in camera?

A. 1739 (Joseph Wright)
B. 1839 (Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre)
C. 1826 (Joseph Nicéphore Niépce)
D. 1904 (Salvadore Dali)

Q3: When did the first photograph of a human appear?

A. 1874 (Julia Margeret Cameron)
B. 1838 (Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre)
C. 1856 (Henry Mullins)
D. 1939 (Ropert Capa)

Q4: Who made the first ‘selfie’

A. Kim Kardashian (2015)
B. Robert Cornelius (1839)
C. Cindy Sherman (1980)
D. Claude Cahun (1927)

Q5: When did the first colour photograph appear?

A. 1907 (Lumière brothers)
B. 1961 (Andy Warhol)
C. 1935 (Kodachrome)
D. 1861 (James Clerk Maxwell)

Q6: What do we mean by the word genre?

A. A study of an artwork
B. A depiction in art
C. A style or category of art
D. A creative process in art

Q7: What do we mean by the genre of still-life?

A. In image where a person is sitting still and not moving.
B. An arrangement of flowers.
C. A picture of food.
D. An image that shows inanimate objects from the natural or man-made world.

Q8: What was the main purpose of the Pictorialist movement?

A. To capture moving objects
B. To record reality
C. To affirm photography as an art form
D. To be scientific

Q9: How do we describe the term documentary photography?

A. Capture images that truthfully portray people, places and events.
B. Staging images for maximum effect.
C. Provide in-depth information about a subject over a long period time.
D. An interpretation of reality as witnessed by the photographer.

Q10: What is exposure in photography?

A. To expose hidden elements in our society.
B. To record fast moving objects.
C. To capture bright light.
D. The amount of light that reaches your camera’s sensor.

Q11: What controls exposure on your camera?

A. Depth of field, composition, distance to subject.
B. Aperture, focal length, ISO.
C. Aperture, shutter speed, ISO.
D. Shutter speed, distance to subject, depth of field.

Q12: What control on our camera records moving objects?

A. Aperture
B. White balance
C. Shutter
D. ISO

Q13: How do we explain depth of field?

A. How much of your image is in focus.
B. To photograph from a high vantage point.
C. A view across a field.
D. A deadpan approach to image making

Q14: What factors affect Depth of Field?

A. Shutter speed, distance from camera to subject, and sensitivity to light.
B. Lens aperture, distance from camera to subject, and lens focal length.
C. Lens focal length shutter speed and lens aperture.
D. Sensitivity to light, shutter speed and lens focal length.

Q15: What is composition in photography?

A. Capturing the quality of light.
B. A piece of music with different instruments.
C. Staging a portrait with props.
D. The arrangement of visual elements within the frame.

Q16: What is your understanding of aesthetics in art?

A. Concerned with the nature of beauty and taste.
B. It is subjective and in the eye of the beholder.
C. Aesthetic qualities refer to the way and artwork looks and feels.
D. Making a critical judgement based on observation and understanding.

Q17: What are contextual studies in photography?

A. To provide historial, cultural and theoterical understanding of images.
B. Consider factors outside of the image, as well as inside the frame.
C. To give an opinion without any research.
D. To seek a definite answer.

Q18: How many images are captured on average every day worldwide?

A. 1.5 billion
B. 4.7 billion
C. 800 million
D. 6.9 billion

Q19: Which portrait is the most reproduced in the world?

A. Mona Lisa
B. Lady Gaga
C. Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara
D. The Queen (Elizabeth II)

Introduction to A-level Photography Quiz

Q1: What is the etymology (origin & history) of the word photography?

• 

Writing with light.

Q2: What year was the first photograph made in camera?

1826 (Joseph Nicéphore Niépce)

Q3: When did the first photograph of a human appear?

• 

1838 (Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre)

Q4: Who made the first ‘selfie’

Robert Cornelius (1839)

Q5: When did the first colour photograph appear?

1861 (James Clerk Maxwell)

Q6: What do we mean by the word genre?

• 

A style or category of art

Q7: What do we mean by the genre of still-life?

An image that shows inanimate objects from the natural or man-made world

Q8: What was the main purpose of the Pictorialist movement?

• 

To affirm photography as an art form

Q9: How do we describe the term documentary photography?

Capture images that truthfully portray people, places and events.

Q10: What is exposure in photography?

• 

The amount of light that reaches your camera’s sensor.

Q11: What controls exposure on your camera?

Aperture, shutter speed, ISO.

Q12: What control on our camera records moving objects?

• 

Shutter

Q13: How do we explain depth of field?

How much of your image is in focus.

Q14: What factors affect Depth of Field?

• 

Lens aperture, distance from camera to subject, and lens focal length.

Q15: What is composition in photography?

The arrangement of visual elements within the frame

Q16: What is your understanding of aesthetics in art?

• 

Aesthetic qualities refer to the way and artwork looks and feels.

Q17: What are contextual studies in photography?

To provide historial, cultural and theoterical understanding of images.

Q18: How many images are captured on average every day worldwide?

• 

4.7 billion

Q19: Which portrait is the most reproduced in the world?

The Queen (Elizabeth II)

John Baldessari

The following photos were inspired by the work of John Baldessari who was a talented photographer who made unique and interesting pieces.

He uses a variety of colours to make his pictures eye-catching to the viewer.

Boxing photoshoot

Ball aliment

These images were all taken with a shutter speed of 1250. This means that the pictures are a lot clearer than what they would be if the shutter speed were lower.

The photos were also inspired by the work of John Baldessari who was a talented photographer who made unique and interesting pieces.