Shutter speed is the speed at which the shutter of the camera closes. A fast shutter speed creates a shorter exposure with the amount of light the camera takes in and a slow shutter speed gives the photographer a longer exposure.
We tested this by throwing balls up in the air in a straight line and trying to capture them before they fall. We also tested this by one person pretending to fight the camera while the photographer tries their best following the person and trying to capture their movements.
these are the images I used to test the shutter speed -✔
in this image you can see that it was taken with a low shutter speed so that the image was less defined and the image is blurred
John Baldessaris work
For the ball photoshoot we where inspired by John Baldessari. Baldessari threw three balls at the same time, trying to line them up whilst in the air, while he got someone to take pictures of it. Although he attempted to make the photos identical, no two photographs are the same due to the differences in his technique and being unable to control the weather. Out of 36 attempts he only considered 12 of them successful. to create these images Baldessari used a high shutter speed to make sure that the images came out clear and unblurry.
The shutter is commonly at the front of a camera, and is used to capture specific timing exposures when taking a picture. It allows light to pass through the camera for a specific time.
What is shutter speed?
it is exactly what it sounds like. It is the speed at which the shutter closes and opens after you press the button to take a picture. The higher the shutter speed, the shorter exposure time it has to light. And a slower shutter speed the longer exposure the camera has to light.
It is best described that you capture the slice of what is going on during this period where the shutter opens then closes.
Photo Games
During one of my lessons with Mr Coal, the class was told to go outside with 3 balls and a camera. We where told to throw the balls up into the air and take a picture mid air, attempting to capture the balls in a clean line. This was to help us understand how the shutter speed works, and to experiment with different levels of shutter speeds.
Another Activity we did that day was to act like a boxer trying to dodge the camera while the person behind the camera would attempt to take a picture of you.
This was attempted at different shutter speeds, as you can see a slight blur.
John Baldessari
He is a conceptual artist, known for his photography in his canvas’ during the 1960’s. His work was famous during this period for the blends of photographs and the use of text on his work, for his time he was very smart with what he produced and even how he done it.
The use of layering and how he rearranged his art work, made his pieces stand out compared to others. Not only that but in this picture here it shows the simplicity of his work, and how weirdly cool it is.
Throughout his life he has experimented with many things, such as film making, sculpture creating, and a lot more to do with his right side of this brain.
Apeture
This is the adjustable lens opening that controls the amount of light allowed into the camera. It allows you basically adjust the depth of field and the sharpness of the picture.
Basically what aperture does is make your photos darker for more of an effect, more depth of field, and allows you to adjust the blur of your picture. Thus is a crucial ingredient within your camera and is necessary.
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.
Shutter speed affects an image as it controls how much light the camera takes in. A fast shutter speed will let less light in meaning the image will be sharper as it isn’t over exposed. If the shutter speed is slow it will let more light in to the camera making the image blurry and over exposed.
Examples:
For example if you wanted to take photos of moving objects with lights you would want to use a slow shutter speed so the camera can capture the light and what’s going on in the image.
However, if you had a fast shutter speed to take it will blur the moving object.
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.
Shutter Speed affects an image by making it blurry or sharp. If the shutter speed is long, then the cameras ‘curtains’ are open for a long time, which lets in light. The longer the curtain is open, the blurrier a photo can be if you’re moving. However, a short shutter speed causes the curtain to be open for a shorter amount of time. This lets less light in, and will produce a sharper image.
Examples
An example of a long shutter speed would be the first photo, where the focal point that’s moving is blurred.
However, in this image, a shorter shutter speed would have been used to photograph the moving dog more sharply.
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.
