The camera obscura is a darkened box with a convex lens that projects the image of an external object to a screen inside. The way it works is when its bright outside light enters through the hole and projects an upside down image onto a wall opposite the hole, therefore only focusing and reflecting light instead of capturing it. This was the starting point leading to all photography. In the 1600’s the camera obscura was developed with larger openings, allowing more light available to come through which created brighter, higher quality images. This was useful for capturing perspective such as accurately representing the 3D world into a 2D flat surface.
Henry Fox Talbot
Henry was well known for being the inventor of the calotype. In 1884 henry discovered that images could be made through the action of light and chemistry on paper. He discovered that from the use of different silver salt and a developing agent brings out an invisibility slight on exposed paper. This photographic process made it possible to obtain multiple positive images on paper from a single paper negative. This was a step up from the camera obscura as images could now be captured. However, this still had some downsides due to the paper fibres blurring the printed image.
Daguerreotype Process
The daguerreotype process was invented in 1837 by Louis Jacques Daguerre. The daguerreotype process links back to the camera obscura as it allowed the image seen inside a camera obscura to be captured and preserved as an object. This process is a direct positive process which means no negative is made unlike the calotype discovery. The process of making a daguerreotype is by plating a thin sheet of silver onto a copper sheet. Then it is sensitized into a lightbox containing iodine and bromine vapours until its surface turns yellow creating a reaction producing light sensitive silver iodine. it is then inserted into a camera where the exposure is made and then development happens when the plate is placed face down over a source of heated mercury fumes until the image appears. This made it possible for a portrait to be made with exposure in around a minute. However, this process meant the daguerreotypes were mirrors images of their subjects.
Richard Maddox
Richard Maddox was an English physician who is known for inventing lightweight gelatin negatives plates for photography in 1871. There were many advantages to this dry plate such as making it easier for photographers. This is because it allowed photographers to use dry plates off the shelf instead of having to prepare their own emulsions in a mobile darkroom. In addition to this, cameras were small enough to be handheld. These dry plates is what led to cinematography from snapshot photography.
George Eastman
George Eastman, an American entrepreneur who was born in 1854 and founded in the Eastman Kodak company. In the 1880’s, made improvement leading to flexible, roll film and photo processing and printing done by mail order. He created a convenient method of preparing ready to use plates. Eastman His business had 4 basic principles which included focusing on the customer, creating mass production at low cost, achieving worldwide distribution and extensive advertising. He achieved this with the help of his slogan ‘you press the button, we do the rest’. His first camera the ‘Kodak’ was first offered for sale in 1888. The Kodak is considered the first camera brand and was so successful due to the company heavily investing in campaigns creating widespread awareness of the Kodak
Kodak Brownie
The kodak brownie was a popular series of cameras formed by the Eastman Kodak company. This camera ultimately revolutionised photography due to the cameras being affordable and simple to use. Also, the kodak enabled anybody to create photography with a press of a button.
A Slow shutter speed setting allows a greater amount of light to enter, and a Fast shutter speed setting reduces the amount of light. Changing your camera’s shutter speed is one way to adjust the overall exposure of an image. But it also has creative uses, allowing you to control the amount of motion blur (or lack of it) in your images.
The slower the shutter speed, the more motion blur your camera will capture when shooting fast-moving subjects. With long shutter speeds from two to 30 seconds, any movement in the image will blur. This can create a cool effect with landscapes and the sky, as water and clouds turn soft and streaky.
When we take a picture, the camera’s shutter opens to allow light to reach the recording medium, where an an image is created. By controlling how long the shutter stays open, we can control what the resulting image looks like.
Also known as ‘exposure time’, shutter speed is measured in seconds or fractions of a second (tenths, hundredths, or thousands). For example, a slow shutter speed of 1/2 means the shutter remains open for half a second, while a faster speed of 1/2000 means it only remains open for one-two-thousandth of a second.
Useful Shutter Speeds for daily interactions
Eadweard Muybridge
Eadweard Muybridge was an English photographer known for his pioneering work in photographic studies of motion, and early work in motion-picture projection.
Muybridge’s work consisted of pioneering chrono photography of animal locomotion (between 1878 and 1886), which used multiple cameras to capture the different positions in a stride; and for his zoopraxiscope, a device for projecting painted motion pictures from glass discs that predated the flexible perforated film strip.
Doc Edgerton
Harold Eugene “Doc” Edgerton, also known as Papa Flash, was an American scientist and researcher, a professor of electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is largely credited with transforming the stroboscope from an obscure laboratory instrument into a common device.
By 1931, Edgerton had developed a system of stroboscopic light to achieve amazingly sharp high-speed photographs, as well as multi-shot photographs to freeze different stages of a single movement on a single photogram, and the same year he obtained a PhD in Electrical Engineering from MIT.
Edgerton revolutionized photography, science, military surveillance, Hollywood filmmaking, and the media through his invention of the strobe light in the early 1930s.
Hiroshi Sugimoto
Hiroshi Sugimoto is a Japanese photographer and architect. He leads the Tokyo-based architectural firm New Material Research Laboratory.
His use of an 8×10 large-format camera and extremely long exposures has garnered Sugimoto a reputation as a photographer of the highest technical ability. He is equally acclaimed for the conceptual and philosophical aspects of his work.
Sugimoto has spoken of his work as an expression of ‘time exposed’, or photographs serving as a time capsule for a series of events in time. His work also focuses on transience of life, and the conflict between life and death.
Francesca Woodman
Francesca Stern Woodman was an American photographer best known for her black and white pictures featuring either herself or female models. Many of her photographs show women, naked or clothed, blurred, merging with their surroundings, or whose faces are obscured.
Many of her photographs show women, naked or clothed, blurred (due to movement and long exposure times), merging with their surroundings, or whose faces are obscured.
My plan to achieve Shutter Speed images inspired by Francesca Woodman
There are many creative ways to achieve Shutter Speed when taking photographs. Since I am at school and have a limited amount of resources to produce these “Fast and Slow” Shutter speeds, I will be doing the following…
Wait for Cars to past by
Get a friend to ride their Mo-ped or Motorcycle down the car park
Francesca Woodman was an American photographer known for her haunting black-and-white images that often feature ethereal, ghostly figures in enigmatic environments. Born in 1958, she began experimenting with photography as a teenager and developed a unique style that combined elements of surrealism and conceptual art.
One of the distinctive aspects of Woodman’s work is her innovative use of shutter speed. She frequently employed long exposures, which allowed her to create a sense of movement and fluidity in her images. This technique often resulted in blurred figures or partial representations of the human form, contributing to an atmosphere of mystery and introspection. The long exposure times also emphasized the interplay between light and shadow, enhancing the emotional depth of her photographs.
Woodman’s images often explore themes of identity, femininity, and the body, reflecting her own struggles with self-image and mental health. Her work is deeply personal, often featuring herself or other women in intimate, vulnerable poses, surrounded by decaying interiors or natural settings.
Though Woodman’s career was tragically cut short when she died at 22, her work has had a lasting impact on contemporary photography, influencing many artists who seek to convey emotion and narrative through visual experimentation. Her legacy continues to resonate, with exhibitions and publications keeping her vision alive in the art world.
Some of my pieces inspired by Woodman’s work
– Last Photo taken by Ollie Fus
To achieve these blurry images, we needed to use a very low shutter speed which in doing, means that the shutter is open for a longer period of time, so it lets more light in and when an subject is moving in the frame with a low shutter speed set, the images appears blurry. This is because if the shutter speed is set to one second, and the subject is moving during the whole time period, the camera tries to capture that whole sequence into once single image, therefore it shows all the motion – hence the motion blur.
– All images shot between 1″ – 5″ second shutter speed
Photos inspired by Francesca Woodman – using the studio
shutter speed – the speed at which the shutter of the camera closes. A fast shutter speed creates a shorter exposure — the amount of light the camera takes in —while a slow shutter speed gives the photographer a longer exposure.
Low shutter speeds are used for scenarios where the lighting in the area is low, This is because the camera needs more time to capture the light so that the photo is not too dark or unreadable due to the lack of exposure. As shown in the diagram below, the camera needs more time to properly adjust to the light in the scene in order to avoid over exposure as seen in the photo taken at a shutter speed of 1/2.
On the other hand, Higher shutter speeds are excellent at freezing and capturing fast paced moments which are usually impossible to see just through the use of eyes, for example, attempting to capture water droplets in movement or a car mid f1 race.
A fast shutter speed, say, in the 1/500th second range, will freeze the water and give it a gnarly, crunchy look. A long, multi-second shutter speed will make waterfalls look silky and veil-like. Both looks can work, but what looks best will depend on the subject and your personal preferences as a photographer.
( 1/45 sec shutter speed) (130 second shutter speed)
The general rule for the shutter speed when it comes to astrophotography is to go with anything between 10 and 30 seconds depending on your focal length. The longer the shutter speed you use, the lower the ISO you can use but using a shutter speed too long can result in blurry stars due to the Earth’s rotation.
Slow shutter speeds and long exposures enable you to create motion blur in your photos. Again, the speed of the moving object will determine how slow the shutter speed needs to be.
Photographers known for shutter speed.
Eadweard Muybridge
is celebrated for his ground-breaking studies of motion, which laid the groundwork for the development of cinema. He was commissioned to capture a horse’s movement to demonstrate that its hooves are off the ground during a trot.
Between 1878 and 1886, Muybridge conducted pioneering chrono photography of animal locomotion, employing multiple cameras to capture various positions within a stride. He also invented the zoopraxiscope, a device that projected painted motion pictures from glass discs, predating the use of flexible perforated film strips in cinematography.
Harold Edgerton
Harold Edgerton was an American electrical engineer and photographer known for his pioneering work in high-speed photography. He developed techniques and equipment that allowed for the capture of fast-moving subjects, revealing details that the human eye could not see.
His iconic images include a bullet piercing an apple and the moment a drop of milk splashes into a pool, showcasing the beauty and complexity of motion. Edgerton’s innovations in strobe lighting and high-speed cameras not only advanced photography but also contributed to scientific research in fields like physics and biology, making him a significant figure in both art and science.
Hiroshi Sugimoto
Hiroshi Sugimoto is a Japanese photographer known for his striking and contemplative works that explore themes of time, memory, and the nature of reality. His most famous series include “Theaters,” featuring long-exposure images of classic movie houses, and “Seascapes,” capturing the tranquil beauty of oceans across different locations and times.
Sugimoto’s use of long exposure creates a sense of timelessness, blurring the lines between the past and present. His work often invites viewers to reflect on the passage of time and the relationship between the observer and the observed, making him a significant figure in contemporary photography.
Francesca Woodman
Francesca Woodman was a groundbreaking photographer known for her evocative and surreal images, many of which were taken at her family’s farmhouse near Florence, Italy. Her upbringing in a culturally rich environment deeply influenced her artistic development, drawing inspiration from surrealist artists like Man Ray and Claude Cahun.
Woodman honed her skills at the Rhode Island School of Design, where she began to explore complex themes of identity and the human experience. In the 1970s, a time when photography was often undervalued compared to painting and sculpture, her innovative approach helped elevate the medium. Woodman’s work paved the way for future American photographers, such as Cindy Sherman and Nan Goldin, who similarly examined identity and self-representation in their art.
Here’s a quick summary of shutter speed guidelines:
Shutter Speed Rule: As a general rule, your shutter speed should be double (or more) the focal length of your lens. For instance, with a 50mm lens, aim for at least 1/100th of a second, and for a 75mm lens, at least 1/150th of a second.
Slow Shutter Speed: A slow shutter speed keeps the shutter open longer, allowing more light to hit the sensor. This can lead to motion blur for moving objects and is useful for low-light situations or when you want to capture the sense of movement in a scene.
Shutter Speed Shoot
The focus of this shoot was to experiment with different shutter speed and how it effects movement.
I begun the selection process with 100 pictures, in order to compress this less photos I will use the PnX process to select which photos I want to keep and which I want to discard.
Using the PnX process, I cut down to 24 photos, now I will repeat this process and pick out the best couple photos which I will present.
Here I am using the X/Y feature to compare the two images, once I am satisfied with one I will simply press X on one of them to discard them of the view.
Final set of images which I will use on the blog, the star system also allowed me to decide between images which I prefer and which ones I dislike.
Final Pieces.
(Edited in Lightroom)
Using a fast shutter speed ( 1/125) , I captured the red ball in mid-air, suspended between the trees, creating a striking contrast against the natural backdrop. The high shutter speed froze the motion perfectly, allowing the ball to appear crisp and sharp, avoiding any motion blur and emphasizing the vibrant red against the greenery.
In this image, the use of a 4-second shutter speed creates an ethereal, ghostly effect, capturing multiple overlapping exposures of my model ( Alfie) as he shifts slightly during the long exposure. The soft blur adds a sense of motion, almost as if the subject is moving through time, creating a surreal, dreamlike quality. The background, filled with books and papers, remains relatively sharp, while the subject’s face is duplicated thrice across the frame, producing a unique layering effect that conveys both motion and stillness. The dim lighting enhances the mood, giving the image a mysterious and slightly abstract feeling.
I used a long exposure to capture the subject as they spun around, creating a dramatic, distorted effect. The 4-second shutter speed allowed for the body to blur and stretch across the frame, making the subject appear as though they’re being pulled in multiple directions. The spinning motion produced a swirling effect where limbs and the head melt into each other, resulting in a fluid, abstract form. The contrast between the still background and the distorted body creates a surreal, dreamlike quality, emphasizing the movement in an almost otherworldly manner.
In this attempt, I aimed to capture a subtle motion by having the subject move only their head during the long exposure. However, the experiment didn’t go as planned—the subject moved their head too rapidly and inconsistently, causing the entire head to blur into an almost ghostly smear. Instead of a distinct motion trail or soft blur, the head nearly vanished from the frame, creating a strange, disjointed image where the body remains sharply in focus but the head has become a faint, formless blur. This unintended effect results in a surreal, eerie composition where the absence of a clear head makes the subject appear almost headless, adding an unintentional element of distortion and mystery to the photograph.
In this shot, I used a long shutter speed combined with cold lighting, but unlike previous attempts, there was no movement from the subject. By staying perfectly still throughout the exposure, the subject remains sharp and clear, with no motion trails or blurring. The cool-toned lighting adds a stark, almost clinical atmosphere to the image. The long exposure doesn’t introduce any distortion or ghostly effects—instead, it enhances the stillness. The focus is sharp across the entire frame, capturing every texture and detail in both the subject and the surroundings, resulting in a crisp photograph. The
In this image, the fast shutter speed perfectly captures three tennis balls suspended in mid-air, seemingly frozen against the plain background of the sky. The high shutter speed ensures there is no motion blur, allowing the balls to appear sharp and crisp as if they are floating in a straight, horizontal line. The simple, cloudy sky creates a minimalistic backdrop, drawing all attention to the alignment of the tennis balls, emphasizing their identical positions and uniform spacing. The fast shutter speed essentially freezes time, giving the impression that the balls are defying gravity, creating a balanced and clean composition that plays with movement and precision.
Shutter speed refers to the duration for which the camera’s shutter remains open, determining the period during which the sensor is exposed to light. A longer exposure time allows more light to reach the sensor, resulting in a brighter image – controlling and adapting shutter speed is crucial for capturing either sharp images of moving things or exploring creative blurring in moving objects.
Examples of Slow Shutter Speed Images:
Using a slower shutter speed means more light hits the camera due to the shutter being open for longer, which can create these motion blurs when photographing fast movement (such as cars). These blurs can be intentional, but if unintentional the shutter speed should be increased to remove them. In these two examples a slow shutter speed was used when photographing cars which led to these blurs, making it seem like the cars are driving past at extremely high speeds.
Examples of Fast Shutter Speed Images:
Faster shutter speeds mean the shutter is open for smaller amounts of time which consequently limits the amount of light that can hit the camera – this reduces blurs and increases sharpness of an image, which is good for capturing sharp images of movement (such as athletes running). In these two examples a fast shutter speed was used to take sharp images of fast movement, such as the bird’s wings flapping or the shattered glass flying in all directions.
Key Figures of Fast Shutter Speed – Muybridge and Edgerton
Eadweard Muybridge is known for his groundbreaking photographic investigations into motion, which significantly contributed to the development and rise of cinema. He was commissioned to capture the movement of a horse in order to demonstrate that a horse’s hooves are elevated from the ground during a trot.
A photo taken by Muybridge, in which he proves a horse’s hooves are elevated from the ground during a trot
Muybridge is also famous for his work in chronophotography, where he studied how animals move from 1878 to 1886. He used several cameras to take pictures of animals at different stages of their movement. He also created the zoopraxiscope, a machine that projected painted moving images from glass discs, which came before the flexible film strips we use in movies today.
Harold Eugene Edgerton (April 6, 1903 – January 4, 1990) was an American scientist and researcher who taught electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is well-known for turning the stroboscope from a little-known lab tool into a widely used device. Additionally, he played a significant role in creating sonar technology and deep-sea photography. His inventions were used alongside Jacques Cousteau in efforts to find shipwrecks and even the Loch Ness Monster.
A photo taken by Harold Edgerton using fast shutter speed, 1964
Key Figures of Slow Shutter Speed – Sugimoto and Woodman
Marcel Duchamp, a key figure in early 20th-century Cubism and Dadaism, had a significant impact on Sugimoto’s ideas about art and the concept of time. Sugimoto frequently uses large format cameras and long exposure techniques to photograph light as it acts in predictable yet controlled manners.
A series of slow shutter speed images taken by Sugimoto
Francesca Woodman’s family would spend their summers at their farmhouse in the countryside close to Florence, Italy, where she took many of her photographs. The rich European culture and art greatly influenced her artistic growth. You can see the impact of surrealist artists like Man Ray and Claude Cahun in her work, especially in the themes and style she chose. She honed her ideas and skills while studying at the Rhode Island School of Design; her role as an innovator is really important, especially in the 1970s when photography was often seen as less valuable than painting and sculpture. She paved the way for future American artists, like Cindy Sherman and Nan Goldin, who used photography to delve into themes of identity.
Above is a photo I took inspired by Francesca Woodman – I have used a slow shutter speed on a passing car to achieve the ghostly and abstract atmosphere of her work, where the car is hardly recognisable and just a blur. I then edited it in Photoshop to make it black and white similar to Woodman’s work, and corrected the photo as it was slightly overexposed.
Photo taken at 1/3 sec exposure time
This is a similar photo I took, however I think this one wasn’t as great since you can still clearly recognise it is a car, so I think it hasn’t successfully captured the abstract feeling of Woodman’s work. I also didn’t have the camera mounted on a tripod in this photo which resulting in a lot of unintentional motion blur in the surroundings.
Class Photoshoot
All the photos taken during the class photoshoot
Above are a few most successful images from the class photoshoot, using a low shutter speed to create an abstract and almost ghostly image (edited in Photoshop by me to be black and white). These are the four most successful pictures in my opinion since none of them were too over/underexposed and each one intentionally used a long exposure time to successfully capture the abstract atmosphere of images by photographers such as Francesca Woodman.
In photography, shutter speed, also known as exposure time, refers to how long the camera’s film or digital sensor is exposed to light while taking a picture. This happens when the camera’s shutter is open. The longer the exposure time, the more light hits the film or sensor. For example, an exposure time of 1/500 of a second allows in half as much light as an exposure time of 1/250 of a second.
Fast vs slow shutter speed
Slow ——————————–Fast
Important Photographers
Eadweard Muybridge
Eadweard Muybridge (April 9, 1830 – May 8) was a British photographer recognized for his ground-breaking contributions to the study of motion through photography, as well as his early discoveries in motion-picture projection. Muybridge is mostly famous for his work in chronophotography, which he did between 1878 and 1886. He used several cameras to take pictures of animals in motion, showing the different stages of their strides. He also created the zoopraxiscope, a machine that projected painted moving images from glass discs, which came before the flexible film strips used in movies. From 1883 to 1886, he had a super productive time at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, where he took over 100,000 images of both animals and people moving, sometimes capturing moments that were too quick for the human eye to see as separate.
Example of his work
Harold Edgerton
Harold Eugene “Doc” Edgerton (April 6, 1903 – January 4, 1990), often called Papa Flash, was an American scientist and researcher who taught electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is well-known for changing the stroboscope from a little-known lab tool into a widely used device. Additionally, he played a significant role in creating sonar technology and deep-sea photography. His inventions were used alongside Jacques Cousteau in efforts to find shipwrecks and even the legendary Loch Ness Monster.
Example of his work
Hiroshi Sugimoto
Hiroshi Sugimoto, born on February 23, 1948, is a renowned photographer and architect from Japan. He is the head of an architectural firm called New Material Research Laboratory, which is located in Tokyo. Sugimoto describes his art as a way to show ‘time exposed,’ meaning his photographs act like a time capsule that captures various moments. His work highlights the fleeting nature of life and the struggle between existence and mortality. Additionally, Sugimoto draws significant inspiration from Marcel Duchamp’s writings and the broader Dadaist and Surrealist movements. He has also shown a strong fascination with modern architecture from the late 20th century.
Example of his work
Francesca Woodman
Francesca Stern Woodman (April 3, 1958 – January 19, 1981) was a talented American photographer famous for her striking black and white images that often included herself or other female models. A lot of her photos depict women, either nude or dressed, appearing blurred because of movement and long exposure times. This creates a unique effect where they seem to blend into their environments, and sometimes their faces are hidden. Even years after her tragic passing at just 22 in 1981, her work still receives a lot of praise and attention from critics.
Example of her work
Example I’ve made of how shutter speed effects exposure.
1/4000 sec. (under exposed)
1/250 sec. (sharp)
1/3 sec. (motion blur)
30 sec. (over exposed)
These 4 photos show the difference between different shutter speeds.
My long exposure photos
My best long exposure photos
F/22. 1/3 sec. ISO-100.
F/36. 1 sec. ISO-100.
F/22. 1 sec. ISO-100.
The photos shown above are some of the best photos I took using a long shutter speed. To create this I used a tripod to keep everything in focus and then used a long shutter speed.
Black and white edited
Editing my images to black and white means that the photos follow the style of Francesca Woodman more closely.
Overall thoughts and evaluation
I believe this photoshoot went really well. The motion blur in my final pictures looks awesome, and the extra editing, like the black and white effect, made my images even better. I feel like I realistically replicated Woodman’s photos with my own twist on the photos, being the cars instead of people.
The Camera Obscura is a scientific photograph, where the image is reflected directly from the sun’s rays to diagonally flip the image upside down. To achieve this, you must be in a dim lit room with a black cover that you can poke a hole through. By doing this, the reflection will convert the image from the outside. However, this process makes it difficult to determine the origins of photography, since it’s a natural image which is shown below.
Nicephore Niepce
Niepce cleverly found a way for the camera obscura to be transformed from a projection to a photograph that he could physically hold. However, his work had a flaw as they would fade during daylight and would eventually turn fully black. The process of having this fixed image was a long one, as it took him 8 hours to produce this one. His images were also in monochrome colours, and weren’t as clear as the images made today, but at this time, this image was revolutionary.
Henry Fox Tabolt
Tabolt discovered what he called, “Photogenic Drawing”, where he realised if you use a a thin sheet of paper covered in salt and lightly coated with silver nitrate, and left if out in the sun with pieces covering certain parts to block the light out, and put it under a piece of glass, that you could make you’re own ‘Photogenic Drawing’.
Later on, he began to create ‘mouse traps’, which were essentially small wooden boxes, with a little lens and at the back, Tabolt stuck a piece of paper to it that is chemically sensitive to the light.
Louis Daguerre
Louis is known for his famous product ‘The Daguerreotype’, which was a heavy camera that makes one copy on a silvered copper plate. The images that this camera produced were detailed and accurate in black and white, making them iconic as it was the first successful type of image, like a polaroid. However, the Daguerreotype was produced around the same time as the ‘mousetraps’, but since Tabolt’s work could produce more than one copy, his work became more liked and used more often.
Richard Maddox
Maddox designed ‘dry plates’ which was a piece of glass covered with silver bromide, but his camera meant that you didn’t have to develop the images right after taking the photo. His work was revolutionary for his time, as his camera became the first camera that could be held with one hand, whereas the others had to be placed. However, the images still had to be developed in a dark room, similarly to some of the other camera designs.
George Eastman
Kodak (Brownie)
Digital Photography
Digital photography is a much simpler version of photography, compared to the Camera Obscura where they had to
Shutter speed is the amount of time in which the shutter is open. The longer the shutter is open the more light is let into the lens. Lower shutter speeds are used for low light scenarios as the lower the shutter speed the longer the shutter is open and therefore, the more light is let into the frame.
Faster shutter speeds are used for subjects in fast motion for example a car. Slower shutter speeds are used for subjects in slower motion like taking photos of the stars in the sky.
These two two photos are taken using a very different shutter speed. The first photo is taken using a very fast shutter speed as it shows the stars set still. The second photo uses a shutter speed of just over three hours. This very slow shutter speed allows the camera to capture the stars in motion as they move over the three hours. – Estimate for shutter speed of first photo: 25-50.
Experimenting with shutter speed
This photo was taken using a lower shutter speed around 1/30. This low shutter speed makes the image in blurry as the subjects are moving when the photo was taken. If this was taken with a high shutter speed like 1/250 then it would be a clear, still image.
These photos wer taken with a really low shutter speed around 1/4-1/15. This is very low shutter speed makes the image extremely blurry, so bad that half of the persons head is missing in the large photo. This very low shutter speed means that the shutter is open for a longer period of time which not only lets more light in but it means that the camera is trying to capture the image while in motion for that whole duration of time, this is why the image comes out very blurry.
In this photo, we were trying to capture 3 balls thrown in the air in a straight line. Since the balls are falling through the sky in motion, we needed to use a high shutter speed around 1/250 to create a clear image of the moving subject. This high shutter speeds works because the shutter is open for a shorter period of time, this not only lets less light in because its open for less time, but this means that the image is captured in a still clear motion.
Artists who experimented with shutter speed
Eadweard Muybridge
Eadweard Muybridge was a pioneering photographer and motion picture inventor in the late 19th century, best known for his ground-breaking work in capturing movement through sequential photography. His most famous project involved a series of images of a galloping horse, which he created in 1878 to settle a bet about whether all four hooves left the ground during the horse’s stride. Muybridge used a series of 12 cameras, each triggered by the horse’s movement, to capture the motion in a way that revealed the fluidity of motion previously unseen.
Muybridge’s experiments with shutter speed and rapid photography not only advanced the art of photography but also laid the groundwork for the development of motion pictures. By manipulating shutter speed, he was able to freeze moments in time, allowing viewers to analyze motion in ways that had profound implications for both science and art. His work influenced future filmmakers and artists, and his innovative techniques are still relevant in modern photography and cinematography.
Harold Edgerton
Harold Edgerton was an American engineer and photographer renowned for his pioneering work in high-speed photography. His innovative use of strobe lighting allowed him to capture rapid events, such as a bullet piercing an apple or a dancer in mid-leap, with extraordinary clarity. Edgerton’s techniques revealed details of motion that were previously impossible to see, pushing the boundaries of photographic technology and artistry.
His contributions to the field extended beyond artistic pursuits; Edgerton’s work had practical applications in various scientific and engineering disciplines. By using high-speed photography to study dynamic phenomena, he helped improve understanding in fields ranging from ballistics to fluid dynamics. His iconic images not only captivated the public but also laid the groundwork for advancements in both photography and experimental science, solidifying his legacy as a pioneer of visual exploration.
Hiroshi Sugimoto
Hiroshi Sugimoto is a Japanese photographer known for his meditative and thought-provoking images that explore the intersection of time, memory, and perception. His most famous series, “Theaters,” captures the interiors of old movie houses in a long exposure that blurs the line between past and present, creating a surreal sense of nostalgia. Sugimoto’s meticulous approach to composition and lighting allows him to transform mundane spaces into timeless reflections, inviting viewers to contemplate the passage of time.
In addition to “Theaters,” Sugimoto’s work spans various series, including “Seascapes” and “Dioramas,” where he investigates natural and artificial environments. His use of traditional photographic techniques, combined with a philosophical inquiry into the nature of reality, challenges the viewer’s understanding of both photography and existence. Through his art, Sugimoto encourages a deeper engagement with the world, revealing layers of meaning in seemingly simple subjects.
Diorama – Hiroshi Sugimoto
Francesca Woodman
Francesca Woodman was an influential American photographer known for her evocative black-and-white images that often explored themes of identity, femininity, and the passage of time. Her work frequently featured herself and other female figures, captured in haunting, ethereal compositions that blurred the lines between presence and absence. Woodman’s innovative use of long exposure and soft focus created a dreamlike quality, allowing her to express emotional depth and vulnerability in ways that resonated powerfully with viewers.
Tragically, Woodman’s career was cut short by her untimely death at the age of 22, yet her body of work has had a lasting impact on contemporary photography. Despite her brief life, she produced a significant number of striking images that have inspired generations of artists and photographers. Woodman’s exploration of self and the human condition continues to provoke thought and discussion, cementing her legacy as a key figure in the realm of conceptual and feminist photography.
The Camera Obscura is a natural phenomenon which is around 200 years old and comes from the Latin words for dark (obscura) and room (camera).
What is a Camera Obscura?
With a camera obscura you can capture the world around you by projecting what’s on the outside down into a darkened room on the inside. It also doesn’t involve any power source. Camera obscura — and before them, pinhole cameras — have been around for several hundred years. But it wasn’t until the early 1600s that manufacturing lenses of high enough quality to create more flexible cameras with larger openings was possible – this meant letting in more light to create brighter and higher quality images. For example painters would once have used a camera obscura like this for making accurate and detailed sketches of scenes. It was especially useful for capturing perspective – accurately representing the height, width, depth and position of what you can see in the 3D world but presented on a 2D surface.
How does it work?
Other than a rather theatrical looking curtain that surrounds the darkened chamber, there’s a large lens mounted in a wooden panel. That lens focuses the light from the scene outside down onto a mirror which is held at a 45 degree angle behind it on the inside. The mirror reflects the rays of light onto a piece of paper – or canvas – laid out flat on the base inside the wooden box. To see the image, you need to cover yourself with a piece of black cloth to stop any other surrounding light from getting into the box. Then, you would trace the outlines of the scene you can see projected onto the paper inside. And because this camera obscura uses a lens, which created a relatively large aperture, you get a sharp, colourful image on the paper – like a mini video of the outside world.
Who used a camera obscura?
Because the light is bouncing off the mirror, you see the image the right way up. But the lens causes the image to flip (or invert) so it’s also the wrong way round. That meant artists using a camera obscura would have to trace the final image in reverse. There is plenty of evidence that master like Canaletto and Rembrandt used the camera obscura – but other artists may have been more secretive. People debate whether the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer used a camera obscura to capture the incredible detail in his exquisite paintings of domestic scenes. Although there’s no written evidence to prove it either way, art historians think, on balance, that he probably did.
The Music Lesson – Johannes Vermeer
The birth of photography
In the 1700s and 1800s CE, the camera obscura was also a useful accessory for the wealthy taking the ‘Grand Tour’ to make drawings of Italian landscapes or classical ruins. But the camera obscura is only focusing and reflecting light — not capturing it. The next big leap in the 1800s CE was to combine a device like a camera obscura with a material that would alter when exposed to the light — and preserve the image.
View from the Window at Le Gras taken by Joseph Nicephore Niépce c. 1826/27
That’s how this photograph was taken. Called View from the Window at Le Gras, it’s the earliest known photograph. The Frenchman Joseph Niépce took it in 1826 or 1827 using a camera obscura and a plate coated with chemicals.
Nicephore Niepce
Who is he?
Nicéphore Niépce (born March 7, 1765, Chalon-sur-Saône, France—died July 5, 1833, Chalon-sur-Saône) was a French inventor who was the first to make a permanent photographic image.
What did Niepce do?
When French inventor Joseph Nicephore placed a camera obscura aimed toward the view outside the second-story window of his country house in Le Gras, France, in 1826-27, he couldn’t imagine the revolution he was about to be a part of.
By then, he had already been experimenting for a while with lithography, a technique invented by Bavarian playwright Alois Senefelder in 1798, which consisted of an artist drawing an image on a smooth, flat limestone surface, taking advantage of the immiscibility between the oil and water. Unsatisfied and recognising his inability to draw, Niepce began experimenting with different methods and techniques that wouldn’t required this skill. He also wanted to find a way to create a permanent image whose lines wouldn’t fade over time and couldn’t be washed away. After a series of unsuccessful attempts, Niepce turned his attention to materials that were affected by light, and explored the use of metal plates. Eventually, an element in particular caught his attention: bitumen of Judea, a naturally occurring asphalt which hardens on exposure to light.
Placing existing engravings, made transparent, onto the surface of pewter plates coated with bitumen, then exposing them to light through a camera obscura, he finally achieved his goal. The sunlight “exposed” the plate except for the areas that were covered by the lines on the engraved paper. Finally the plate was washed in lavender oil and turpentine, removing the unexposed bitumen. By doing that, Niepce created the process which he called “heliography”, from helios meaning “sun”, and graphein, “writing”.
This famous heliograph was produced in 1826, based on an engraving by Issac Briot. It pictures a profile of Cardinal d’Amboise.
The window at Le Gras
Original image
Enhanced version
Point de vue du Gras or View from the Window at Le Gras was taken from the window of Niépce’s ‘laboratory’, and is considered the earliest surviving photographic image.
It is said that it required about 8 hours of exposure for the image to be completed. The sun moved from east to west during the process – the reason why it appears to shine of both sides of the building. Some people estimate that the exposure must have continued not for hours, but for several days.
This amazing milestone offered, in Niepce’s words: “The first uncertain step in a completely new direction”
Was it the first photograph?
The oldest photograph preserved today is the image at Le Gras, France, in 1826. Theoretically, it’s not the first-ever photograph because Niépce had been experimenting with heliography since 1816. But previous ones didn’t get to enter history.
William Henry Fox Talbot
Who was he?
William Henry Fox Talbot (born February 11, 1800, Melbury Sampford, Dorset, England—died September 17, 1877, Lacock Abbey, near Chippenham, Wiltshire) was an English chemist, linguist, archaeologist, and pioneer photographer. He is best known for his development of the calotype, an early photographic process that was an improvement over the daguerreotype of the French inventor Louis Daguerre. Talbot’s calotypes used a photographic negative, from which multiple prints could be made; had his method been announced but a few weeks earlier, he and not Daguerre would probably have been known as the founder of photography.
Photogenic drawings
Photogenic drawings was the name given to the images produced by William Henry Fox Talbot to the images produced by his earliest experiments in the 1830’s. Salted-paper prints: The first viable paper negative process was developed by William Henry Fox Talbot in the late 1830s. n William Henry Fox Talbot. These so-called photogenic drawings were basically contact prints on light-sensitive paper, which unfortunately produced dark and spotty images. In 1840 he modified and improved this process and called it the calotype (later the talbotype).
In October 1833, during his honeymoon at Lake Como, William Henry Fox Talbot faced frustration while sketching the landscape with a camera lucida, realizing his drawings couldn’t capture the scene’s beauty. This experience prompted him to revisit his earlier work with the camera obscura and inspired him to explore the possibility of permanently fixing images onto paper. Upon returning to Lacock Abbey in January 1834, Talbot began experimenting with photographic techniques, using salt and silver nitrate-treated paper to create detailed botanical tracings through sunlight, which he called “the art of photogenic drawing.” By summer 1835, he advanced his work by placing sensitized paper in small cameras to capture images of his surroundings.
However, Talbot soon encountered competition from Louis Daguerre’s precise photographic process introduced in 1839. To assert his claim in photography, Talbot presented his findings to the Royal Society and continued refining his techniques. In September 1840, he achieved a breakthrough with the calotype process, enabling faster exposures and the development of latent images. Despite challenges with image permanence, he collaborated with scientist Sir John Herschel to develop a more stable fixing solution. Talbot also pursued photogravure to create enduring photographic prints, ultimately revolutionizing photography and establishing its artistic and scientific foundations.
Talbot’s Mousetraps
The cameras belonging to William Henry Fox Talbot are some of the most precious items in the Royal Photographic Society Collection at the V&A. Most famous of al are the simple little cameras nicknamed ‘mousetraps’. These were given this name by Talbot’s wife Constance, partly because of their appearance and partly due to Talbot leaving them around the house for long exposure times of up to several hours.
The mousetraps are study little wooden boxes with a brass tube housing a lens at one end, and a sliding wooden panel at the other. Into the wooden panel at the back Talbot would tick a piece of normal writing paper that he had made chemically sensitive to light. On some you can still see the traces where successive pieces of paper have been stuck in place. The mousetrap cameras themselves are pleasant to hold – toy-like even – and their simple design allows even a photographic novice to understand how they might work.
Once the paper was inserted, the camera would be placed in front of the subject being photographed and left for several hours to expose. After that, the paper inside would be carefully removed and chemically treated to bring out and then stabilise the latent negative image. if the experiment reached this point successfully, the negative was used to create positive prints by sensitising a further sheet of paper, laying the negative on top of it in a frame, and exposing it in the sun for several hours. The resulting print would then need to be fixed to stop the image from fading. Getting the right balance of chemicals and treatments for this stage of the process was one of the most vexed areas of research for the duration of early photographic experimentation.
The earliest of the cameras dates back to 1835, when cameras weren’t available to buy. Instead Talbot made some himself out of cigar boxes and other readymade wooden boxes he could modify. He also employed a local carpenter to make more robust boxes to fit lenses from microscope and telescopes
Louis Daguerre
Who was he?
Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre was a French artist and photographer, recognized for his invention of the eponymous daguerreotype process of photography. He became known as one of the fathers of photography.
What is a daguerreotype?
The daguerreotype is a photographic process that involved capturing an image on a polished sheet of metal, usually sharp and detailed, but also incredibly fragile. The process of creating a daguerreotype involved a number of steps. starting with preparation of a metal plate. The daguerreotype plate was coated with a light sensitive chemical, and then placed inside a camera. The image was captured by exposing the plate to light for a certain amount of time, depending on the lighting conditions and the desired result.
Once the exposure was complete, the plate was processed in a chemical bath to fix the image. This involved washing the plate in a solution of salt water and alcohol, and then exposing it to mercury vapor. The mercury vapor reacted with the light-sensitive chemical, creating a visible on the daguerreotype plate. One of the most difficult aspects of this stage of the process was ensuring that the image was properly exposed. This required a high level of expertise and experience, as well as the use of specialised equipment. The final was to polish the plate, which gave it its unique, mirror-like finish. The resulting daguerreotype was then placed inside a protective case, and could be viewed by tilting it at different angles to catch the light.
Why was the daguerreotype not as successful as Talbot’s system?
But the daguerreotype had serious limitations. The mirror-like surface of the image could only be viewed from a narrow angle. Further, the process produced a one-of-a-kind image that did not permit printing duplicates.
Cyanotype
Cyanotype photography is a camera-less technique that involves laying an object on paper coated with a solution of iron salts before exposing it to UV light and washing with water to create stunning white and Prussian blue images.
Sir John Herschel: The inventor of cyanotypes Later, in 1842, he used paper coated with a solution of iron salts, sun exposure and a water wash to create the very first cyanotype – a white image on a deep blue background.
Richard Maddox
Richard Leach Maddox was an English photographer and physician who invented lightweight gelatin negative dry plates for photography in 1871.
The Gelatin or Dry Plate photographic process was invented in 1871 by Dr. Richard L Maddox. This involved the coating of glass photographic plates with a light sensitive gelatin emulsion and allowing them to dry prior to use.
Richard Leach Maddox invented the gelatin dry plate silver bromide process. This led to the invention of dry plate photography, which did not require the photographer to develop the plate immediately after exposure. This proved to be a highly successful process, which continued to be used into the 1920s.
George Eastman
George Eastman was an American entrepreneur who founded the Eastman Kodak Company and helped to bring the photographic use of roll film into the mainstream.
In the 1880s, Eastman developed a convenient method of preparing ready-to-use plates. Improvements led to flexible, roll film as well as photo processing and printing done by mail order. Millions of people worldwide captured memories using cameras and film, leaving all the chemistry to Kodak.
In 1881, with the financial backing of Rochester businessman Henry Strong, Eastman formed the Eastman Dry Plate Company (reincorporated as the Eastman Dry Plate and Film Company in 1884 and as Eastman Kodak Company in 1892). With a series of innovations, the company created easy-to-use cameras that made photography widely accessible, established the practice of professional photofinishing, and developed a flexible film that was a critical contribution to the launch of the motion picture industry.
Kodak (Brownie)
The Brownie was a series of camera models made by Eastman Kodak and first released in 1900. It introduced the snapshot to the masses by addressing the cost factor which had mean that amateur photography remained beyond the means of many people; the Pocket Kodak, for example, would cost most families in Britain nearly a whole month’s wages.
How was the kodak brownie influential?
It was easy to use compared to other cameras, and could be loaded in the daylight. Through the advertising schemes used by Kodak, and because of the affordability of the Brownie camera, many amateurs and middle class people were able to discover the joys of photography.
Who invented it?
It was invented by Frank A. Brownell for the Eastman Kodak Company. Named after the Brownie characters popularised by the Canadian writer Palmer Cox, the camera was initially aimed at children.
How did it work?
The Brownie was a basic box camera with a single lens. It used a roll film, another innovation from Eastman Kodak. Users received the pre-loaded camera, took their photographs, and returned it to Kodak. Kodak would develop the film, print the photos, reload the camera with new film, and return it to the customer.
Digital Photography
Digital photography is a process that uses an electronic device called a digital camera to capture an image. Instead of film, it uses an electronic digital sensor to translate light into electrical signals. In the camera, the signals are stored as tiny bits of data in bitmaps, tiny bits of data that form the image.
in 1957, the first digital image was produced through a computer by Russell Kirsch. It was an image of his son. First digital image ever created, by Russell Kirsch. It is an image of his son, Walden.
DSLR
In 1991, Kodak released the first commercially available fully digital SLR, the Kodak DCS-100, previously shown at Photokina in 1990. It consisted of a modified Nikon F3 SLR body, modified drive unit, and an external storage unit connected via cable.
The first mirrorless camera commercially marketed was the Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1, released in Japan in October 2008. It was also the first camera of Micro Four Thirds system, developed exclusively for the mirrorless ILC system.
Aaron Siskind was an American photographer whose work focuses on the details of things, presented as flat surfaces to create a new image independent of the original subject. He is best known for his black-and-white, close range, and aerial photos of surfaces and objects.
Siskind’s photos can seem both sculptural and vast or diminutive and painterly. Their ambiguity has caused spectators to “muse (sometimes in print) in front of a Siskind photograph like analysands in front of ink blots,” wrote art critic Thomas B. Hess. Born on December 4, 1903 in New York, NY, Siskind didn’t begin photographing until he received a camera as a wedding gift and soon after joined the New York Photo League. His work follows in the lineage of Bauhaus photographer László Moholy-Nagy and American photographer Harry Callahan, inspired by their formal and technical approaches to the medium. His works—which range in subject matter from volcanic lava to graffitied walls—are in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, and the Smithsonian Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C., among others. Siskind died on February 8, 1991 in Providence, RI.
