When I was first learning about shooting in manual mode, I read articles. So, so many articles. I would pick up little pieces of information here and there, but for the most part, I would find myself completely overwhelmed. It’s really hard to write an article about photography, using all the proper terminology, and have it be easily readable to a person who knows very little about photography and none of the terminology. My greatest resources were shorter, simpler articles generally written by regular photographers. Not the masters, not the greatest in their field, but the mom who realized after taking photos of her kids that she may have a knack for photography. Or the man who discovered after taking some landscape shots that he could do so much more with it. These articles were written in simple terms and baby stepped me through the process. I’d learn a little bit from reading, go experiment with my camera, and teach myself a little bit along the way. For me, it was the best way to learn. (After I was comfortable with the basics of my camera, I took a proper photography course to learn more in depth information.)
So, that’s my plan for some upcoming posts that I have scheduled. We’re going to baby step our way through it. It’s an easy way to learn and it’s an easy way for me to share the information I’ve learned over the years. If you want super technical, I’ve got some books I can recommend, but here, we’re going to keep it simple.
So, when it comes to shooting in manual, there are three elements you need to consider. These three elements work together to create a good exposure. (a/k/a the exposure triangle) In this post, I’m going to talk about shutter speed. (The other two elements being aperture and ISO, which we’ll discuss later.)
shut·ter speed
noun
the time for which a shutter is open at a given setting.
Simply put, when the shutter on your camera opens it lets in light. The longer it’s open, the more light can come in. The shutter speed settings are designated as fractions of a second. So, looking at your camera, if you see a fraction, that’s your shutter speed. (ex. 1/60, 1/125, 1/2000) The larger the bottom number, (denominator??? Fractions were never my fave.) the faster your shutter will open and close, meaning less light will hit your sensor. When there’s plenty of light around you, you’ll want this number to be high. When there’s less light, you’ll want the number to be lower.
If you have your shutter speed set too fast (the denominator too high) for the situation you’re in, you’ll end up with a photo that’s underexposed.
Shutter Speed: 1/2000 (FYI- ISO: 640, f/1.8)
Not what we were after, right? The shutter opened and closed too quickly before allowing enough light in to properly photograph the drink.
Shutter Speed: 1/125 (ISO: 640, f/1.8)
By changing only my shutter speed, I was able to get a much better exposure than before because more light was needed. Add more light, and you’ve got an image with which you can work.
So, it stands to reason that by allowing your denominator to be too low in a given situation, you’ll be letting in too much light and will therefore, end up with an image that is overexposed.
Shutter Speed: 1/60 (ISO: 640 f/1.8)
See how the whites are waaaay too bright and everything looks like the brightness dial has been cranked?? Let’s avoid that. But, the good news is a problem like this is easy to fix. While taking your test shots, you’ll see how close or how far off you are from a perfect exposure (which “perfect” will vary from person to person…a topic we’ll get into later) and you can make a simple adjustment in your shutter speed to get you to the right point.
Ok, so that’s a good point to leave it for today, I think. I’ve already typed waaaaay more words than I generally do, so I could probably use a tea break. Shutter speed is a pretty basic thing that’s not too hard to understand, yet super important to make sure you do understand it if you want to take some gorgeous food (or any type, actually) photographs. Experiment with your camera and see what happens!
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