KNOW YOUR CAMERA, SHUTTER SPEED
KNOW YOUR CAMERA, a series of essays on storytelling.
SHUTTER SPEED, the duration your camera's shutter stays open to capture light, is crucial for storytelling because it controls motion and emotion—one of the three key camera settings for managing light.
Last week, I participated in an Art and Craft fair to promote our Workshops and Dakota Photo Safaris. I met a hungry group of people who love to photograph what they see and share the images with others, yet they feel their images are not worth sharing, lack emotion, and do not, on their own, tell the story. They say sharing them is like having people over to watch a boring slideshow of their summer vacation, only to have the lights come on and find everyone asleep.
I hear this frequently and want to help everyone escape those snapshot doldrums by showing how a well-told story can inspire and connect with others. Taking a photograph that holds attention and draws emotion is more than just point-and-shoot, though some powerful images came from a snapshot. Capturing an emotional story in one frame, one image takes either luck of the moment, or developing your skill. My calling is to help people tell their stories and evoke emotion in a single framed image.
Photography is spiritual and meditative, requiring us to see the beauty of God's creation. Photography is healthy for the mind, body, and soul. Photography can call humanity to action. Photojournalism documents the tragedies of conflict, human suffering, and environmental degradation.
Where to begin, just as any craftsman/artist, you begin by doing and knowing the tools of your trade. In this "Know Your Camera" series, I will write about some simple camera aspects that few people use but that are easy to practice. Three aspects manage light into the camera: Shutter Speed (the time the camera's lens opens to the image before you), Aperture (how wide your camera opens its eye, just as your eye dilates to light), and ISO (a technical point of the sensitivity setting of your camera to light)—I will be discussing all light settings in future blogs. Today, we will discuss Shutter speed.
Keep in mind that changing one of the three light settings requires changes to the others. Most people who use the "easy" setting on the camera avoid manual settings, letting the camera's computer decide the appropriate settings. I am not against using the easy button, full auto, or program mode on a camera. Sometimes, in rapidly changing conditions or actions, it is best—you can get distracted by settings and miss the moment. Embracing manual control can deepen your understanding and storytelling skills.
I always say the photo tells a story; it is the photographer's artistic choice how to tell that story. Without going into the entire workshop details, I will use images to explain shutter speed.
