Using varied shutter speeds to gather light and illustrate motion can be exhilarating. Control your shutter speed to freeze and blur motion. Get creative with this! Use the Shutter Priority Mode: S (shutter) or Tv (time value) to control how long your shutter stays open. In Shutter Priority mode, you control the shutter speed and your camera chooses an appropriate aperture based on the available light.
Google it: Examples of frozen motion – Examples of blurred motion
Past Student Work
Equipment
DLSR Camera; Tripod for the blurred motion shots (or flash shots)
Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom for appropriate adjustments (exposure, color, sharpness).
Instructions
1. FREEZE: Capture at least 2 images to show a variety of frozen motion.
Use S or TV mode (Shutter Priority); Rotate dial to a fast shutter, such as 1/1000 of a second; Choose broad daylight to gather plenty of light with this fast shutter speed. Or use a fast shutter during low light to freeze action on a silhouette. Or use a flash or speedlight in low light to freeze action, but only use a flash for one of your examples. Handhold your camera with confidence, because camera movement will not prevent a sharp image with this fast shutter speed.
2. BLUR: Capture at least 2 images to show a variety of blurred motion
Use S or Tv mode (Shutter Priority); Rotate dial to a slow shutter, such as 1/10 of a second (or 10 on some cameras); Choose low light. You will need a slow shutter speed to show blurred motion. To avoid camera shake, you must use a tripod. Your background should be sharp, with your moving subject(s) blurred. Get creative! Be sure to show variety, so if you do one image at night be sure the other one is in more light.
3. SUBMISSION: Do not submit until everything is complete. Once you submit, be sure NOT to change anything on your post, until after it is graded. Canvas creates a screenshot of your blog post at the time you submit that we will view.
1. A URL to your blog post (not home or log-in page) by pasting a link to the WEB URL tab on canvas (do not post as a comment).
2. Before 9am Wednesday, choose your best photo (only one) from this project and add it to the correct Class Facebook album. NOTE: Go to Photos > Albums — in the left upper column of the FB Group.
Image Labels (Metadata)
Paying attention to your camera settings will help you learn how to improve your exposure. For Blog Weeks 3 and 4 you need to label each photo with following “metadata:” 1. Title of photo – 2. Date, Time, Place – 3. Focal Length – 4. F/stop (aperture) – 5. Shutter Speed – 6. Camera – Other: tripod, flash, reflector, self-timer, remote, etc.
Find this information called “metadata” in Adobe Photoshop or Bridge. Go to File – File Info – Camera Data. Note: The aperture is the same as the f/stop. It looks like this: f/11. The shutter speed is a fraction and looks something like this: 1/125. Here, you can also find your exact date, time, focal length, and any flash information.
You can add these labels in a small amount of space in this order: Example: Eiffel Night: 02-14-08; 10pm; Las Vegas-Paris Casino; FL: 28mm; f/2.8; 1/15; Canon 710IS – Tripod. You may insert these labels beneath your images in your blog post, or in the image caption. Or you may add canvas size beneath images in Photoshop after sizing your image. Just choose a method that is best for you. Here is one example showing how simple is best until you are more experienced at blogging: http://gocaryn.wordpress.com/
Rubric
NOTE: Meeting the minimum requirements is “average” and constitutes an 80% or B- grade, according to the University Grading Guide. To receive a higher grade, students should excel. However, quality and/or difficulty is more important than quantity.
√ SIZING: Photos sized to 1080 pixels on the short side. First part of jpeg filename is student’s name. Example: JakeSpencer-Tetons.jpg. Photos displayed at “Large” size in blog post, per instructions in Week 1 > Photo Blog Instructions. Photos are clickable.
√ PROCESS: Detailed paragraph (3-5 sentences) about the process; Detailed Labels : Title, DTP, Focal Length, Fstop, SS, Camera.
√ INSTRUCTIONS: 2+ new photos showing frozen motion; 2+ new photos showing blurred motion, but with sharp background (tripod used.)
√ PHOTO QUALITY: Light – Focus – Composition – Creativity
√ APPROPRIATE EDITS for professional display
√ SUBMISSION: Link submitted was a true hyperlink and linked directly to the completed blog post. Best Photo on FB before 9am on Wednesday.
CAUTION: YOUR ASSIGNMENT IS NOT COMPLETE UNTIL YOU SUBMIT A LINK TO IT HERE. However, you are allowed a one-time extension, if you choose to use your mulligan. Please read about it in the syllabus. We check your blog post for completion right at the deadline, so please do not add things later. Everything needs to be complete when you post the link.
Advanced Options, Tips & Tutorials
Google the following topics to find inspirational examples, tutorials and videos.
Attend Visual Society meetings to learn more advanced options and get inspired!
FREEZE – EXPLODING WATER BALLOON: Google “how to photograph exploding water balloon.” Use a low light setting with a speedlight (flash) to freeze motion.
BLUR – LIGHT TRAILS OR LIGHT GRAFFIT: Google “how to light trails” or “how to light graffiti” Use a tripod and long shutter speed, such as 30 seconds. Then allow moving lights to leaved blurred light trails. Or use a flashlight to draw light graffiti.
BLUR – PANNING OR ZOOMING: Google “panning photography” or “zooming photography” Lose the tripod and try panning. Move your camera at the same speed as a moving subject to blur the background and keep the still parts of the subject sharp. Use a tripod and slow shutter, such as 4 seconds, then zoom your lens during the exposure.