Shutter Speed

By: Amit Chawla

Blurred v/s Frozen Shots

Blurred v/s Frozen Shots

What is shutter speed?

It is essentially the indicator of the duration / timing at which the shutter curtain opens up and closes during an exposure process

1/8000, 1/4000, 1/1000, 1/500, 1/250, 1/125, 1/60, 1/30, 1/15, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 1 etc.

The shutter speed dial provide the selection of shutter speeds, and indicates the timing of the shutter open and closes.

A fast shutter speed such as 1/500 sec will close faster than, say 1/2 sec exposure time. In this case, the shutter curtain will close very fast and thus resulting in less light entering the film.

Shutter speed dial

What does shutter speed do ?

Different shutter speeds yield different kind of visual effect on a final photograph.

A fast shutter speed can freeze action while slow speed can blur your image

Examples of Slow Shutter Speed

Examples of Slow Shutter Speed

Examples of Fast Shutter Speed

Examples of Fast Shutter Speed

Creative effect of Combination

Aperture

By: Amit Chawla

What is Aperture?

The aperture is like a pupil in your eye. The pupil opening is bigger in a room with less light to allow you to see and Vice Versa.

In Photography, Aperture is referred to lens diaphragm opening inside a photographic lens.

The size of this diaphragm opening in a camera lens REGULATES amount of light that passes through onto film inside the camera.

The size of an aperture in a lens can either be a fixed or adjustable type (like an SLR camera).

How is aperture calibrated ?

Aperture size is usually calibrated in f-numbers. These are ratios.

i.e. f 22 (f/22), f16 (f/16), f/11, f/8.0, f/5.6, f/4.0, f 3.5 ,f/2.8, f/2.0, f/1.8 etc.

What it means is

f/16 will let in 1X the amount of light than a diaphragm opening of f/22 and so forth;

f/4.0 will let in 1X lesser than that of f/2.8 etc.

Aperture + Shutter Speed = Exposure

Aperture, along with duration/timing of shutter curtain opening, BOTH contribute to a the formation of an exposure.

Aperture also affects "depth of field"

Exposure

Balancing Shutter and Aperture:Exposure is about different combinations of shutter and f-stop settings. These combinations can drastically affect the finished picture.

A COMPARISON

ALL PICS HAVE SAME AMT OF LIGHT

Amount of light

Amount of light

Relation between A and SS

Aperture

Shutter Speed

Slow (1/30 sec) Fast (1/1000 sec)

Small f-stop (f4.5)

Overexposed — a slow shutter speed and small f-stop will both let in more light

Correct — a fast shutter speed lets in less light, but a small f-stop lets in more

Large f-stop (f22)

Correct — a slow shutter speed lets in more light, but a large f-stop lets in less

Underexposed — a fast shutter speed and large f-stop both let in less light