Did you watch my recent video about shutter speed?

Understanding shutter speed is one thing. Seeing it for yourself is where the learning really happens.

This week's newsletter is a homework assignment that only takes a few minutes and can be done right in your kitchen.

Set your camera to Shutter Priority mode (Tv on Canon cameras).

Find a running faucet and take two photos:

Shutter Speed: 1/2 second

At this slow shutter speed, the water should look smooth and silky. If it doesn’t try a 1 second shutter speed.

Shutter Speed: 1/500 second

At this fast shutter speed, individual droplets should be frozen in midair. If it does not freeze the motion, try a faster shutter speed like 1/1000.

Compare the two images side-by-side.

Same faucet.

Same water.

Completely different look.

That's the creative power of shutter speed.

If your faucet has one of those built-in spray settings, switch it to the spray pattern and try the exercise again.

The individual droplets make the difference between slow and fast shutter speeds even more dramatic.

(Hand-held sink sprayers usually don't work as well for this exercise because they're harder to keep consistent.)

Take both photos and compare the results.

Ask yourself:

Then hit reply and send me your results.

I'd love to see your photos and hear what you learned.

Keep practicing,

Getting better One Photo at a Time,
Doug

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