Stopping Action - suggested shutter speeds

Stopping Action
Adapted from The Nikon Field Guide by Thom Hogan

Suggested shutter speeds to stop action when using a wide angle or normal lens:
If you desire to show some motion blur to provide a sense of motion, use a shutter speed slower than indicated.

Type of Action Moving across frame / Moving head on
People walking 1/125 1/30
People jogging 1/250 1/60
Horses trotting 1/250 1/60
Medium paced sports 1/250 1/125
Swimmers 1/250 1/125
Slow moving vehicles 1/250 1/125
People sprinting 1/500 1/125
Cars or bicycles in traffic 1/500 1/125
Horses galloping 1/1000 1/250
Diver 1/1000 1/250
Low flying planes 1/1000 1/250
Skiers, skaters 1/1000 1/500
Train 1/2000 1/500
Race cars 1/2000 1/500

Shutter Speed Assignment

Shutter Speed Assignment

We will begin this in class - possibly complete it then

Here are some nice examples of how a change in shutter speed changes how motion is rendered.

You are to take the same photo (as much as possible) using all the shutter speeds that your camera offers. You can go by full stops; you don’t have to include fractions stops. So, it is likely that you camera has a range of 30 seconds - 1/4000 of a second.

You may have to complete this as two different sets of images. One set that includes the very fastest shutter speeds to a normal working range and another that includes the very slowest shutter speeds to the normal working range.

Let’s say you want to start with your slowest shutter speeds. Let’s say you have 30” as you slowest shutter speed. It is going to have to be pretty dark to use that shutter speed and not overexpose even when using your smallest aperture (likely f32) and your lowest ISO (likely 100). Since you can’t hand hold your camera at that speed and expect an image that isn’t blurry, you should set the camera up on something stationary and use the self timer to release the shutter. Been bags/ cornhole bags work well to position your camera. Of course, if you have a tripod, use that.

Determine the correct exposure. You need to change your aperture and/or your ISO each time you change your shutter speed. For example, let's say you start with f32 @ 30” using ISO 100. When you change the shutter speed to 15”, the camera only requires 1/2 the amount of light so you must either change your aperture to f16 or your ISO to 200.

Your exposures must be reciprocal (they should all be the same in terms of brightness). As such, the histograms should be nearly identical for all the shots.

Most of you will have a subset of the following shutter speeds. Just worry about these standard whole stop shutter speeds (don’t worry about the fractional stop shutter speeds such as 1/50, 1/40, etc.)

1/8000

1/4000

1/2000

1/1000

1/500

1/250

1/125

1/60

1/30

1/15

⅛

¼

½

1”

2”

4”

8”

15”

30”

Do not use a car or other automobile as your subject. Any other subject is allowed. Be creative with this.

Introduction to photo sharing using Flickr

Here is a nice tutorial on setting up Bridge CS5 for export to social media sites including Flickr.



If you don't have the Adobe CS5 suite at home, but you want to quickly upload your images to Flickr, there are a number of tools available including a stand alone upload application and a plugin for iPhoto. Here is a link to a number of the upload tools.

When is the last time that you had prints from your photographs made?
In 1998, I managed a chain of camera stores that offered photofinishing services. At that time, only the very tech savvy, early adopters were purchasing digital cameras. Even so, it was clear that the experience of sharing photos had begin to change.
Today, as I am sure you are well aware, most people share their photos in digital form; primarily on the internet. I think it is safe assumption that most, if not all of you, have a Facebook page.

For this Assignment, you are going to really immerse yourself in Flickr; the most popular and feature rich photo community and photo sharing site. I would like you to begin by reading all the following articles so that you get a sense of what Flickr is really all about:

1. Digital-Photography-School.com article titled My Three Favorite Things about Flickr
2. PBS Media Shift article titled Flickr Changes Lives, Launches Photog Careers
3. Interview with a photographer what found success on Flickr. Rebekka Guðleifsdóttir’s Tips For Flickr Success
4. New York Times article on one of the world's largest stock image agency looking for talent on Flickr, Great Photo on Flickr? Getty Images Might Pay You for It
5. Telegraph newspaper article titledFlickr and Getty Images buy your photos
6. American Photo article on photographers getting commercial work via Flickr, Flickr Creative Showcase: Vision Quest
7. Photopreneur blog entry titled How to Get Paid for your Flickr Photos

Then, I would like you to start learning how Flickr works by going through the Flickr tour.
Then go through this Flickr Tutorial.
Then read through the Flickr page How To Get the Most out of Flickr. There you will find links on how to perform many common tasks. Here, you will find information on setting up Flickr so that you can send it images directly from your phone.

After you have completed all the reading and gone through the tutorials, I would like you to create a Flickr.com account. It is owned by Yahoo, so if you already have an a Yahoo account for any reason, you can use the same Yahoo account user name and password. Since Flickr and Blogger are both owned by Yahoo, they integrate very well with one another. For that matter, since Flickr is so popular and well supported, you can export directly from Adobe Bridge to Flickr. Since you will be editing your images in Photoshop and sharing them via Flickr, this will make things flow well.

As you set up your Flickr account, I want you to consider if you want your photos to be public or private. You can change the settings of each photo individually and you can set the default for all photos. Since a huge part of the Flickr is about sharing your photos, it seems kind of silly to keep all your photos private. However, you may take photos that you don't want the whole world to see. If you chose to set your images as private, you can still share with with fellow Flickr members that you have either indicated as Friends or Family. Here is a Flickr article about configuring the privacy settings.

Due before next class 

* For this assignment, you are to upload the 50 best images that you shot over the weekend to your Flickr account. Please don't edit them beforehand.
* Use the Organizr feature to create a set named Assignment 1.
* Privacy settings are a common concern on the web. Flickr allows you to easily control who you share your images with. I would like you to set the privacy settings for Flickr however you wish.
* Geo tag all your images.
* Join the class group. Share the Set with the Group.
*Explore other groups. Join any other relevant groups that you are interested in and submit your images to those groups. Be sure to do some searches to see the number and variety of groups out there. Please be sure to read the rules of each group. Only submit images that will meet the group’s criteria.

Flickr app for Android Phones now available

Here is a good article about it.

Course Re-cap / what's due Wednesday

Students uploaded their photos to Flickr via Bridge then added them to the course group within Flickr.
We reviewed some students images withing Flickr.

Homework due W/R:
15 photos to be uploaded to Flickr. Must be shot in Manual Exposure mode and demonstrate appropriate exposure determination with emphasis on the highlights.

1st weekend shooting and reading assignments - due M/T

Please read Chapters 1&2 of your textbook. Also read your camera's instruction manual fully (I know you won't understand it all, but it will at least make you aware of your camera's features).

Over the weekend, you are to shoot at least 50 photos as discussed in class.

For this first outing, I suggested that you start with your ISO at 400. This 'medium speed' ISO will insure that you have a better chance of being able to get a sharp image in lower light conditions.
Begin with your shutter speed at 1/60. Adjust your aperture in order to get the meter to indicate a correct exposure (usually this is by indicating a marker at 0 on a numerical scale visible through the viewfinder). If it nice outside, you should be able to to this with no problem. If you find that you don't have enough light (you can't get it to out of the - numbers to read 0) even with the aperture at its largest (numerically lowest number), then you should increase your ISO until the meter indicates a correct exposure. Remember you must use 1/60 or faster when hand holding the camera.

Shoot RAW files only.

Be sure the date and time are set correctly. 

In the future, I suggest you start with your ISO at is lowest, (100 or 200 depending on your camera) 

First class re-cap

Overview of the course.

Due Wednesday/Thursday.

Create a Flickr Pro account.

Watch the video in the Welcome to Class posting.

If you have a camera, bring it to class along with the instruction manual.

Camera Instruction Manuals

Okay, first of all I realized that there are a number of printed copies here that you could have checked out. Sorry, I didn't realize that.

Here is the Nikon D60 instruction manual

There are two versions of the manuals. One is a PDF that doesn't allow you to print it. The other is a PDF that can be printed, but you have to register to download it.

Here is the Nikon D40 instruction manual.
Here is the Nikon D3000 instruction manual.

Syllabus

Here is a link to your course syllabus. If I need to modify it, it will automatically be updated there.

Welcome to Photography Class!

This blog will serve as a resource to you throughout the semester. The syllabus, assignments, and numerous other materials will be posted here. I will post course re-caps here from time to time.

It is but one of the numerous online resources that you will be utilizing throughout the course. The photo sharing site Flickr is another such resource. Below, you will find a video describing how Flickr was used in a similar fashion elsewhere.