Project 4 - shutter speeds

The aim of this project is to show the impact of different shutter speeds on a moving subject. As it's been a bright and blustery day today I chose the sea and its waves breaking on the shore. I used my tripod and a cable release and just changed the shutter speed, taking a picture every time, giving me 34 in total.

Unfortunately, those at the slowest shutter speed end (anything slower than 1/5 sec) were completely burnt out with nothing really visible in the image at all and I just deleted them rather than take up valuable Blogger space.

This is at 1/5 sec and really far too light to be able to appreciate the effect of movement.

This next is at 1/13 and there's quite a nice sense of movement in those waves. Probably still a little bit too light though (and I've resisted "improving" it in Photoshop Elements!).

Now at 1/25 sec and probably my favourite of the slower shutter speeds, with some movement in the waves and a good colour and contrast between light and dark.

Here at 1/80 and movement is still visible although the waves are becoming increasingly defined. Now at 1/125 sec and the first really where the waves are getting sharper.

Now at 1/250 sec and with those waves coming in from the right there's some sense of movement but in the subject rather than through the manipulation of the shutter. Without spray it's perhaps a bit tricky to see how sharp it's getting.

At 1/640 the highlights seem to be getting sharper and the detail of the waves very clear.

At 1/1600 the stillness between waves is apparent - just those fractional seconds before the next wave comes along. And finally, at 1/4000 sec despite the widest aperture available of f5.6 (admittedly pretty unimpressive) and a very bright day as well as the reflection from the sea, the image becomes too dark, although it is still possible to see the apparently millpond-likeness between waves.

Project 3 - focus with different aperture sizes

Today it's raining. The beach smells like childhood holidays in Cornwall, where we would try to convince ourselves that it was "brightening up over there" as we strode along clifftops in blustery winds. I think it's mostly the seaweed which seems to be particularly prolific at the moment, some even getting dropped into my garden by seagulls overhead - and I live a good few hundred metres from the seafront.

Anyway, it was the time for project three, can't be too difficult - just take three photos of the same subject in the same position using different apertures, one large, one small and one in the middle, then identify the edges of sharpness.

So, first go, the back of these beach huts.

The first at f3.5 and a shutter speed of 1/400.



The second at f8 and a shutter speed of 1/80.



And the third at f22 and a shutter speed of 1/10.



If I'm totally honest I can't see much difference, even when they take up all the screen, except that the last one is a bit more blurry than the first, but I put that down to the rain on the lens as well as camera shake due to the slower shutter speed.

I tried it again, with the front of the beach huts this time:

First at f4.5, and a shutter of 1/320 sec.













Then at f10 and a shutter of 1/60 sec.














Then at f25 and a shutter of 1/8 sec.

If I'm totally honest I can't really see much difference except that the version with the narrower aperture and longer shutter speed suffers from camera shake induced blurriness and raindrops. But what I do see is that both of the first in each set have a greater range - there are simply more beach huts in each of the wide aperture pictures, and this is something I wasn't expecting to see. The other interesting thing that's particularly noticeable in the front of the huts is the change in colour - the wider aperture pic is definitely darker than the narrower aperture.

Project 2 - focus with a set aperture

Here, with the aperture set at f5.6, I took two photos of Kelston roundhill near Bath with a foreground of wildflowers. The view of the hill is by far my favourite as it is possible to actually see it - I find the blurriness of the background in the foreground-focused pic rather off-putting.