Photographing Movement- Part 1

Exercise 1- Shutter Speeds
Aims: Use a tripod to take 10-12 photo's of a scene with movement.
             Take the pictures at different shutter speeds from the fastest possible to slowest.
          Find the slowest speed where the movement is still frozen.
          Compare the results and explain which one I prefer and why.

I decided to show a dog jumping an obstacle to show movement for this exercise. I used a tripod to maintain the angle and position of the camera and to reduce camera shake which would have become a problem especially with the slower speeds. I  had the camera set to Shutter priority mode so I could easily change the speed of the shots while the aperture changed automatically to maintain the exposure of the images.

1.

1/4000     f3.5     ISO 800

The first picture was taken at the fastest possible speed of 1/4000. I changed the ISO to 800 so along with the wide aperture, the photo was not underexposed, despite the fast shutter speed.  As expected, the picture is very sharp and there is no sign of motion blur at this stage.

2.

 1/320     f11     ISO 800

This second photo is just starting to show signs of blurring (around the paws of the dog), which makes 1/500 my slowest sharp shutter speed.

3.

 1/160     f16     ISO 800

This picture is showing definite blur which is becoming more pronounced as the shutter speed decreases.

4.

1/80     f22     ISO 800

Very similar to the previous photo, the blurring of the moving subject is becoming much more significant.

5.

 1/60     f22     ISO 800

Again, the subject is getting less defined and recognizable. In reflection, I think I should have lowered the ISO at this point instead of waiting 2 more photo's as the exposure is now noticeably lighter.

6.

 1/20     f22     ISO 200

I have now lowered the ISO to maintain more of a normal exposure. The subject is now hardly recognizable.

7.

1/15     f22     ISO 200

8.

 1/10     f22     ISO 200

9.

1/8     f22     ISO 200

10.

 1/4     f22     ISO 100

I could not lower the shutter speed and further as the pictures were becoming too overexposed. I could have helped correct this with a Neutral Density filter to allow slower shutter speeds with a more correct exposure.

I had never really thought about using slow shutter speeds to show movement, but rather fast speeds to freeze the action, so I was surprised with how pleasing I found some of the slower shots. I had some problems with overexposure with the later shots, which even without an ND filter, I could also have corrected by taking the photo's in darker conditions (the bright sunlight worked to my advantage with the faster pictures, but not the slower ones).

The pictures I liked best are the first (fastest) and last (slowest) as I think both create the impression of speed and movement in their own way. The first picture shows movement by the subject being suspended in a position we the viewers know as having movement whereas the last picture shows movement through the blur of the subject as it moves across the frame while also creating an abstract effect. I least liked the photo's 3 to 6 as the effect they create is not as striking as either extremes of shutter speed.