I have a brand new camera, and I know nothing about anything photography. I figured out how to change the shutter speed, but I have no idea what the different speeds mean. I am going to watch pro tennis this weekend, and I would like to take 3 types of pictures: action shots without blur (figured out how to do that), shots where the player isn't blurred but the background is, and shots where the player is blurred but the background isn't.
Can anyone help me out?
Best shutter speed for...?
Shutter speed is quoted on cameras in seconds (long shutter speeds) or parts of a second (shorter shutter speeds), eg 1/1000 means that the shutter curtain opens and shuts in one thousandth of a second, ie very fast!
To capture fast moving sports and keep everything sharp you need a fast shutter speed (maybe up to 1/1000 or faster, it depends on how fast the person is moving, you may need to experiment a bit) - this will render player and background sharp.
To get the player blurred and the background sharp, use a slower shutter speed - again experiment but around 1/60 should do.
You're other request - to keep the player sharp but the background blurred isn't so much to do with shutter speeds but also moving the camera - if your shutter speed is fast you may need to 'pan' the camera to blur the b/g and drop the shutter speed a bit.
The one obstacle in all of this is how much light you've got. If you want to shoot fast shutter speeds %26amp; still get a good exposure, you may have to open up the aperture a lot if tis a very gloomy, grey day and how much you can do that depends on what lens you're using. With a wide open aperture you'll also lose depth of field and the image quality will not be best wide open. You may be able to gain some aperture stops by increasing the ISO at which you shoot, but as the ISO goes up, the image will get noisier. Unfortunately, its all about a trade-off.
Best shutter speed for...?
What type of camera do you have? If you want a picture where the subject is sharp and the background is blurred (hardest thing to do, when player is moving) you might need to set your camera on %26quot;AI servo%26quot; (if canon) or %26quot;Continuous servo AF%26quot; (if nikon). If you have another brand, I'm not sure what the equivalent is. This will track the subject of the photo when it moves.
When the subject is blurred, try shooting at 1/2 second. If its bright, you'll need to make sure your ISO is all the way down (100) and your f-stop will need to be more closed, like around f8 or so... depending on the light and other factors.
For a panning shot, you want the shutter around 1/80 to 1/125. The player should be moving quickly one way, predictably so you can follow him or her. You have to keep the camera really solid on the player during the movement. It will take some tries to get it right.
The anti-panning shot, where the background is steady and clear and the player is not, you'll have to slow the shutter down probably a bit more, 1/30 or 1/50 sec or even slower. Possibly put the camera on a tripod and take the shot. You may have to get the background focused, turn the autofocus off and take the pics, otherwise the camera will try to focus on the player, which will be blurry and the background will also be out of focus, subsequently it will also be blurry. A photo with a blurry subject and background would be rather undesirable.
