Slow shutter speeds

Want your photographs to convey a sense of motion, a feeling of energy, of movement and momentum? You’ve got to take a deep breath and take the plunge, switch to Shutter Priority and twirl that dial until the shutter speed reading gets down to tenths of a second, or slower…

Here are a small selection of slow shutter-speed images that I’ve taken so far this year, in descending order of speed.

1/15th of a second. Good for panning those hurrying market porters and speeding tuk-tuks.

These two shots have a remotely-triggered flash down on the sidewalk to throw a little light into the inside of the vehicle and to prevent the drivers from rendering as silhouettes. The tuk-tuk above was shot in Chiang Mai, Thailand whilst the one below flies along the streets of Siem Reap in Cambodia.

1/8th of a second. Good for faster movement. Still blurred but not so much that the train is unrecognisable. Taken in northern India earlier this year.

1/6th of a second. Giving up all hope of seeing anything sharp, this shot of Bangkok traffic was taken with a purposely de-focussed Lensbaby.

1/2 second. I’m not called Gavin “Rock-Steady-Knees” Gough for nothing. Keeping a camera steady for half a second in a bouncing Bangkok tuk-tuk requires patience, perseverance and often results in bruised knee caps.

2 seconds. That’s two. Whole. Seconds. Perhaps the best way to convey the colourful chaos of a group of enthusiastic revellers during the Holi festival in India.

8 seconds. Only the brave or the foolhardy reach the rarely visited realm of the 8 second exposure without the safety of a tripod. But if you want to convey the adrenalin-fuelled, heart-stopping frenzy of a late-night ride on the back of a Bangkok Moto Taxi, it’s the only way.

Shutter speeds. What’s your favourite?

Posted on Tuesday, June 14th, 2011 at 2:49 am. Filed under: Blog Tags: panning, shutter speed RSS 2.0 feed.