Wanna capture the action? Here’s how.

 

Shutter speed was my favorite setting to learn. I had small children who moved ALL the time. I wanted to be able to capture them in the bounce houses, playing sports or just running around on the playground. My kids really LOVED when I was learning about shutter speed because they just got to play, and I took photos. On the top of your camera is a mode dial with different types of settings. – Find the “S” on most camera’s (Nikon included) or “TV” on a Canon camera (which is Time Value). This is the Shutter Priority Auto. When this setting is chosen on mode dial it means you set the shutter speed on your camera, or you get to decide how fast the lens opens and closes.

So, you can capture that moment with your kids in the air on the bouncy house with a crisp clear photo or you can decide to show the motion of them jumping with some blur. I don’t know about you, but I never really had any trouble with the blur part and my kids, it was the crisp clear action shot that my heart desired. If you want crisp clear images then we just crank that Shutter Priority, right? Welllll yes and no. There is always a give and take in life isn’t there? It’s the same with photography. If you crank the shutter priority up, you sacrifice the light coming in. Remember the blog about the exposure triangle? Shutter Speed is how fast the lens opens and closes. Remember the faucet? Do you turn it on, so a trickle comes out? Or do you turn it all the way on, so it gushes water? The higher the shutter speed the faster the lens opens and closes.  On a full sunny day outdoors that’s not a big deal but if you are indoors you will have to decide how much light you can give up and still have a photo that is not just black.

The trick is to…

1. set the camera to the “S” (or “TV” if you have a Canon)