Blog: Shutter Magic

Last week saw the start of the Beginner’s SLR course, for those that are fed up being stuck on Auto and have the desire to get creative with their cameras!

It was a beautifully sunny day so we ventured outside as soon as possible to experiment…once the basic functions of the camera had been explained. 

This week the focus was shutter speed and how we can use it to explain movement. It just so happened that we had some jugglers, sports cars and break-dancers on hand to photograph, so thank you to the Wednesday evening breakers and Circomedia for that!

Below are some photos from the session - examples of how movement can be captured by using slower shutter speeds. In some cases we used a tripod to isolate the moving elements and in others, we panned the camera to capture the swoop of the background – a technique often used in sports photography.

Another neat trick for more abstract images is to slow the shutter speed and move yourself. Check out the stunning shots just made from a tree and a spinning photographer…

 - G's Head spin. Photo by Holly Smith

- Panning technique of following the moving object. Photo by Sabz McCue

- Slow shutter creates double exposure effect and abstraction. Photo by Camilla Gratze

- Unusual perspective on dancers with mix of frozen and blurred movement. Photo by Tash Hodges

- Look up and spin on a slow shutter speed. Photo by Rachael Nash

- Photo by Tash Hodges

- Photo by Rachael Nash