Shutter Speed

Complete article on shutter speed.

Shutter speed is how long the shutter is open and it is used to capture motion. A longer shutter speed blurs movement and lets more light in. A short shutter speed will freeze motion. Below are some pictures that illustrate different things that can be done with different shutter speeds. Currently, I don't have any photos that I am sure the exact number of the shutter speed used. I will work on taking some photos where I know the exact speed.

Pinwheels at various shutter speeds.

A spinning quarter captured at a stand still with a fast shutter speed.

Moving water captured with a longer shutter speed.

Fireworks taken with a longer shutter speed.

Aperture

Please read the complete article on Aperture this simply contains a summary and photos to illustrate.

Aperture or f-stop affects how dark or light the picture is, as well as, the depth of field. Think of aperture like the  iris in your eyes, it allows your pupils to expand and contract, depending on how light or dark the room is. Aperture opens (low f-stop number) or closes (high f-stop number) to control how much light gets in.

If you think of your picture as a bulls-eye, with the focal point of the picture the center and as your eyes travel away from the focal point the picture gradually gets more out of focus. This is the depth of field. A photo with a crisp image standing out against a blurry background has a short depth of field (low f-stop number).

Short Depth of field

With a higher f-stop number, the depth of field becomes longer and the image becomes crisper and sharper throughout. 

Longer depth of field 

Below is the same picture, taken with different f-stops.

Notice the sharpness throughout

Much lighter than the F-22 and the blades of grass at the edge are beginning to blur, especially in the lower, right corner.

Brighter and Blurrier

Welcome

For as long as I can remember, I have wanted an SLR camera. I wanted to be able to capture the world how I see it and share it. In May of 2011, my husband surprised me with a Nikon D3000. I soon realized that having a DSLR camera is one thing, knowing how to use it is a completely separate issue. I slowly struggled with learning how to use my treasured camera. I am a firm believer in being able to learn how to do anything on the internet. The information I have learned I wanted to be able to share and decided to combine it with my other passion, writing. I got it in my mind to start writing articles and wanted a place to put everything in one place. This is that place, my virtual camera bag. Here you can learn about photography, SLR settings and tips and tricks in a way that is easy to understand. My goal is to enable beginning photographers everywhere to be able to take the pictures they want to take in the way they want to take them.

The first picture I took with my camera!