How to make a Simulated Infrared

Opposite Viewpoint:

When would it be desirable to not have a tripod but still use a long exposure? Suppose you were following a subject as closely as possible but wanted the background to have a really sweeping artistic look. Or maybe another image effect where you zoomed while the shutter was still open and this would give a motion blur outward like a halo. Photoshop has filters that can do this as well in post processing.

Taking Photographs

(3 - The Evolution - Shutter Speed) or Back to Table of Contents

Changing the shutter speed is something that normally your camera will do for you in "Automatic" mode. There will be moments when you will want to know how to do this yourself because the camera won't give you the desired creative effect. The fireworks image below is a great example. Some of the new cameras coming out actually have a 'fireworks' button. The results are not the same and you'll want to know how to do this yourself and why. First off you'll have to turn the camera settings to one of the manual or program modes. I've noticed on the simple point and shoots they make you dig a little deeper to get to these functions but they are usually there. Ironically on the more complicated cameras they are only a button flick away. Occasionally the shutter timing is called the "S" for shutter or "Tv" for time value function on some point and shoot cameras. Most cameras have a "bulb" function. This means the shutter stays open so long as you hold the shutter button down.

For this fireworks image, I left the shutter open for 14 seconds

STEP 3:

What is the camera shutter? The shutter itself is the door in front of the sensor that makes the image. Shutter speed is the amount of time that the shutter remains open once you push the shutter-button. This lets more and more light into the camera the longer it's open. With the change in shutter speed you can freeze fast action or blur slow actions. For getting really fast objects you want to crank the shutter speed way up.

Shutter speeds divide a one second time interval. A fast shutter speed of 1/2000 is 2000ths of a second. This would capture someone jumping in the air to catch a ball and freeze the action clearly. A slow shutter speed such as 1/5 or a 5th of a second shows a running river blurred. 1/1 or one whole second is a long time for the camera to gather light. Shutter speeds can be many seconds if you prefer. The fireworks image above was set for bulb mode and took almost 14 seconds of exposure. It was pitch black that night so you can see how much light the camera gathered in those seconds. Each full setting is double the time of the next one and marked as the bottom part of the fraction of a second that the shutter stays open.

Again the use of a tripod is critical with certain shots. When the shutter has to stay open for a long time you want the camera steady. In this way the objects that are changing get captured in their movement but the objects that are not moving show clear in your shot.

For this waterfall image, I left the shutter open for 1/5th of a second (slow)

Suppose you want to hand hold your camera? One really simple rule for hand holding your lens is this. If you have a 300mm lens then you should have the shutter speed at least set for 1/300th of a second in order not to get blurry images. Similarly a 100mm lens would be set for a minimum of 1/100th of a shutter speed. Personally I find that a shutter speed of approximately 2000 very hard to beat for clarity.

For this surfer image, I used the fast shutter speed of 1/500th for a 300mm lens

There are other creative shots you may get by opening the shutter for a long period of time. Creative ideas include the trails of car lights at night. Perhaps capturing streaks in the sky that are made by stars at midnight? The images above and below had the shutter speed set to 1/8th of a second. This is relatively slow. While snapping the photograph I manually zoomed out. This gives the background a motion blur and feeling of movement that wasn't there. I made a few more exaggerated versions but never had to use any software like photoshop.

In the sunset image above the shutter was set for 20 seconds
and the designs were drawn behind the model with a light source.

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Written Jan08 and updated March09 by - Tracy Lee Rose