Home >> Hobbies >> Other Hobbies

High-Speed Photography With DSLR

One of the advantages of a digital single lens reflex (DSLR) camera is that the digital chip which captures the image captured by film in traditional cameras holds many more photos that could fit onto a roll of film. But, another extremely useful feature is that even the amateur grade DSLRs allow the photographer to change shutter speed and aperture value to alter the appearance of the final picture. This ability to optimize a camera shot to situations such as high-speed gives the photographer creative license to show a scene the way she wants to present it. Most cameras also come with preset shutter values to make this process simpler.

Shutter Speed
- Shutter speed is the speed at which the shutter inside the camera opens and closes. As the camera is merely a machine that recognizes the light bouncing off the objects in the scene, a longer shutter time lets more light in. At the same time, a shorter shutter time captures light in sharp detail, as it does not see the movement that would create blur in long shutter times.
Motion Shots
- One way that a photographer shows motion in a photo is to keep the moving object sharp and the background blurry with movement. He achieves this when he moves the camera smoothly in the same direction as the moving object, with a mid-range shutter speed of 1/60, for example, using a technique known as "panning." An alternative way to show motion is the slow shutter speed technique. For example, a flowing waterfall's movement can register at a slow shutter speed, of about 1/9 second, for example, as a blurred, yet recognizable, flood of water. Slow shutter speeds require a very steady hand or a tripod to reduce shake which can introduce unwanted blurs.
Static Shots
- For high-speed objects that a photographer wants to catch in a precise moment, fast shutter speeds of 1/250 second or 1/500 second are appropriate. Fast shutter speeds allow a snapshot type of picture, without any blur.
Shooting Options
- Most DSLRs have preset choices for the photographer, which are one shot at a time, many shots in rapid succession or a shot taken using a timer. When a photographer wishes to take high-speed photos of static shots, the continuous shooting mode is a useful option. A press on the button allows the camera to take lots of shots very quickly, which increases the chance of getting at least one good shot out of a scene like a football star falling to the ground under a crush of others, for example. Single shot mode tends to be more appropriate for photos with slow shutter speeds.

Other Hobbies