Practical Artistry: Light & Exposure for Digital Photographers

97

Selecting Shutter Speed

I was lucky that this water drop on a flower petal was still for the 1.5 seconds

required to make this exposure at sufficient depth of field. At this long shutter

speed, you can see the motion in the upper (pink) part of the large water drop,

while the reflection of the drop within the flower is perfectly still.

200mm f/4 macro lens, 1.5 seconds at f/45 and ISO 100, tripod mounted.

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98 Selecting Shutter Speed

99

Selecting Shutter Speed

This opium Poppy was blowing in a stiff

breeze. I used a fast shutter speed (1/320

of second) to freeze its motion.

18–200mm VR zoom lens at 120mm, 1/320

of second at f/5.6 and ISO 200, hand-held.

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I exposed this photo of cliffs and sea in full night, lit by stars and the glow of

distant San Francisco, for five minutes. There was no possibility of a shorter

exposure without boosting the sensitivity, and I wanted to keep noise, which is

always an issue in very long exposure photos, as low as possible. To some degree,

noise can be reduced in post-processing as I explain in Chapter 6; in this image I

felt that the noise in the cliff and ocean enhanced the overall effect.

12–24mm zoom lens at 12mm, 300 seconds at f/4 and ISO 100, ...