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Shutter Speed Too Slow?


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<p>Thought you might find this interesting.</p>

<p>In the following shot, I used a shutter speed of 1/13s. I don't think it's too slow, but can you tell me why? Surely this smacks in the face of "best practices" and portrait "conventions", no?</p>

<p>Hint: I used a technique called "dragging the shutter". Camera setup: manual mode, ISO 3200 (to capture the background low light), 1/13s shutter, F4.5, 35mm focal length lens, E-TTL controlled external flash. Hand held, no tripod, no mono.</p>

<p>The camera exposes for the background, the flash exposes for the foreground (pretty faces). So why do you think there is no handheld camera movement blur, nor subject movement blur?</p>

<p>This is a great technique for night time portraiture.</p>

<p> </p><div>00TCQS-129237584.jpg.b9360be8354fdaf0c61be5e14b1fb0ed.jpg</div>

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<blockquote>

<p>...why do you think there is no handheld camera movement blur, nor subject movement blur?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Rhetorical or trick question?</p>

<p>Ans: Because the foreground exposure was dominated by the (short duration) flash.</p>

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<p>Ryan, no rear curtain sync.</p>

<p>Starvy, the soft focus is a remnent of the jpg conversion. The actual image shows the girl's eyes nearly razor sharp. Yes, there can be a point when the shutter is open too long.</p>

<p>Steve, more rhetorical then trick. Dragging is not anything new, but it is often not known or used by many shooters. I guess my point is that this skill set is worth having.</p>

<p>I use this technique often in dark church weddings to very good effect....like getting the stain glass backgrounds and the couple exposed well.</p>

<p>Here is one from an engagement shot I did in Milan, Italy:<br>

<a href="http://www.photo.net/photo/4700572">http://www.photo.net/photo/4700572</a></p>

<div>00TCVu-129275584.thumb.jpg.94f886870ab4d634e2cd2fb955199426.jpg</div>

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<p>Right guys! </p>

<p>The other extreme to dragging is slamming the shutter (for lack of a better word) which can be used for making a portrait with a bright sunset or light behind the subject (back lighting). This is where a very fast flash sync speed can be very beneficial depending upon the exposure differences between the background and foreground.</p>

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<p>Very nice portraits!<br>

As a suggestion (even though you didn't ask for critique) wathc your model's hands - the girl on the right in the first pic looks like she is ready to throw a punch)<br>

I agree with Walt about the subject line... but that's a very minor point to me. What has me even more curious (and this is MY ignorance)... is 1/13 a normal shutter spped on a digital camera? My old film cameras are either 1/10 or 1/15. :)</p>

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<p>Tommy, I set up the camera manually to expose just for the background, ignoring the foreground subject. Then I set the flash to expose on the faces of the subjects, via TTL auto exposure. So the camera is set up manually, and the flash is set up to use it's TTL auto logic. No 2nd curtain flashing.</p>

<p>Then I compose and take the shot.</p>

<p>Brian, the first picture is just a snapshot of my daughters, and yes, she looks to be wanting to punch somone ;-) As to the 1/13s shutter speed, my Canon EOS-5D provides 1/3rd stops in aperture, and in shutter speed, hence the 1/13s shutter speed.</p>

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<p>Nice shot, especially the 2nd one (good atmosphere)...wish I could keep my hands steady for 1/13s on 35mm (I'd have to use timer to avoid camera shake just from pressing the shutter). Too bad it only works for classic portraits, and not when you want sharp details in the background as well (in the event you want a landmark to appear in all it's glory and you want to use a finer ISO as well). How well does the image hold when blown up to 12x9?</p>
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<p>"What is 2nd curtain going to give me that I don't already have?"</p>

<p>Well, it would make the blurred lights appear to follow the roundabout, rather than precede it!:-)<br>

However, as we don't know which way the roundabout was rotating it makes no difference in this particular shot. It might, though, in different circumstances, say where the background lights were more recognisable.<br>

I have my camera set to second curtain sync all the time. Question: Does first curtain sync ever offer a practical advantage over second curtain sync? Why aren't cameras built for second curtain as default?</p>

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