this week I'll show you five creative things you can do with slow shutter
speeds you'll need a tripod an ND filter and a shutter release cable unless you
go out at dusk or at night where they'll be a lot less lights about then you
won't need the ND filter but you'll still need the tripod are probably the
shutter release if you don't have the shutter release you can always use the
self-timer mode on your camera if you need any of these I've put some links in
the descriptions to the ones that I've used in this video when you shoot with
extremely slow shutter speeds you can start blurring out the clouds and this
will really give the sense of movement in your shot you just need to be aware
of which way the clouds are going what generally works best is when they're
coming towards you or moving away from you instead of going from one side of
the frame to the other when it gets dark enough that boats cars or trains to turn
their lights on it's normally dark enough for you to be able to get a much
slower shutter speed so you can get these lights streaking through the shot
again giving that sense of movement then all you need to do is work out how to
use these lines to lead in or through your shot in an interesting way make
sure they don't shine directly into the lens or if they do you make sure you
control the aperture enough so they don't over expose your shot as you
practice with this technique you'll become more and more creative in how you
use them I tend to use these light streaks as leading lines in or through
my shots when shooting water moving through your frame you can get it
looking very crisp and clear but if you have an ND filter or if you are shooting
at dusk or into the night you can start to blur out the water when the shutter
speed is too long the water will become very misty and you'll lose this sense of
movement so what you need to do with this one is experiment with your shutter
speeds until you get the sense of movement that you want there is a sweet
spot and it also comes down to timing if you're shooting waterfalls
I tend to shoot them at around about one second if I'm shooting the sea it'll be
anywhere between half a second and two seconds depending on how fast or slow
the waves are moving the best thing with this is to go out and experiment and see
what works for you if you've ever been to a bike race or a Grand Prix or a
Formula One race you'll see photographers with really big lenses but
you'll also see them panning as the cars go past what they're trying to do is
obviously keep the car or the bike in the frame but sometimes what they'll do
is drop the shutter speed so the car or the biker will stay clear and all of the
surroundings will blur again this will give the sense of movement I somehow
talked my wife into coming out on the skateboard for this example you want to
put your camera in burst mode and start with the shutter speed of about one
sixtieth of a second if you using a wide lens you can slow down the shutter speed
and if you're using a telephoto lens you might need a monopod and a faster
shutter speed this does take practice to see what works for the subject you're
shooting I used a wide-angle lens and when it
dropped the shutter speed down to one fifteenth of a second everything started
blurring at one sixtieth of a second it was okay but at one thirtieth of a
second this is what gave me the nice of blurring in the background with my wife
still being relatively clear in the image but again what you want to do is
practice and see what works and what doesn't start taking shots and then
slowly drop your shutter speed until you get the surrounding blurring if you drop
your shutter speed too much the subject will blur as well to start with you'll
find that you'll be spraying and praying like literally holding down your shutter
buzzing off a load of shots as the person or subject flies past you once
you get used to it you'll still be in burst mode but you won't have to take as
many images to get the shot you want when you shoot at night you can use a
torch to light a subject in the foreground there have been a few really
creative photographers that have taken this to an extreme level by attaching a
light to a drone and then lighting the landscape with that drone with a light
painting you can really create some unique looks when you're out shooting
on a new moon and there's next to no ambient light about there's not much you
can do to light the landscape and if you do a really long exposure it tends to be
quite flat so with light painting you can really lighten up the foreground and
that's about it shutter speed is a really great tool and
when you start to use these slower shutter speeds you can create some
really unique looking images if you want a more in-depth look at some of these
techniques click on the I in the corner or the link in the description this will
take you to some of my other videos as always if you like what you see give me
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