Exercise: Shutter Speeds

f/45 1sec ISO 200
270 mm focal length
Nikon d90 and Nikkor 70.0-300.0 f/4,0-5,6 lens

f/45 1sec ISO 200
270 mm focal length
Nikon d90 and Nikkor 70.0-300.0 f/4,0-5,6 lens


f/25 1/8" ISO 200
270 mm focal length
Nikon d90 and Nikkor 70.0-300.0 f/4,0-5,6 lens


f/16 1/15" ISO 200
270 mm focal length
Nikon d90 and Nikkor 70.0-300.0 f/4,0-5,6 lens


f/16 1/15" ISO 200
270 mm focal length
Nikon d90 and Nikkor 70.0-300.0 f/4,0-5,6 lens


f/16 1/15" ISO 200
270 mm focal length
Nikon d90 and Nikkor 70.0-300.0 f/4,0-5,6 lens


f/11 1/30" ISO 200
270 mm focal length
Nikon d90 and Nikkor 70.0-300.0 f/4,0-5,6 lens

f/8 1/60" ISO 200
270 mm focal length
Nikon d90 and Nikkor 70.0-300.0 f/4,0-5,6 lens 

f/5,3 1/125" ISO 200
270 mm focal length
Nikon d90 and Nikkor 70.0-300.0 f/4,0-5,6 lens


f/5,3 1/250" ISO 200
270 mm focal length
Nikon d90 and Nikkor 70.0-300.0 f/4,0-5,6 lens


I’ve chosen the street in front of my appartment. So I’ve chosen the telephoto lens and have taken those pictures from my balcony. It’s a rainy day and they are taken in the afternoon. I’ve chosen that street because several vehicles go past there, as well as pedestrians and I want to practice about the different kind of movements. 

First, I’ve chosen 1 second shutter speed because I now it’s a slow exposure. As shown in the first and second pictures, which are a little bit overexposed, moving elements are blurry and the sensation of movement is very high. Furthermore, in the first picture only a ghost of the passing car can be seen, which is hardly noticeable.

Then I’ve set the shutter speed at 1/8” and still the sensation of movement is very high. The next three pictures are taken with a 1/15” shutter speed. Vehicles cause still a great sensation of movement but this sensation is decreasing with people, because they move slower.

I continued taking pictures and setting a faster shutter speed as 1/30”. Here the sensation of movement remains on the car but people’s movement is frozen. I’ve continued changing the shutter speed to faster values such as 1/60” and 1/125” and the sensation of movement is decreasing in each one, until the 1/250”, in which the movement is frozen.

As I could see here, I need a slower shutter speed to freeze peple's movement because they move slower. The speed of the subject and their distance to the camera lens are important when you choose a shutter speed. If you want to give a picture a sensation of speed you should choose a lower shutter speed, but if you want to make the picture more static and freeze movement, then you should choose a higher shutter speed. 

Exercise: Focal lengths & Angle of view

18 mm f/5,6 1/125"

48 mm f/6,3 1/160"

300 mm f/5,6 1/500"

I took these pictures from my appartment. It was a rainnny and cold day and I decided to do some shooting at home. I took the normal view picture with 48 mm focal length. 
Then I usen 18 mm focal length as wide-angle. Both pictures were taken with my Nikkor 18.0-55.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens. Then, I changed to the Nikkor 70.0-300.0 mm f/4.0-5.6 telephoto lens and made two pictures, one at 70 mm focal length and the other at 300 mm (max and minimum focal lengths). I used a tripod so all pictures were taken from the same position.
Then, I printed all the pictures and went to the balcony. I took the 48 mm picture and realized that I felt comfortable when the picture was at about 45 cm from my eyes. If the picture got closer, all the elements in the picture were larger and if I moved away the picture all the elements in the picture were smaller. Then I took the 18 mm picture and repeated the process. The difference was that the picture needed to be nearer to me (about 18 cm) to have the same view as the picture. And just the opposite for the pictures taken with the telephoto lens. They needed to be further away (about 72 cm and 3 m respectively). So looking from the same distance the elements in the telephoto pictures look larger and the distance between the elements seems more compressed.

Exercise: Focal lenghts