Question by youjustlostthegame: using faster shutter speeds?
I have a Nikon D40 camera, and i was wondering how i can take a clear picture of something fast, say, the droplets of water being splashed while retaining the same amount of light.
i understand that the faster shutter speed you use, the less light is captured. what can i do to use fast shutter speeds while keeping this light?
highest aperture is like f/4 i think
Best answer:
Answer by Sweet Serenity
To compesate for the light loss you can use a wider aperture, use a higher ISO, or both (too high of an ISO will result in a grainy image).
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To get droplets of water you need something -really- fast, like 1/2000. I don’t know how fast the D40 goes. The way this is usually done is with a flash. The duration of the flash is much shorter than the shutter, so it freezes action much better. You’ve seen those pictures of a bullet going through a tomato, where the bullet is stopped, those are done with a flash.
With the shutter you are limited to how wide your aperture is. Every step you speed up the shutter you have to open the aperture one stop, and F/4 is not great. So you’ll have to use a high ASA speed, which gives you a grainy, noisy picture.
Many flashes today are automatic, they have a photo sensor on them and they stop flashing when they receive a certain amount of light back from the subject. These are the kind you use for the trick shots, because it shortens the flash duration even more if you are close up (like a bullet through a tomato or water drops).
Your exposure is determined by your ISO setting, our shutter speed and your aperture (F stop).
In order to get the largest shutter speed possible,
– shoot on the brightest day you can
– turn your ISO up a bit. Most cameras can handle 400 pretty well, go to 800 if you have to. Only go to 1600 if you are doing it for the experience, not to get a photo to keep.
– use shutter priority (Tv) to set the shutter and see what aperture it gives you. If you get blinking lights, odds are you will not get a great pic. If it is a little dark and you have editting software, like photoshop elemenst, you can lighten the picture in post process.