INTRO Project: Photographing Movement, Exercise: Shutter Speeds 1

For this exercise I used passing cars to test the effect of differing shutter speeds:

This one was taken at 1/8 second and although it emphasises motion, the type/shape of car is almost unrecognisable. Also elements of the background are visible through the blur.

This one was taken at 1/20 second and the car is recognisable but motion is still emphasised very well. I prefer this one to the other images. It shows the most satisfying sense of movement.

This one was taken at 1/40 second and the effect is very similar to the 1/20 second shot.

At 1/80 second, the sense of movement is still there but diminished.

At 1/160 second, there is only slight blur and you have to look close to find it. There is very little sense of movement at this shutter speed.

By 1/320 second, the car is frozen and the image becomes less interesting and dull.


Lke the aperture exercise, the effect of shutter speeds is not new to me. But this is the first time I have really experimented properly with differing shutter speeds and I think the experience of doing this internalises the effect in my mind more.