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Imagine needing eight hours of exposure to make one photograph.

That’s what Joseph-Nicéphore Niépce had to do in 1826 when he created the first photograph.

It’s something we could do, but it’d be a choice, not a necessity.

Today, we usually make photographs in just a fraction of a second—and that’s one of the changes that’s made what’s possible with a camera doable.

With fast shutter speeds, we can record motion as static (something that’s moving appears not moving), and the shutter speed we need to do that depends on the speed of the thing that’s moving.

Or, with slow shutter speeds, we let motion record as a blur— think of the usual pictures of cars driving at night with streaks of light in front of them and the back of them, or the turbulent waterfall that appears as a smooth curtain.
 

Our ability to visually record time, as expressed in the movement of something over time, is a huge and interesting part of what makes our photography expressive.

But if we don’t understand what we’re doing with our camera in terms of aperture, shutter speed, and ISO, then we can’t take advantage of shutter speed as an effective element of composition.

Recently, while working with photographers, we experimented with the effects of slow and fast shutter speeds on a moving object.
 

Even though I do this during every class that covers this topic, the reaction of the photographers I work with, although always pretty much the same, never gets old to me.

When we study and practice with curiosity and the intent to understand the compositional outcomes of camera operation and the light being recorded, we immediately become better photographers.

We get familiar with using shutter speed in the Getting To Know Your Camera class and in the Photography Basics/Introduction to Photography class, which includes the Getting To Know Your Camera class.
 

Getting familiar and comfortable with the compositional elements of exposure, including shutter speed, is important for making photographs that look and communicate what we intend.
 

There’s only two spots left in the Photography Basics/Introduction to Photography class that starts on Sunday, March 1.
 

Can’t make the scheduled classes?

Private lessons are always an option.

A note about group class sizes: Did you know that some places that teach photography have up to 25 students in each class? 

Bigger ain't always better.

I keep my group classes small because smaller classes make for better, more effective, and more efficient learning experiences.

But smaller classes also mean spots fill up quicker, so sign up soon.