Bahbel wrote:.

I'm a new owner of a fujifilm s9000. I'm wondering when I shouldadjust shutter speed when shooting. I know that slow shutter speedshows more motion and blurring, where faster speed gives you frozencrips shots. Other than that, why else would I adjust it?When I'm in aperture priority, the camera automatically adjusts theshutterspeed depending on what I focus on. Is this dependant onhow much light there is?Any help would be appreciated..

Really only when you're trying to freeze motion, apart from that you really want a shutter speed that will avoid blur owing to [a] camera shake and [b] subject movement. Of course [b] is all about freezing motion, but a really fast shutter speed would only be used for things like sports. Long exposures could be used for night shots..

Aperture priority is the mode you should find yourself using more, for issues like depth of field (i.e. how much of the image is in focus, though this is controlled better with SLRs)..

The camera adjusts the shutter speed depending on how much light is getting into the camera - the wider the aperture (i.e. the lower the f/ number) the faster the shutter speed the camer will use..

Another way to get a faster shutter speed without changing the aperture is to raise the ISO - that is to amplify the signal from the sensor. The snag there is that any noise is also amplified..

Alex.

Http://akiralx.smugmug.com/..

Another reason for adjusting shutter speed is to make the aperture setting take up a preferred position at the 'sweet spot' of the lens. All lenses have a zone in which their performance is better and it is usually a zone stretching between a couple of f stops in from either end..

The main uses of course are for freezing motion and helping to aboid the effects of camera shake..

John.Please visit me at:http://www.pbase.com/johnfr/backtothebridgehttp://www.pbase.com/johnfr..

Further to John's comment... as you adjust the shutter speed, there are related changes to the aperture. And the smaller aperture (higher the number) the greater depth of field..

And visa versa wider the sperture, less the depth of field..

You use this knowledge to help you control whether you want a blurry background reduces distractions or a sharp background, so people can get a good idea of not only the main subject, but where it is..

BAK..

As a reasonable rule of thumb, you want a shutter speed of at least 1/60 sec at the wide-angle end of your zoom, and probably 1/250 (or faster) at the tele end. Thus will ensure that you don't get camera shake. At the tele end, when the image is magnified more, the effects of camera shake are also magnified so of course you need a faster shutter speed. You can get away with slower speeds if you are very careful about holding the camera steady (taking a breath; leaning on against a wall; pushing the shutter button gently) - with practice you may be able to get a sharp picture at 1/15 sec on the wide-angle setting, although I wouldn't rely on this! (of course with a good tripod you can use much slower shutter speeds)..

The reason to use aperture priority mode most of the time is that changing aperture allows control of depth-of-field, which will affect how the picture looks; but once you have a fast enough shutter speed to eliminate camera shake, faster speeds won't make any difference, so there is no advantage to using 1/1000 second for a static subject compared to 1/60. So: set the aperture you want (wide for a portrait, such as f/2.8, to throw the background out of focus; narrow for a landscape,like f/11 or f/16, to maximise the depth of field) and just make sure that the shutter speed chosen by the camera is fast enough for you to hold the camera steady..

The main exception to this is when photographing moving subjects (sports, animals, kids...) when the main priority is to ensure that the subject is not blurred. in this case control of depth of field is likely to be of secondary importance. So: set a fast shutter speed (e.g. 1/1000 sec) and take whatever aperture the camera sets. If the camera tells you that it can't open the lens wide enough to let enough light in for a correct exposure, because the shutter speed is so fast, increase the ISO setting (the sensitivity of the detector). You will get a slightly 'noisier' picture for electronic reasons, but that is very much better than slowing the shutter speed and having your subject blurred..

Hope this helps..

Mike..

Thanks a lot, your response was helpful. But I have one more question..

When I'm outside taking nature shots, I find myself almost always in aperture mode. Should I be?..

Bahbel wrote:.

Thanks a lot, your response was helpful. But I have one more question.When I'm outside taking nature shots, I find myself almost alwaysin aperture mode. Should I be?.

Not sure what you mean by nature shots - if you mean landscapes than yes, at quite a small aperture, around say f/7. But for a tree as subject with a blurred background then a wide aperture will isolate it..

If you mean birds and small animals you may need to switch to shutter priority to freeze action if they are moving around. But for birds sitting on branches a fairly wide aperture for a pleasing DOF, and a fastish shutter speed would seem best. I'm assuming all these are handheld..

Alex.

Http://akiralx.smugmug.com/..

Light, Aperture, Sensitivity, Time. Double any of these, and you can compensate by halving any of the others..

What camera mode you choose should be based on what aspects of the scene are more important. If depth of field is most important to you, use aperture-priority mode and the camera will compensate with shutter time (within limits). If canceling motion blur is most important, use shutter-priority mode and the camera will compensate with aperture (within limits). If you can't compensate with shutter time or aperture, you will have to work with your ISO sensitivity or the available light in the scene instead..

I call this the "LAST Principle" and have a writeup at http://halley.cc/photo/last.html which might be helpful..

[ e d @ h a l l e yc c ] http://www.halley.cc/pix/..