Long Shutter Speeds

Today I wanted to put up a couple examples of longer shutter speeds. A longer shutter speeds necessitates stabilizing the camera in some form or fashion. For the first picture of the river, it was sitting on the railing of the bridge over the river; I used a tripod for the other two. Another tip - don't push the shutter button, but either use a trigger of some sort or the delay timer, plus use mirror lock up. All of these things together will help get sharper pictures when using longer shutter speeds.

Anyway, all of the below pictures are from our trip to the thermal hot springs in Papallacta, Ecuador. Can't wait to get back there! All photos are as they were from the camera, no additional post-processing on them.

This first example the shutter speed is 1/8s:

Here's the rest of the EXIF data on this first shot:
Tv( Shutter Speed ): 1/8s
Av( Aperture Value ): F32.0
ISO Speed: 100
Lens: Tamron 17-50mm
Focal Length: 20.0mm

For this shot of the river, rather than freeze the motion of the river, I wanted it to blur together. The slower shutter speed allows the water flow to smooth out and appear cotton-like, rather than capturing every splash.


This next shot is with a shutter speed of 1.3s:

And the EXIF data from this one:
Tv( Shutter Speed ): 1.3s
Av( Aperture Value ): F20.0
ISO Speed: 100
Lens: Canon EF70-200mm f/4L USM
Focal Length: 154.0mm

For this detail of the tree, I used my telephoto zoom lens to get in close for some details. It was a spot that was under a fair amount of shade, hence a long shutter speed to get the above exposure.

Even though I have a small aperture (F20), the background is still blurry; this is one of the characteristics of a telephoto lens. It tends to have more bokeh, even at smaller apertures. If I had the same shot with my wide angle at a F20, that three behind there would likely be pretty in focus. Contrast this photo with the last one below ...



This last one is with a shutter speed of 25s:

EXIF data:
Tv( Shutter Speed ): 25s
Av( Aperture Value ): F8.0
ISO Speed: 100
Lens: Tamron 17-50mm
Focal Length: 17.0mm

This last one is the classic night shot, in this case of one of the thermal pools right in front of our cabin.

Contrast the depth of field with the second picture - this is a much wider aperture and should yield a much shallower depth of field. However, the picture is fairly sharp from front to back. This is one of the characteristics of a wide-angle lens - you get more depth of field for your F-Stop. In this particular example you get some additional softness because of the steam rising off of the water.