Show Us Your Slow Shutter Speed Shots

FlyingPhotog wrote in post #12465378
700mm @ 1/60...

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'text/html' | Byte size: ZERO

Great shot Jay!! Your aviation shots are always so amazing!

How the heck do you shoot at 1/60 (especially at 700mm) and get such clean shot? Other than your experience and know how, can you share your technique a bit? I'm assuming you're using tripod at least, right?

joonrhee wrote in post #12465977
Great shot Jay!! Your aviation shots are always so amazing!

How the heck do you shoot at 1/60 (especially at 700mm) and get such clean shot? Other than your experience and know how, can you share your technique a bit? I'm assuming you're using tripod at least, right?

Hand Held...

I just try to practice good panning technique. Feet set, knees slightly bent, stance favoring the "money" position (may be slightly right or left of straight ahead so I'll cheat my feet that way so I don't get wrapped around myself and tense up), left hand out toward the joint between the lens and the hood (don't "short arm it" .. get your left hand out far enough that your right has to support a little of the weight as well) and try to not "stab" at the shutter button. Squeeze gently.

Practice .. Practice .. Practice!

HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Redirected to error image by FLICKR

philwillmedia wrote in post #12455710
Great work.
The only thing I would have done is to crop out the clipped rider on the far right, but that's just a nit pick.
Still a great shot.

Grrrrr.........
I hate it when people do this.
When you go back and delete and replace the original image with an edited one it makes the coments about the original photo meaningless to anyone else reading the thread.
Please, by all means, edit the image but if you're going to do that, copy the original and edit the copy then put the edited image in a sperate post.
That way the thread has some meaning and continuity.
Also, people can compare the two images and understand why the comments were made.

FlyingPhotog wrote in post #12465991
Hand Held...

I just try to practice good panning technique. Feet set, knees slightly bent, stance favoring the "money" position (may be slightly right or left of straight ahead so I'll cheat my feet that way so I don't get wrapped around myself and tense up), left hand out toward the joint between the lens and the hood (don't "short arm it" .. get your left hand out far enough that your right has to support a little of the weight as well) and try to not "stab" at the shutter button. Squeeze gently.

Practice .. Practice .. Practice!

Hand held??!! Man, that is awesome! and thanks for sharing your technique as well. I guess main point is to practice practice and practice...

I'll usually start much faster and work my way down if the situation permits it...

This particular shot was more of a "What happens if I do this...?" kind of moment!

Little fireworks fun for the long weekend. First one at 9 secs, second at 37 secs. Both ISO 100 and f8.

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

philwillmedia wrote in post #12466148

HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Redirected to error image by FLICKR

Grrrrr.........
I hate it when people do this.
When you go back and delete and replace the original image with an edited one it makes the coments about the original photo meaningless to anyone else reading the thread.
Please, by all means, edit the image but if you're going to do that, copy the original and edit the copy then put the edited image in a sperate post.
That way the thread has some meaning and continuity.
Also, people can compare the two images and understand why the comments were made.

My apologies, when I replaced the image in Flickr the old one was deleted. I should have kept both. I will in the future. By the way "Hate" is a pretty strong word.

200mm @ 1/125

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/jeffwelker/5754​522237/

Please don't take this as a knock. Just I really don't understand and I genuinely want to understand.

How is 1/125 a slow shutter speed. Or would it be depending on the subject - ie: 1/125 for an airplane in flight is slow, but 1/125 shooting a turtle would be fast?

1/125th is relatively slow for handholding a 200mm lens (especially on crop), it's at least a stop under the "1 / focal length in mm"-rule of thumb.

If you would be shooting with a 35mm lens in dim light, 1/125th could be considered quite fast (in fact, you might want to consider lowering the ISO then), but it's all relative to subject motion, whether or not you have IS, and your ability to handhold.

1/125th is a nice "long" shutterspeed for panning fast moving subjects though. For panning, shooting 3 stops under the shutterspeed needed to freeze the motion is definitely a great starting point that'll get you in the ballpark.

1/125 is considered on the "slow side" for photography in general and aviation photography in particular.

Go try it with objects moving at 130+ MPH 1/4 to 1/2 mile away while perched on a 4' ladder shooting over a fence* and let us know how you get on.

(*I shoot here too and I know what you have to do to get a good look at the subjects. Trust Me: That's a dead nuts panning job!)

Oh no - please don't get me wrong. I get that shooting a 130MPH object with a 200mm at 1/125 is nuckin futz - dont know if I could do it without a lot of practice. A LOT!

So that is what/why I was asking and stated originally if it had more to do with the subject/situation.

I shoot a lot of nighttime shots, so very frequently I have the shutter open for 30 seconds or more. But again, that is a different ballpark. Thank you for the explanation.

@ Michael & Jay - Thanks for helping explain the 1/125th question.

@ apixelintime - No offense taken. While I'm not at Jay's level of expertise of panning fast moving objects at relatively slow shutter speeds, this is one of my better efforts. It has taken lots of practice and a ton or blurred images (i.e. read deleted); however, it can be accomplished with the correct technique.

Regarding your long exposures at night; interestingly my next area of photographic experiment involves a +10 ND filter and 30+ minute exposures. Instead of panning techniques, I'll need a rock solid tripod and a much better understanding of reciprocity failure.

Take care.

Salmo22 wrote in post #12470506
@ Michael & Jay - Thanks for helping explain the 1/125th question.

@ apixelintime - No offense taken. While I'm not at Jay's level of expertise of panning fast moving objects at relatively slow shutter speeds, this is one of my better efforts. It has taken lots of practice and a ton or blurred images (i.e. read deleted); however, it can be accomplished with the correct technique.

Regarding your long exposures at night; interestingly my next area of photographic experiment involves a +10 ND filter and 30+ minute exposures. Instead of panning techniques, I'll need a rock solid tripod and a much better understanding of reciprocity failure.

Take care.

Only if you are shooting film...

TORCHRIDER wrote in post #12469164
By the way "Hate" is a pretty strong word.

Maybe so, but it's more polite than saying "totally pi$$es me off"