Shutter Speed Practice

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I finally had a bit of time to read and practice my next online photography "lesson" from It's Overflowing. This one was over shutter speed, which sounded pretty simple. 

2.5

And it was simple: Shutter Speed is the how fast the shutter opens and closes. 

1.0 (1 second)

The longer it's open, the longer it is capturing and image. The shorter it's open, the less time it's recording the image. 

1/2 (half of a second)

The best way to practice this is to take the same shot of something that is in constant motion, changing the shutter speed with each shot. 

1/5

I chose my fan, mostly because I was already laying down on my couch when I decided to do this, and taking pics of my fan meant I didn't have to get up. (I'm pretty worn out these days.)

1/10

In the photos here, my shutter speed is set from 2.5 all the way to 1/400. This means my shutter was open for 2.5 seconds in the first photo and only 1/400th of a second in the last. 

1/15

My fan is on its lowest setting in all of these pictures, but in the first photo, the fan blades are super blurry. In the last, darkest photo, the fan blades look as if they are standing still. 

1/20

The photos get darker as the shutter closes faster because shutter is not open long enough for good light to get through. (This is where ISO, my next lesson, will come in handy, I think.)

1/25

I imagine I would use this "slowing down" trick using shutter speed when I'm taking pictures of my kids playing or anything with flowing water. 

1/30

Unlike aperture, in most situations I don't think I mind my camera using the auto mode for shutter speed.

1/40 (1/40th of a second)

 If you shoot in manual, I'd like to know your thoughts about shutter speed. 

1/50

When do you change it?

1/60

 Any other tips and hints?

1/80

(The fan appears to be slowing down because the shutter is not open long enough to catch the movement.)

1/100

At this point, I'm out of words, so just scroll to the bottom to watch the fan magically appear still even though it's really spinning.

1/125

1/160

1/200

1/250

1/320

1/400

p.s. See my past photo lessons here.