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One of the easiest ways to be creative with your camera is to play around with your camera’s shutter speed settings. On some cameras the shutter priority mode is marked with the abbreviation ‘TV’ which stands for Time Value on other cameras it’s marked with an ‘S’. In Shutter Priority mode, the user selects the shutter speed and the camera automatically selects an aperture to correct the exposure. I would however suggest that you consult your cameras user’s manual and learn how to use the manual (M) mode.

To experiment with slow shutter speeds there are 2 things you’ll need: A cable release for your camera and a sturdy tripod.

Have you ever seen a picture of a waterfall or river where the water looks like mist? That is because the photographer used a slow shutter speed. Perhaps a picture of a car driving past, with the background being just lines, conveying the feeling of speed? That is a technique called ‘panning’ and is very useful in sports photography. Experiment with different shutter speed settings on your camera and a variety of subject matter. You’d be surprised with the creativity it inspires.

I will now discuss a few examples of my own work, and hopefully it will inspire you to be creative.

In the picture above I used an aperture of f5.6 and a shutter speed of 48 minutes. The lines in the sky are created by the stars and caused by the earth’s rotation. Using such a long shutter speeds give you ample time to introduce more light sources. I triggered a flash inside the barn, switched on the bakkie’s lights for about 5 seconds to light the outside of the barn and used a headlamp to light the bakkie.

For the next image I mounted the camera to a round and round with a flash to the left of the camera. The aperture was f4 with a shutter speed of 2.5 seconds. The lines in the background were created by the restaurant lights in the streets and the rotation of the round and round. Kudo’s to the models for sitting still for so long.

The last image was taken during fashion week. The aperture was f10 with a shutter speed of 1/6 of a second.

Playing around with the shutter speed of your camera can open up a whole new world of creative possibility with your photography, especially during night time, so no more excuses for not having time for photography…