# HELP! Trouble with slow shutter speed in afternoon daylight!



## smackitsakic (Mar 29, 2010)

Greetings!

I am still quite new to photography (had my first DSLR for just over a month now) and wanted to take some pictures of some massive windmills near my city of residence.

My wife and I made the 20 minute journey to the windmills.  My intention was to capture these windmills using a slow shutter speed to give a motion effect for the windmills with a still background.

Anyway, I slowed down the shutter speed to 2 seconds, set the aperture to f-32 and the ISO to 100, the biggest settings my equipment could handle.  The images came out incredibly over-exposed, to the point where the images were white and nothing but white.  The only thing I could do to have the images correctly exposed was accelerate the shutter speed, which defeated the purpose of me trying to shoot these windmills in motion.

What did I do wrong and what I can do differently next time?  Any help for this new photographer would be greatly appreciated!!


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## m.stevenson (Mar 29, 2010)

unless the wind mills are going super slow I would defiantly speed up your shutter speed. I will limit the amount of motion but 2 sec of a good moving wind mill is quite a bit of movement and less time will defiantly capture what you are looking for.


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## jensgt (Mar 29, 2010)

smackitsakic said:


> Greetings!
> 
> I am still quite new to photography (had my first DSLR for just over a month now) and wanted to take some pictures of some massive windmills near my city of residence.
> 
> ...



2 seconds is way long.  You can capture motion at a much quicker shutter speed than that.  Only other option would be adding a ND filter to darken the scene allowing the slower shutter speed but 2 seconds is probably still too long.  You can see motion at speeds like 1/60.

Also you did not mention using a tripod...hopefully you were.


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## Big Mike (Mar 29, 2010)

> What did I do wrong and what I can do differently next time? Any help for this new photographer would be greatly appreciated!!


It sounds like you completely ignored your camera's light meter.  Hence, the extreme overexposure.  You can't just pick the settings you want, you need to be mindful of the exposure...and in this case, there was too much light to shoot that slow...even with your smallest aperture and lowest ISO.

The easiest thing to do, would be to shoot at a different time of day, when it's not so bright...but you could also add ND filters, which block some light, allowing you to get an exposure with a longer shutter speed.


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## smackitsakic (Mar 29, 2010)

At the risk of sounding totally stupid, which i'm willing to take being that i'm new to this...what the heck is my camera's light meter?

By the way, love the avatar Big Mike - stellar Oil jersey!


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## djacobox372 (Mar 29, 2010)

Your light meter tells you if your exposure is correct or not when using manual mode. 

If you want to take long exposures in the daylight you'll need a ND (dark) filter on your lens--think of it like a pair of sunglasses for your camera.


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## Gaerek (Mar 29, 2010)

Try this:

Put your camera on a tripod. Compose your shot. Switch to Av mode, and set your aperture to the smallest possible. Then turn your ISO the lowest possible. What shutter does the camera recommend. If it's faster than say 1/30, you probably won't get the effect you want. You'll need to shoot at a darker time of day, or pick up a Neutral Density filter (as others have said). No need to shoot manual for this.


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## Dominantly (Mar 29, 2010)

VVVV Down there is a link with photos of it.


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## table1349 (Mar 29, 2010)

Buy this [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Exposure-Photographs-Digital-Updated/dp/0817463003"]book[/ame] and read it.  When you understand the triad that goes into exposure, these situations will not happen.


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## Tee (Mar 29, 2010)

Gaerek said:


> Try this:
> 
> Put your camera on a tripod. Compose your shot. Switch to Av mode, and set your aperture to the smallest possible. Then turn your ISO the lowest possible. What shutter does the camera recommend. If it's faster than say 1/30, you probably won't get the effect you want. You'll need to shoot at a darker time of day, or pick up a Neutral Density filter (as others have said). No need to shoot manual for this.


 
*Not meaning to threadjack* 

Thank you for that tip, Gaerek. I ran into the same problem as the OP this weekend while trying to slow-mo water in a fountain (camera kept saying "subject too bright", I was trying to ignore it like a toothache ). 

Quick question: is there an unwritten (or written) rule about avoiding certain times of the day? I've read a few posts that suggest avoiding high noon. Aside from a ND filter, are there any other tricks when coming back at an earlier/ later time in the day isn't possible?

gryphon: thanks for the link. Book ordered.:thumbup:


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## burstintoflame81 (Mar 29, 2010)

gryphonslair99 said:


> Buy this book and read it. When you understand the triad that goes into exposure, these situations will not happen.


 
.....and when you buy an ND filter. Understanding doesn't magically make your camera operate differently. If you want a long exposure in super bright mid day light, you will need an ND filter. There isn't some magic setting on your camera that will change that. It acts as a sunglass basically. The camera can still see the image, but you can open and allow light in more slowly so that you can capture motion without blinding your camera sensor. Often used to get that swirly magical look to flowing water.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't learn exposure though. If you knew exposure, you would have known how to fix your problem already so it would have saved you a lot of time


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## KmH (Mar 29, 2010)

smackitsakic said:


> ...what the heck is my camera's light meter?


You'll find a description of it and it's location in your camera by reading the users manual that should have been included with your camera. 

If you don't have the users manual you can download one at the web site of the company that made your camera.


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## table1349 (Mar 29, 2010)

burstintoflame81 said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> > Buy this book and read it. When you understand the triad that goes into exposure, these situations will not happen.
> ...



If the OP had read the book they would have known either to buy ND filters and or wait for different light at a different time of the day.  :mrgreen:  It's amazing the side knowledge that becomes clear once you understand exposure.


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## burstintoflame81 (Mar 29, 2010)

gryphonslair99 said:


> If the OP had read the book they would have known either to buy ND filters and or wait for different light at a different time of the day. :mrgreen: It's amazing the side knowledge that becomes clear once you understand exposure.


 
Point taken.


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## Gaerek (Mar 30, 2010)

Tee said:


> Gaerek said:
> 
> 
> > Try this:
> ...



Midday sun is very bright. You may have heard of the sunny 16 rule. It isn't a rule, so much as a guideline of how to get a proper exposure on a sunny day. It says basically that in bright sunlight, you can get proper exposure if you set your aperture to f/16, and your shutter speed to 1/ISO. So in other words, if you were set at ISO 100, even at f/16, you'd still need a shutter speed of 1/100 sec.

Let's take this a bit further. You want a slow shutter speed. So we know that proper exposure in this case is f/16, 1/100sec, ISO 100. We can't decrease ISO anymore, so let's close down the aperture as much as we can. Setting the aperture to one step more closed means f/22. That means our shutter will have to be set to 1/50. Still too fast for the purposes here. Let's assume you can set your aperture even small (as the OP said he could set is at f/32). So setting your aperture another stop smaller (f/32) that means that in this same setting, your shutter speed is still 1/25sec. And now you're limited out

Here's the problem, depending on the affect you want, 1/25sec might not be enough. Additionally, I wouldn't set an aperture smaller than f/16 for most things. You start to lose IQ due to diffraction. So, the only options are to wait for a darker time of day, or to do something to make the sun not as bright to the camera. Using an ND filter is pretty much the only way to do this. Assuming the Sunny 16 rule is giving us proper exposure, let's go to our original settings, f/16, 1/100sec, ISO 100. If we throw a 4 stop ND filter on, we can now set our shutter to 1/6sec. An 8 stop filter will allow you to have a lot more creative control also, allowing for some wider apertures as well. Basically speaking, in the case of bright sunshine, you really do need an ND filter, or to wait for a darker time of day. There's really no other way to accomplish this.

I hope I explained this well enough. This is not an unwritten rule, it's simply a law of physics. You can't  change the amount of light in a scene. You can only change how much  light your camera perceives (just like you can change the amount of  light your eyes perceive by putting on sunglasses). I was using the Sunny 16 rule as an example of why you need an ND filter in these cases. It might not be the proper exposure for your scene, but it should get you close. I would recommend not using it, and just using Av mode, letting your camera make the exposure decisions for you.


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## Tee (Mar 30, 2010)

Gaerek,

Thank you very much for that.  I'll read up on Sunny 16.  I did pick up a ND filter today at the camera shop.  I'll tinker around.  Again, thank you for the scenarios.

P.S.  I spent some time in Sitka.  Beautiful little town with some neat Russian architecture.


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## FrankLamont (Mar 30, 2010)

Note that if you're really dying for a ND and left yours behind, etc. you can use a pair of sunnies, provided the tint is all right. 

The good ones - ie, the ones that are actually genuine sunglasses and not fake tinted glass - are polarised, and so (surprise, surprise) also act as a polariser. 

Just avoid reflections.


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## smackitsakic (Apr 4, 2010)

gryphonslair99 said:


> Buy this book and read it. When you understand the triad that goes into exposure, these situations will not happen.


 
Book purchased  Thanks.


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