When we finally decided on a date to go to the fair I was pretty excited, not just for the ginormous Turkey Legs or Funnel Cakes but because at fairs, there's tons of vibrant color and lights galore!  It was the perfect place work on changing my cameras Shutter Speed and Aperture resulting in different looks depending on what I wanted to capture! I know there a handful of our blog readers that own SLR cameras and love taking photos so I thought this would be a great exercise for you that's super easy to apply =) The other day while Richelle and I were talking about a shot she tried to get of one of the rides from the fair, she says "I wanted to get that blurry look of the ride in motion but I couldn't remember what setting to change in my camera to do it!" She ended up liking how it turned out anyway but what was my response to her comment?  "Shutter Speed Richelle, Shutter Speed" =) Shutter Speed is simple.  Just think about it like this…the slower shutter speed the more movement I have in my picture, the faster the shutter speed, the less movement I have in my picture.  All it is is how fast you want your shutter of your camera to open and close! Of course, there are other factors such as available light that play into how fast or slow your shutter speed will be, but for now, just keep it simple. So what’s considered a slow shutter speed?  Rule of thumb would be that you never want to shoot below 1/60th of a second when you’re shooting people or else you’ll get what’s called camera shake (a blurry photo basically) and generally speaking, you don’t want that.  For now a great way to start off is by shooting in Shutter Speed Priority…it’s the Tv dial on your camera.  Turn your dial to that and the camera decides all your settings but you decide on the shutter speed. Ok so back to the fair. This first shot is one I took at 1/13th of a sec.  Granted these pics don't really land in my top 10 but they're good for show & tell =)

1/5th of a second...

and finally  at .3 of a second.

Remember how I mentioned that shutter speed is how fast you want the shutter of your camera to open and close?!  Well what I wanted to do in these shots was capture the motion of the ferris wheel.  At 1/13th of a second I was still getting a pretty "still" image so all I did was change my shutter speed to go slower and slower.  Simple right?!  Oh and btw, this shots would've looked way cooler on a tripod. **One quick note to keep in mind: notice how the longer I left my shutter open, the brighter the shot?  Well that's cuz the longer the shutter is open, the light enters the camera** I always tell people, don't be scared to play with your camera settings.  Yeah it could be tough sometimes, but like the cliche says...practice makes perfect. =) My next post will be on Aperture so stay tuned! =) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --- - - - - - -- - - - - --- Don't forget!  Our "Great Names Derive from Great Inspiration" contest deadline has been moved!!  The new deadline to submit your entries is now October 1st.  That gives everyone a good two months of inspiration! =)

If you want more information on our contest click here!

For our latest Wedding Day Slideshow, Click Here!

If you'd like to inquire about our services, email us at Weddings@johnlauren.com

If you have any questions you'd like to ask us, we'll do our best in answering them for you!  email us at John@johnlauren.com or Lauren@johnlauren.com