Portfolio Vol. 1: Altered Realities : The Art of Shutter Speed
This portfolio is a demonstration of a technique I learned one of the first weeks in the photography program and how I have experimented with it since .
The topic of this portfolio revolves around the factor of shutter speed and how it can create a distorted look at life and the things around us .
Tire Spin
This image was taken the very first day we experimented with shutter speed . Before this day I only knew that the higher the shutter the more freeze motion I could catch and anything below that threshold was just going to make for a blurry picture that was no good to use for anything .Throughout this portfolio , you will see how that statement is completely untrue.
This day we had to experiment with a slow , medium , and fast shutter speed to see the difference between the two. I struggled a lot this day with trying to get the exposure right on a sunny day with a lower shutter speed . As well as with ISO which i am still struggling to figure out in my day to day photography .
The Accidents 1&2
The image on the left was taken about a week after our shutter speed experiment at my house . I went outside at night to see if there was anything I could photograph and I saw my little light post in my driveway and decided to take a photo of it . I moved my camera by accident trying to get a better angle of the light and this image came up on the screen . Usually , I would have looked at that and deleted it . However , having the knowledge I do now about shutter speed and its possibilities I decided to save it .
The other image was taken in a field where I was walking where I stopped to try and get a photo of the fog around the trees and to my surprise only one photo turned out the way the one above did .
Both images were complete accidents , but another thing i've learned in my photography journey is that sometimes the accidental photos are some of the best ones .
In the Fast Lane
Unlike the two images above , this image was taken on purpose as I wanted to experiment and learn about shutter speed a bit more on my own .
What I learned with shutter speed is when you lower it , you have so many more possibilities to create an interesting image of the world around you . For instance , a higher shutter speed would create a freeze motion picture . However , I wanted to showcase the speed in the car and how fast it was going . Therefore I learned that lowering my shutter speed along with moving my camera at the same time would help me create that concept for my image .
The Art of Lights
The images above not only relate to the topic of shutter speed , but also to a new technique I have come to enjoy called light painting. These two techniques go hand in hand as you cannot do successful light painting without having a low shutter speed . Usually , light painting includes using the light to actually paint a realistic figure of a certain shape . With mine , I just wanted to see what I could do with mixing shutter speed , motion and light. The results to some may look chaotic , and messy but to me as an artist I see beauty , technique , and originality . Light painting is something I would like to continue experimenting with for portraits and editorial shoots in the future .
This 1st semester in the program has taught me alot about the kind of style that I enjoy and new techniques that I can start applying to my image production. My style may change as I go further into the program , but I hope to keep experimenting with this technique of photography.
