This Slow Shutter Technique Is Worth Trying

If you want to improve your photography, experimenting with new techniques to achieve more creative and interesting results is the way to go. I did just that recently while out doing street photography by playing with a slow shutter speed while shooting handheld.

One of my favorite ways to relax on a weekend is to go for a walk around a city and do some street photography. It’s a very popular genre these days, but so many street images we see on social media all look the same. So I thought recently, how could I try creating images that were a little different, a little more creative and interesting?

Modern cameras have great internal stabilization, so I thought I should start using it in mine instead of using a tripod.

Settings and Filters

On a day trip to Toronto, and after a little experimenting, I discovered 1/8 second was the right exposure for the overcast conditions I had to work with. I wanted to shoot people walking on the streets or inside interesting buildings and didn’t want too much blur. If my exposure was too slow, people would fade away like ghosts and barely be noticeable. Too fast, and the people would look like they were simply out of focus.

You set your camera around the shutter speed. I set my ISO to 100, my lowest setting, and my aperture to f/16. At these higher f-values—smaller apertures—one must be wary of diffraction. Because I was shooting with a monochrome camera, I had a yellow filter on, which lost me one stop of light. Typically, if the conditions are bright, to achieve good exposure at such a slow shutter speed, an ND filter might be required. A 3-stop ND is a good choice, but I didn’t need one in the overcast conditions today.

A Few Things Worth Noting

• When someone walks across the frame, the motion blur is more exaggerated than if they were walking toward or away from the camera.
• Someone moving closer to the camera in the foreground is going to blur more than someone in the background.
• I found I got the best results shooting people within about 10–15 feet of the camera. Cars could be further back because they move much faster.

Three Variations of This Technique

Find a Static Object

Pick out a person standing still, with other people or cars moving around them. You’re holding your camera still.

Choose a Great Composition

Find something like an architecturally interesting building or an entranceway that acts as a frame, or a scene with dramatic lighting and contrast. Then wait for someone to walk into or across that composition. It could be one person or an entire crowd of people. You’re holding your camera still.

Choose a Subject to Follow

Find a person or moving object and follow them with your camera as you shoot. This is known as panning, and you can try moving the camera at the same speed as the subject to keep them in focus while blurring the background. Also, try moving the camera faster or slower to see what results you get.

Of course, you can take this much further and delve into the world of intentional camera movement (ICM) by twisting the camera as you take the exposure or moving it vertically. It can be a lot of creative fun with unusual and interesting results.

I’m going to be doing a lot more experimenting like this. It’s good to push yourself outside your comfort zone and try new techniques.

How about you? Is this a technique you’ve tried?