Camera shutter times?

Question

I have a question about my digital camera. Let me preface the question by saying that I am not extremely knowledgeable when it comes to digital cameras, but I can follow your response if you'll spell it out well.

Basically, the other night I was trying the trick with "Painting in the air" with a flashlight in the dark. I cranked the shutter speed to 20 secs. so that I could paint quite a bit. The pictures turned out perfectly.

Now. How do I slow down the shutter speed and do a similar picture in daylight? It seems that I can only take slow shutter pictures during the night. I tried to take pictures inside my house and oustide during the daytime, but as soon as I switched the shutter speed to a slower time, every picture I took was completely white.

What settings do I have to change to do something like that during the day. I was trying to take some kind of "Trace" speed blur picture of a car passing, but again - I just got an all white picture, nothing visible. Help please!

My camera is a Canon Powershot A520. I am using an SD memory card with it. All I can get with a slow shutter during the daytime is a solid white image.

Any help by a professional is greatly appreciated.

Thanks for the answers people. I am writing them all down, and I will try them individually this weekend to see who was right :) Have a nice day.

Answer 1

Your problem in the daytime is too much light. If your aperture isn't already stopped all the way down (highest f number), that will reduce some light. Zooming the lens will reduce a little more. But there might still be too much light. Look into getting a neutral density filter to fit your lens. Outside of turning off the sun, that would give you the best you can hope for in the daytime. But night is best for "painting with light", so you might just stick with that for now. You could also try evening pictures, right around sunset. Might be dark enough then.

Answer 2

To get "blur" picture of car passing, you do not need to use a slow shutter speed. Use "Panning" -- I believe that's what you are referring to with "Trace".

With the A520, switch to Shutter-Priority mode and set a shutter speed of 1/30 sec. Then pre-focus (press and hold the shutter release button half-way to lock focus and exposure) and set exposure at the point where you want to take the picture when the car passes you, say it's right in front of you.

Now, turn toward the car and, still holding the shutter release button half-way, start following the car in a smooth horizontal half-circle. Depress the shutter release button fully as the car reaches your predetermined spot but be sure to keep following it in the arc.

It takes lots of tries but you should get some images of a car with some blurring (but most of it sharp) and the background nicely blurred, depicting speed.

You can experiment with different shutter speed, slower or faster than 1/30 sec. depending on the amount of light available. Use a low ISO to help you be able to use a slow enough shutter speed. The way the technique works is that by following the car, you keep it more or less in focus. By panning using a slow shutter speed, the background blurs.

Answer 3

Try setting your ISO as low as possible and use your smallest aperture - f16 or f22 - whatever it is. Mount your camera on your tripod and give it a try. The combination of low ISO and a minscule aperture will give you very slow shutter speeds.

Here is a purely hypothetical example for purposes of illustration only. Sunny conditions.

ISO 50

f2.8 @ 1/125
f4 @ 1/60
f5.6 @ 1/30
f8 @ 1/15
f11 @ 1/8
f16 @ 1/4
f22 @ 1/2

You might not be able to do your "light painting" but you'll sure blur passing traffic. Well, you could get a Neutral Density filter that would reduce your effective aperture another 4 stops. Our example would then continue thusly:

f32 @ 1
f44 @ 2
f64 @ 4
f88@ 8

Answer 4

if you can screw on ND filters use them, also the lowest iso you have, and smallest apeture like F16 if your camera has it,,,really its difficult to make daytime into night, you will need a few filters

a