Fast shutter speeds
For other examples:
Cristina Garcia Rodero p. 15
Denis Darzacq p. 53
Adam Pretty p. 59
Fast shutter speeds do the opposite to slow shutter speeds – they freeze movement.
For his series ‘Blast’, Naoya Hatakeyama uses a very fast shutter speed of 1/2000 to show the destructive effects of Japan’s limestone mining on the landscape.
In this image, what would have been too fast to comprehend with the naked eye instead becomes a blowout of fantastic detail. Time is frozen as the reddish-brown debris hangs in mid-air against a beautiful blue sky. Here, the unease of destruction gives way to total seduction.
To freeze movement, use ‘Shutter Priority’ (S or Tv) and a fast shutter speed.
Subjects appear frozen when photographed with fast shutter speeds because, in the instant that the picture is taken, nothing in front of the camera has time to move. Generally shutter speeds of 1/125 and faster will start to freeze movement, such as people jumping and running water.
Remember, faster shutter speeds allow less light into the camera and if not enough light enters the camera, you’ll underexpose your image. But there’s a way around this. It’s time to meet ‘aperture’.
Blast #8316
Naoya Hatakeyama
1997