Fun with Photography (Shutter Speed and Aperture)

I’m taking an online travel photography class through Matador U.  The photos for this assignment are meant to illustrate how shutter speed and aperture impact photos.  I truly believe the only way I’m going to get better is to practice, practice, practice.  So, here are my practice shots.  I would LOVE to know which ones you prefer.

I’ve numbered the photos…please leave me a comment with your favorites.  I shared my favorites at the end of this post…but don’t cheat…pick your favorites first.

Note: I’ve reduced the resolution on all of these photos for faster webpage loading; otherwise, no other edits have been made to these photos. And, yes, I know that these could use some editing, but for the purpose of this exercise I wanted to keep them as is. If I was going to use any of these photos in a story I would have done additional editing.

Fun with Shutter Speed

These photos are from my hike to Feature Show Falls.  I took over 300 photos that day.  And, because I took a lot at slow shutter speed photos it highlighted the fact that I need to hurry up and get my second battery.  Luckily the battery ran out just feet from my car.  Whew!

Notice how the water at faster shutter speeds nearly stops and that as the shutter speed slows the water seems to have a flowing look.  Also, the faster shutter speeds let in less light so the photos are darker.

Fun with Aperture

These photos are from a cemetery near Franklin Ghost Town in Western Washington.  Due to a gear issues (not photographic) we didn’t make it to Franklin.  I took just over 75 photos of this cemetery, but it wasn’t until I was leaving that I decided to take photos of this fence post.  I think it is a perfect subject for aperture photos.

Notice the background in all of these photos.  The background is very blurry at a small aperture and becomes clearer as the aperture gets larger.

Photos

My Favorites

For waterfalls I almost always prefer the ethereal look of either 1/4 or 1/6 of a second.  In the case of this photo of Feature Show Falls, I chose 1/6 of a second.  For the fence post, I choose f5.6.  I love that the background is completely blurred.  Some of the others show a lot more detail in the background, but in this case I wanted the post to stand out.