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Shutter Speeds for Handholding

Lesson 10 from: Fundamentals of Photography 2016

John Greengo

Shutter Speeds for Handholding

Lesson 10 from: Fundamentals of Photography 2016

John Greengo

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Lesson Info

10. Shutter Speeds for Handholding

Lessons

Class Trailer
1

Class Introduction

17:26
2

Welcome to Photography

13:08
3

Camera Types Overview

02:00
4

Viewing Systems

28:43
5

Viewing Systems Q&A

08:45
6

Lens Systems

32:06
7

Shutter Systems

13:17
8

Shutter Speeds

10:47
9

Choosing a Shutter Speed

31:30
10

Shutter Speeds for Handholding

08:36
11

Shutter Speed Pop Quiz

09:06
12

Camera Settings

25:35
13

General Camera Q&A

14:38
14

Sensor Sizes: The Basics

15:33
15

Sensor Sizes: Compared

19:10
16

Pixels

20:13
17

ISO

21:13
18

Sensor Q&A

13:34
19

Focal Length: Overview

11:09
20

Focal Length: Angle of View

15:09
21

Wide Angle Lenses

08:48
22

Telephoto Lenses

25:23
23

Angle of View Q&A

09:29
24

Fish Eye Lenses

10:39
25

Tilt & Shift Lenses

23:42
26

Subject Zone

17:19
27

Lens Speed

09:56
28

Aperture Basics

08:46
29

Depth of Field

21:49
30

Aperture Pop Quiz

13:23
31

Lens Quality

18:30
32

Photo Equipment Life Cycle

03:57
33

Light Meter Basics

09:25
34

Histogram

15:25
35

Histogram Pop Quiz and Q&A

10:58
36

Dynamic Range

06:03
37

Exposure Modes

15:58
38

Manual Exposure

09:38
39

Sunny 16 Rule

05:54
40

Exposure Bracketing

10:18
41

Exposure Values

27:21
42

Exposure Pop Quiz

26:43
43

Focus Overview

16:15
44

Focusing Systems

05:15
45

Autofocus Controls

11:56
46

Focus Points

07:35
47

Autofocusing on Subjects

20:19
48

Manual Focus

07:52
49

Digital Focusing Assistance

03:40
50

Focus Options: DSLR and Mirrorless

04:58
51

Shutter Speeds for Sharpness and DoF

05:20
52

Depth of Field Pop Quiz

12:14
53

Depth of Field Camera Features

04:54
54

Lens Sharpness

09:58
55

Camera Movement

05:20
56

Handheld and Tripod Focusing

04:32
57

Advanced Techniques

07:12
58

Hyperfocal Distance

06:50
59

Hyperfocal Quiz and Focusing Formula

04:36
60

Micro adjust and AF Fine Tune

05:34
61

Focus Stacking and Post Sharpening

06:00
62

Focus Problem Pop Quiz

18:07
63

The Gadget Bag: Camera Accessories

25:30
64

The Gadget Bag: Lens Accessories

12:46
65

The Gadget Bag: Neutral Density Filter

20:43
66

The Gadget Bag: Lens Hood and Teleconverters

08:55
67

The Gadget Bag: Lens Adapters

05:43
68

The Gadget Bag: Lens Cleaning Supplies

04:34
69

The Gadget Bag: Macro Lenses and Accessories

15:57
70

The Gadget Bag: Flash and Lighting

05:08
71

The Gadget Bag: Tripods and Accessories

18:50
72

The Gadget Bag: Custom Cases

11:20
73

10 Thoughts on Being a Photographer

07:37
74

Direct Sunlight

25:04
75

Indirect Sunlight

18:49
76

Sunrise and Sunset

18:39
77

Cloud Light

14:48
78

Golden Hour

09:50
79

Light Pop Quiz

07:53
80

Light Management

14:00
81

Artificial Light

13:56
82

Speedlights

16:02
83

Off-Camera Flash

27:38
84

Advanced Flash Techniques

09:49
85

Editing Overview

08:24
86

Editing Set-up

08:06
87

Importing Images

16:45
88

Best Use of Files and Folders

20:54
89

Culling

20:56
90

Develop: Fixing in Lightroom

18:13
91

Develop: Treating Your Images

10:53
92

Develop: Optimizing in Lightroom

14:51
93

Art of Editing Q&A

06:01
94

Composition Overview

06:53
95

Photographic Intrusions

10:10
96

Mystery and Working the Scene

16:18
97

Point of View

09:11
98

Better Backgrounds

16:02
99

Unique Perspective

11:02
100

Angle of View

15:06
101

Subject Placement

41:14
102

Subject Placement Q&A

05:18
103

Panorama

07:39
104

Multishot Techniques

13:57
105

Timelapse

16:13
106

Human Vision vs The Camera

20:07
107

Visual Perception

08:35
108

Visual Balance Test

22:56
109

Visual Drama

12:25
110

Elements of Design

28:57
111

The Photographic Process

12:28
112

Working the Shot

27:38
113

The Moment

04:42
114

One Hour Photo - Colby Brown

1:04:32
115

One Hour Photo - John Keatley

1:03:05
116

One Hour Photo - Art Wolfe

59:01
117

One Hour Photo - Rocco Ancora

1:01:20
118

One Hour Photo - Mike Hagen

1:01:20
119

One Hour Photo - Lisa Carney

1:00:52
120

One Hour Photo - Ian Shive

1:08:00
121

One Hour Photo - Sandra Coan

1:10:29
122

One Hour Photo - Daniel Gregory

1:06:07
123

One Hour Photo - Scott Robert Lim

1:05:41

Lesson Info

Shutter Speeds for Handholding

Let's talk about handholding the camera and safe shutter speeds for holding the camera. First off, there is a correct way and an incorrect way of holding the camera. And the correct way is with the thumb up. So as you grab a camera, obviously you will probably grab it with your right hand, because there's a nice grip on most cameras. But what do you do with the left hand? And a lot of newbies to photography just kind of grab the lens like this, and the problem is, is that leaves your elbow out here in the wind without any support. If you grab it with your thumb up like this, it forces your elbow a little bit more down to your torso. And I have found in my own unscientific testing that I can hold the camera one to two stops steadier by holding the camera properly than improperly. Also when you get into longer lenses, it's kind of nice 'cause you can support the lens and control the fine tune movements with your fingers without trying to support the weight and do the movements at the sam...

e time. The rule of thumb for handholding is that you need one over the focal length in a shutter speed in order to hold the camera steady. If you have a 60th of a second, you will need one 60th of a second in order to handhold that camera steady and get a sharp photo. It's a general rule of thumb, which means it is not accurate all the time. But it's kind of a good general rule. So if you have a 70 to 300, if you're at 70 you would need one 60th of a second, if you're at 300, you would need one 250th. You could say one 300th but we kind of just round things out here just to be simple. Your normal 28 millimeter lens needs about a 30th of a second. And if you have a wide angle lens, 16 to 35, somewhere between a 15th and a 30th of a second. And so that's the idea behind the one over the focal length rule. Now one feature that does play a little bit of havoc in a good way with this, is any sort of stabilization or vibration reduction system that your camera and/or lens system may have. This is gonna allow you to shoot at a slower shutter speed than you would normally be able to hand hold because there are actually lens movements or sensor movements that are compensating for your movements and giving you a steadier image. So normally in a 200, with a 200 millimeter lens, you would need one 200th of a second in order to get a sharp photo. But if you have a stabilization system of some sort, it's quite possible that you are gonna be able to get sharp photos with that system. So let's look at Nikon's for a moment. Nikon makes a number of different lenses. They have lenses with built-in vibration reduction, and it varies and you have to look at the data for your lens. If it's four stops, three stops, or two and a half stops. So, what does three stops of VR mean? Well with the 300 2.8 you would normally need 250th of a second. Three stops mean you can go down and shoot shots at probably 125th, 60th, and down to a 30th of a second, handheld with that lens. Quickly look at some of the Canon options. Most of the Canon lenses over the last, well almost 10 years now are four stops of stabilization. There's a few older ones that are less than this, but most of them are four stops. So with a 35 millimeter lens, normally you could handhold it at a 30th, let's go four stops lower. That takes us down to a 15th, an eighth, a quarter, all the way down to a half second potentially. And so, once again, this is, you know, theoretical. Hopefully this is what it can do. I have found that in many cases, the manufacturers over estimate how good they are by one stop. It varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. And so, in theory, let's take a 50 millimeter lens, everything from 60 faster should be sharp, everything from 30 slower is gonna be blurry. So I did my own test, and here are the results of my test, is that I was exactly spot on with the rule of thumb on this case. But I did find between a 30th and an eight of a second I got a mixture of sharpness and blurriness. If I tried really hard in a lot of shots, I did get a sharp picture in there. And everything below a quarter of a second was always blurry. And then I turned on the stabilization system that my camera had, and I was able to get sharp photos all the way down to an eighth of a second. I then got kind of a mixture for a couple of shutter speeds, and then once again everything else was blurry. And so the stabilization on the right side of this graph indicates that I was able to reach a little bit further. I mean it doesn't compensate for those of you thinking that you're gonna replace tripods with stabilization systems. No, it helps you for a couple of steps. Now I tried the same testing with the 24 millimeter lens. And once again, I was exactly spot on with the rule of thumb down to a 30th of a second, got a mixture, kind of sharp, kind of blurry images. And then with stabilization I was able to get all the way down to a quarter of a second. Now with the 200 millimeter lens, I found that I was slightly better than the average bear when it comes to holding that 200 millimeter lens steady. I got a couple of mixed in the middle there, and then lots of blurry stuff after a 15th, unless I was using stabilization then I could occasionally get some sharp shots all the way down to an eighth of a second. Now the thing is, is that these are gonna be different for everybody and every camera system out there. But I wanted to do the test just to see how good am I at holding a camera steady? So one of the things to be aware of, is that if you do have a stabilization system, on most systems, most particularly Canon and Nikon, it is recommended that you turn the system off when you are putting the camera on a tripod. And the reason for that has to do with a bit of a feedback loop. In you cameras and your lenses are lens elements that are moving around and you don't want them moving when everything else is perfectly rock solid on a tripod. There are a few little exceptions to that, but for the most part it's best to turn this system off. Now there are some cameras that do a little bit better job. I think Olympus is one of the ones that do a little bit better job of not having to go in and electronically turn it off in the menu system. But it's something that is definitely worth a little test because it's a way for you to be shooting on a tripod and be getting blurry photographs. So it's something you need to be careful about. And I know what a lot of the new photographers are thinking about. Tripods, I don't know that I want to be that type of photographer. Well if you think about the range of shutter speeds, there's a lot of neat things that you can do with handheld photography. But there's a lot of really cool things that you can only do with a tripod. And if you say, I don't want to use a tripod, that's your choice. But you are ruling out a huge part of the photography world. And it's a lot of fun too. And so, I highly encourage using tripods because they allow you to shoot under low light conditions. Get shots that you would never be able to get handheld. So, with tripods, let me just give ya a few quick tips. We'll talk a bit about these more in the gadget section, but you're gonna get nice sharp shots. You're gonna be able to get more depth of field, which is a topic in an upcoming class. You end up throwing away less shots, because you just, you take a little bit more time and care about composing your photographs. And so it's one of the first and easiest keys into getting better photographs, is taking photos from a tripod. And there are plenty of photos that I would have no hope of taking in a handheld situation. Satellite dish down in New Mexico. Waterfalls, with that blurry water look to them. In Cuba, a little mixture of light and still action there, and so using a tripod often using one of those cable releases in order to get sharp photos. So you have another learning project, and this is a hand-holding test to see how good you are at holding your camera and working with different lower shutter speeds. It's good to know, kinda your outside boundary of what you can hand hold.

Class Materials

Free Download

Fundamentals of Photography Outline

Bonus Materials with Purchase

Learning Project Videos
Learning Projects PDF
Slides for The Camera Lessons 1-13
Slides for The Sensor Lessons 14-18
Slides for The Lens Lessons 19-31
Slides for The Exposure Lessons 32-42
Slides for Focus Lessons 43-62
Slides for The Gadget Bag Lessons 63-72
Slides for Light Lesson 73-84
Slides for the Art of Edit Lessons 85-93
Slides for Composition Lesson 94-105
Slides for Photographic Vision Lessons 106-113

Ratings and Reviews

a Creativelive Student
 

Love love all John Greengo classes! Wish to have had him decades ago with this info, but no internet then!! John is the greatest photography teacher I have seen out there, and I watch a lot of Creative Live classes and folks on YouTube too. John is so detailed and there are a ton of ah ha moments for me and I know lots of others. I think I own 4 John Greengo classes so far and want to add this one and Travel Photography!! I just drop everything to watch John on Creative Live. I wish sometime soon he would teach a Lightroom class and his knowledge on photography post editing.!!! That would probably take a LOT OF TIME but I know John would explain it soooooo good, like he does all his Photography classes!! Thank you Creative Live for having such a wonderful instructor with John Greengo!! Make more classes John, for just love them and soak it up! There is soooo much to learn and sometimes just so overwhelming. Is there anyway you might do a Motivation class!!?? Like do this button for this day, and try this technique for a week, or post this subject for this week, etc. Motivation and inspiration, and playing around with what you teach, needed so much and would be so fun.!! Just saying??? Awaiting gadgets class now, while waiting for lunch break to be over. All the filters and gadgets, oh my. Thank you thank you for all you teach John, You are truly a wonderful wonderful instructor and I would highly recommend folks listening and buying your classes.

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I don't think that adjectives like beautiful, fantastic or excellent can describe the course and classes with John Greengo well enough. I've just bought my first camera and I am a total amateur but I fell in love with photography while watching the classes with John. It is fun, clear, understandable, entertaining, informative and and and. He is not only a fabulous photographer but a great teacher as well. Easy to follow, clear explanations and fantastic visuals. The only disadvantage I can list here that he is sooooo good that keeps me from going out to shoot as I am just glued to the screen. :-) Don't miss it and well worth the money invested! Thank you John!

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