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Shutter Speeds for Sharpness and DoF

Lesson 51 from: Fundamentals of Photography 2016

John Greengo

Shutter Speeds for Sharpness and DoF

Lesson 51 from: Fundamentals of Photography 2016

John Greengo

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Lesson Info

51. Shutter Speeds for Sharpness and DoF

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 Sharpness and DoF

So this whole section is dedicated to getting the sharpest photos possible. We've been dealing with the auto-focus, but it's time to move on to dealing with the other little things that could be causing a lack of sharpness in our photos. Now, we had a whole section where we talked about shutter speeds, but I just wanna go back and review, thinking about are you choosing a shutter speed that is appropriate for that situation. And so, if your pictures are out of focus, one of the reasons might be because you didn't choose a shutter speed that was fast enough to stop the action. And it's very easy these days, because you can check the metadata of your camera, and this is in various places, depending on the program, to see, well, what shutter speed did I actually use, or did the camera choose for me, if you were letting the camera choose it. And so we have fast shutter speeds like 500th and 1000th of a second for subjects that are moving very fast. If we wanna add in a little bit of blur, ...

like on these cyclists. Notice the spokes on the wheels, especially the one in the back with the five spokes. We're getting that little bit of blur at 125th, and maybe we want that blur. But the subjects themselves were pretty sharp, 'cause I was panning with them. Casual human movement, the number was 160th of a second. That does a good job with that. As we get blow that, we're gonna be getting blurring, depending on how fast that subject is moving. Horses galloping at full speed are gonna have a lot of blurriness to them. People moving are gonna be a little bit slower, so they might need a little bit of a slower shutter speed, like 15th of a second. And then if we wanna shoot those rivers, and waterfalls, and things like that, we might be down around one second, and if you wanna do the nighttime, really low-light stuff, you might be wanting to experiment with 30 seconds. But there, make sure you have a camera on a tripod so that the rocks, in this example, are nice and sharp and not moving around. And so, really be aware of the shutter speeds that you're choosing for those types of subjects where things are moving, because you have to have the right type of shutter speed if you're not gonna be getting that blurriness. So that's just a quick review. If you need to go back to the first section and go through the shutter speeds again, we've got a lot more information in there. Now, we already talked about depth of field, but once again, that's one of the reasons why you might be looking at a photograph going, it's not really sharp, is it might not have enough depth of field. And so, we do have a huge range of depth of field that we can choose from, from setting our aperture to the various settings, from 1.4, a really shallow depth of field, to f/22, a massive depth of field. And a lot of photographers don't end up with a 1.4 lens with their first camera and lens system, and that's one of the first lenses that I recommend, is something like a 50/1.4, or maybe the 50/1.8, which is a slightly cheaper version of it that gets you most of the effect for much less money. And so this is something that I just wanted to kinda refresh in your brain before we get to the next quiz, because that will be part of the quiz system there. Of course, we're memorizing the aperture system here. The numbers, which one gives us more depth of field, which one gives us less depth of field. This has all been covered back in the aperture section, but just a little review to remind yourself 1.4 is the big opening, but that is the shallow depth of field. Remember that depth of field is also controlled by the focal length. And so, a 50 millimeter lens is going to have a shallower depth of field than a 28 millimeter lens. So those wide angle lenses give us more depth of field, the telephotos give us less depth of field. As an example, look at the mountains in the background. They're a bit more out of focus with this 50 millimeter, even though they're both f/8. As we get focusing close up, the closer we are, the shallower the depth of field we have. And so, if you wanna have that shallow depth of field, if you can get really close to your subject, that will enhance that shallow depth of field look of the image. And so, once again, depth of field is controlled by three different settings. The first is the aperture setting. F/22 gives you more depth of field, f/1.4 gives you less depth of field. It's controlled by our focal length. The wide angle gives us more, the telephoto gives us less depth of field. With the shooting distance, if things are very far away, we're gonna get more depth of field, and if we're very close, we're gonna have very, very shallow depth of field. And so, if we have our camera set at f/ with a wide angle lens, focused at things very far away, everything is gonna be in focus. If we're at f/1.4 with a telephoto lens, focusing on something that's really, really close to us, it's gonna be super, super shallow depth of field, because all of these are maxed out. Where things get interesting and a little bit complicated is when you have a mixture of one setting here and one setting there and one setting there, which one wins out? Which one is the most powerful over the other? And that's what you need to start considering in your photographs. You've got three different parameters pulling you in different directions.

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.

Eve
 

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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Wow! John is THE best teacher I have ever had the pleasure of learning from, and this is the most comprehensive, eloquent and fun course I have ever taken (online or off). If you're even / / interested in photography, take this course as soon as possible! You might find out that taking great photos requires much more work than you're willing to invest, or you might get so excited learning from John that you'll start taking your camera with you EVERYWHERE. At the very least, you'll learn the fundamental inner workings and techniques that WILL help you get a better photo. Worried about the cost? Well, I've taken courses that are twice as expensive that offer less than maybe a tenth of the value. You'll be much better off investing in this course than a new camera or a new lens. I cannot reccomend John and this course enough!

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