Shutter Speed

How to Shoot Stunning Sunrise Seascapes: A Field Guide to Timing, Composition, and Water Movement
Video Tutorials

How to Shoot Stunning Sunrise Seascapes: A Field Guide to Timing, Composition, and Water Movement

There’s a particular kind of frustration that comes with standing in front of a gorgeous coastline and walking away with nothing but flat, underwhelming frames. I’ve done it. You drag yourself out of bed before sunrise, haul your gear to the water’s edge, and somehow the photos just don’t match what your eyes were seeing. For a long time I chalked it up to “needing better light.” Turns out, I was just missing a few fundamentals.

Shutter Speed for Waterfalls and Seascapes: What I Learned From Mark Denney's Approach
Video Tutorials

Shutter Speed for Waterfalls and Seascapes: What I Learned From Mark Denney's Approach

I once spent four consecutive evenings at the same waterfall on a trip to Oregon, missing dinner every night, trying to nail one shot. The water looked either too frozen or too smooth, and I kept second-guessing myself at the dial. The problem wasn’t my gear or even my composition. It was that I hadn’t actually decided what I wanted the water to look like before I pressed the shutter. I was guessing, and it showed.

Shutter Speed, Aperture, and ISO: How to Finally Use All Three Together
Video Tutorials

Shutter Speed, Aperture, and ISO: How to Finally Use All Three Together

The question I get most often from beginners is some version of this: “I read about aperture and I think I get it, but then I touch the shutter speed and everything falls apart.” That sentence used to describe me too, back when I was fumbling through my first DSLR on a trip to Iceland, watching perfectly good golden-hour light tick by while I poked through menus. What I needed back then was someone to explain not just what each setting does, but why they only make sense as a group.