[OM] Dragging the shutter, was: Decisions, decisions..

[Chuck Norcutt]

It occurred to me that non-flash shooters (and maybe some flash shooters 
too) don't understand what we're talking about when we say "dragging the 
shutter" or why we do it.  Dragging the shutter is using a much longer 
shutter speed than one would normally use for a flash shot in order to 
pick up the ambient light which is much weaker than the flash.

 From your comment below you are apparently doing it to pick up some 
blurred subject motion on the dance floor.  I've done that as well but 
generally use it to add a bit more background brightness and especially 
to capture the ambient incandescent lighting.  My web site just happens 
to have an illustrative example of dragging the shutter.  This shot was 
made at ISO 100, f/8 and with a shutter speed of 1/4 second.  The 
interior of the tent is lighted by two studio flash units bouncing off 
the ceiling as well as an on-camera flash on the dancers.  The flash 
illumination could have been captured at a fairly high shutter speed and 
the dancers would have looked fine.  However, the strings of 
incandescent lights would have been almost invisible and would probably 
have looked like they were turned off.  There's not much subject motion 
here in 1/4 second but you can see it in the finger tips of the woman in 
the red dress at left. <http://www.chucknorcutt.com/party.php>

Chuck Norcutt

AG Schnozz wrote:

> 
> I've only been using the dragged-shutter for motion routine for the
> past 12 months or so. The acceptance of it has been wonderful!  It
> turns out that people really like the look.  It's not for everything,
> but it does liven up the party/dancing shots a lot.
> 
> But it is a technique that takes experimentation to figure out. Oh,
> and you really need rear-curtain sync to do it too.

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