Photography Gyan # 5 (Shutter Speed during Night)

There's a famous saying "The best way to become acquainted with a subject is to write a book about it"(quote by Benjamin Disraeli). So I started writing about photography to share my experiences and learning, and partially(read secretly) to improve my own knowledge as well!


And I'm totally glad that it's motivating me to write more. On continuation with the Story of Shutter speed, today's topic is  using shutter speed during night.  
By far, this is the biggest challenge for any budding photographer.  If you decipher the reason behind blur images, it drills down to one of the main issue - shutter speed!
Does not matter what camera you have, if you intend to take good night shots, you have to invest in a tripod.  It's an asset you'll never regret of buying!  That said, I am not asking you to buy them immediately or that you cannot take a night shot without tripod.  You can - but that takes lot of time and effort.

Be cautious that when you take the night shots, you have to keep the camera firm.Even the slightest micro movement could cause a major impact on your picture. While it is true that fast movements can be captured well in high shutter speed, it is also true that slow shutter speed of the same movement might produce a magical shot!  And to cover the depth(of what I know) of this topic will take a few posts, I will keep this post simple and straightforward. 
Let's cut to the chase, leave all these sidetracks for discussions! 

Here's Example 1:-

This one's taken handheld with a high shutterspeed  (apparently without flash).  The shutter speed used was 1/125 sec.   You can adjust the shutter speed in S Mode in SLR.
For point and shoot, Auto mode without flash will yield this kind of picture.  







Realised that the previous photo needed some divine light.  So switched on the flash, and increased the shutter speed a bit to see what comes on the picture.  Shutter speed used here is 1/160 sec..
For point and shoot, Auto with flash will give this result.

Now how does this look like??  Did you like this picture??  Of course this is not a fine one, but were taken during my experimentation.  To bring this to perfection like this, we need to use tripod and practice more.  Ok. Let me test your knowledge - The shutter speed used in this picture is slow or fast?  Write back in the comment.

Practice a few night shots and see how it comes. As this is an extensive topic, I will leave the rest for the next post, until then happy clicking and a happy saturday!