Photo taken by Hansen Do, @ www.hansen-do.com, show him your support on his facebook page, He's a great guy, with a lot of helpful tips for beginners and advanced photographers alike.
Sometimes you don't always want to have your shutter speed at 1/4000 for example. High shutter speed are best utilized for sports photography and action pictures. So what happens when you slow down the shutter speed? Instead of getting a "frame" or moment of the action you get "all" of it.
The basics of how Hansen took this photo was, that he shot with a tripod. This is really important because if you're going to shoot at low shutter speeds, 1/5th for example you MUST use a tripod, or else the pictures will be blurry. Use a tripod whenever you can, it minimizes hand movement and makes the pictures look A LOT better. Hansen also slowed down his shutter speed, By slowing his shutter speed, it resulted in only seeing the car's lights. Not only can you see their lights but you can also (if you look carefully) see the movement in the clouds.
If I'm not mistaken, it looks as if he also did HDR and/ or raised his saturation on this picture (Will explain at another time)
To be creative, especially in scenery or landscape pictures, you have to slow down the shutter speed. On one of my examples from my trip to Utah, I took a picture of sand falling down. If I had not slowed down my shutter speed, and kept it the highest I could, the result would be tiny sand dropping down at random moments. By slowing the shutter speed, I instead got all of them to "blend" in so it looks more natural.
This also works well with waterfalls, To get the "Creamy" look of a waterfall you also have to slow down your shutter speed.
Try it out sometime, if you're taking landscape or scenery pictures.
*word of caution*
DO NOT be alarmed if your shutter does not close right away, this is natural, When shooting at low shutter speeds (1/4 for ex) it takes about 4 seconds for the shutter to close.
Tips and Tricks #2 | Slow Shutter Speed = Creamy Pictures?
