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Photo Tip #56: Does Shutter Speed Affect Depth of Field?

NYC Photo Tips

The short answer is no it doesn't. However there some things that you must keep in mind when you are trying to to change your depth of field by changing your Aperture. First if you change your Aperture you are changing how much light you are exposing your sensor to. Which means you must either change your ISO or shutter speed or volume of light.

Conversely if you change your shutter speed you must also move the Aperture, ISO or volume of light.

Here is an example of 8 pictures where the Aperture remains the same but the shutter speed is changing. Pay close attention to the depth of field change between the first column and the second one. To compensate for the change of shutter speed, the volume of light is increased or decreased accordingly.

In this second set the ISO is moved to compensate for the change in shutter speed.

Photography workshop-shutter speedTest to understand shutter speed Shutter speed test depth of field and shutter speed testing Photo Workshop on affects of shutter speed Showing affects of shutter speed during a Photo Safari workshop Understanding TV camera settings at NYC Photo Workshop Using manual mode for shutter speed

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