Focus on the BULB SETTING
- Photography Basics and Tips -

The Bulb Setting is a very unique feature in photography. We will focus on exploring two specific areas of this topic:

• What is it?
• Why is it important (in my selection of a digital camera)?

In automatic settings (such as "Landscape" and "Portrait"), the camera automatically sets the F-stop and shutter speed to produce proper exposure. If you have a "Shutter Priority" setting, you can determine how long you want the shutter to remain open as you take the photograph.

This setting is only important if you have any intention of taking photographs that require a very long exposure. If your camera has a Shutter Priority mode, you can adjust the time the shutter remains open, up to the maximum allowed for your camera.

For many cameras, the maximum shutter time is between 1-30 seconds. Please note that 30 seconds is often NOT ENOUGH TIME to take nighttime pictures or fireworks shots, to name a few. With a digital camera, if you intend to take these kind of photographs, you want to choose a camera that has the "Bulb" setting.

Please note that if you do want to take long-exposure photography shots, you will absolutely need to use a tripod, whether you use the Bulb setting or not. In fact, for taking photographs where the shutter is open less than 1/100th of a second (way less than Bulb), it is highly recommended to use a tripod to reduce camera shake and supply a firm platform.

This will reduce the number of blurred pictures you take. The general rule of thumb in photography is that you should use a tripod (or some other means of steadying the camera) if you use a shutter speed that is slower than the inverse of your focal length.

I know, I know. If you're a beginner, you're probably doing a "What the... " right about now. Lets clarify with an example. Let's say you're using a 100mm lens. When you use this focal length lens, you should use a tripod when using a shutter speed less than 1/100th of a second (1/focal length). If using a 50mm lens, whip out the tripod if your shutter speed is less than 1/50th of a second.

Of course, these are only guidelines. Feel free to experiment and see how slow you can go without producing a blurred photo. Just don't experiment with pictures you can't risk ruining.

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