Drag The Shutter

Have you ever heard a photog say "drag the shutter"? It's a phrase used often when we are using flash. The simple definition of the phrase is to choose a slow shutter speed such as anything less than 1/30 of a second.

So the question is, why would you want to "drag the shutter". When choosing a slower shutter speed while using flash, you will allow more ambient light into your picture. You can also show motion with blur by having such a long shutter speed while keeping your subject sharp because the flash freezes your subject.

It's important to remember:

When using flash, your shutter speed controls the exposure of your background (slower shutter speed = a brighter background and a slower shutter speed = a darker background). Your aperture controls the power of your flash and the exposure of your subject (the bigger the aperture, the less flash power and darker your subject will be).

Here's a picture I took at a reception where I used this "drag the shutter" method. I wanted to bring in the ambient light instead of making everything but the subject black because the colorful lights being used by the DJ added to the picture. I also wanted to show some motion blur which was accomplished with the slower shutter speed.



Make sure you practice this technique as it will take a little time to fully understand it.