"Ideal" shutter speed for falling leaves?

[Ligament]

I know "ideal" is a poor choice of words.

For leaves falling off trees, what are some shutter speed ranges that give good sense of falling leave motion without causing the leaves to be blurred without definition?

This is a vague and potentially loaded question I understand :-)

[LesPalenik]

When the leaves fall, they seldom fall vertically. Often they swirl and rotate, picking up speed on their journey.
It depends also on the height of the tree (leaves falling from a tall tree have more time to pick up more speed), air humidity, density and shape of the leaf, the lens you are using and how far you are from leaf trajectory.

I would estimate that to freeze the falling leaves in the air, you'll have to shoot at least at 1/200s. If you want to have them defined, yet include some blur to capture the motion, 1/50s to 1/100s should work well. Anything slower and you'll see only soft brown lines.

Whatever shutter speed you choose (in the recommended range), you'll find that not all leaves move at the same speed.  Best thing is to take many pictures and vary the shutter speed.

To illustrate the point, attached is a photo of a scantily dressed man encountered on Collins Avenue in South Beach Miami. I photographed him from inside a car through the windshield with a 50mm lens at 1/40s. He moves along the street at about 4-5km/h and surprisingly, even at that slow shutter speed, his body and face were captured reasonably sharp. As he waves with his right hand, I would estimate that movement at about 25-40km/h or in other words at 5-8m/s, which would be approximately the speed of a falling or swirling leaf. So if you shoot at 1/40s, you'll see a well defined shape with some blur, and if you shoot at 1/100s or faster, you should be able to freeze the leaves (well, most of them) in the air.      

[framah]

Yeah, Les...

But the bigger question after seeing your "example" is... WHY???!!! My eyes are bleeding !!

Is everyone in South Beach insane?

[LesPalenik]

Is everyone in South Beach insane?

As a very infrequent visitor to Miami, I don't feel qualified to answer your question, but I wouldn't discount it. In fact, even the leaves seem to fall much faster and harder in southern Florida than north of the border. Personally, I'd rather be hit by a thousand maple leaves than by one palm leaf.

As to the WHY, I apologize for the overly graphic nature of my previous post, but that bunny was the closest thing to a moving leaf in my image collection.  Usually, I photograph static objects or use fast shutter speed to freeze any movements. Even when photographing rivers and lakes. I will refrain from posting more of my nature images to this thread in order to keep it on the main topic.

Notwithstanding, the physical laws and principles of kinetics do apply equally for all kinds od moving limbs and falling debris.

[luxborealis]

This is a vague and potentially loaded question I understand :-)

Quite simply - there is no ideal shutter speed (unless you are an engineer and are willing to measure velocities and vectors). You just have to get outside and TRY IT!!! or better yet JUST DO IT!!

Find the right foreground and background and have someone drop leaves while you change shutter speeds. And once you've  discovered the ideal speed, forget it because as soon as one variable changes - focal length, distance from lens, wind direction, to name a few - whatever "ideal" speed you came up with previously won't be ideal for a different situation.

I could go on about innane questions in this era of recipe-driven, push-button photography but I won't, because we're all civil here and the OP realized from the start the nature of the question.

[Ligament]

Quite simply - there is no ideal shutter speed (unless you are an engineer and are willing to measure velocities and vectors). You just have to get outside and TRY IT!!! or better yet JUST DO IT!!

Find the right foreground and background and have someone drop leaves while you change shutter speeds. And once you've  discovered the ideal speed, forget it because as soon as one variable changes - focal length, distance from lens, wind direction, to name a few - whatever "ideal" speed you came up with previously won't be ideal for a different situation.

I could go on about innane questions in this era of recipe-driven, push-button photography but I won't, because we're all civil here and the OP realized from the start the nature of the question.

Yeah I understand. I am visiting a particular garden to photograph it and have only a short time there and little time to experiment at said garden. Anyway, I understand your point.

[leeonmaui]

Aloha,

I don't have the courage to look at the
"Miami photo"

This is one of the funniest things I've read all day,

Almost as funny as the Canadian town that is having
Polar bears descend upon it due to climate
Change hold their Halloween festivities indoors,
And it was recommend that parents NOT choose
To dress their kinds a seals for Halloween- true story!

Onward and upward....  

[LesPalenik]

Lee, you are too fussy about clothing. First bunny bikinis and now even the seal costumes?
Anyway, those bruins are only a problem in the extreme far north. I haven't seen any polar bears in southern Ontario this month. They must be getting a rest before venturing out on the Halloween night.

I am visiting a particular garden to photograph it and have only a short time there and little time to experiment at said garden.

If you don't have access to falling leaves before your shoot, and want to get the feel for the velocity and flying patterns of falling leaves, you can ask a friend to throw into the air some dollar bills. It would make for a pretty good simulation - even on a city street. But you'll have to shoot fast.

[Colorado David]

Strange, but true.  It is actually a violation of U.S. Federal Law to take a photograph or make a copy of U.S. currency.  I can't think of anyone who's been charged under the law, but just the same . . .

[Walt Roycraft]

Strange, but true.  It is actually a violation of U.S. Federal Law to take a photograph or make a copy of U.S. currency.  I can't think of anyone who's been charged under the law, but just the same . . .

Strange, but almost true.
From the secret service website...
"Photographic or other likenesses of other United States obligations and securities and foreign currencies are permissible for any non-fraudulent purpose, provided the items are reproduced in black and white and are less than three-quarters or greater than one-and-one-half times the size, in linear dimension, of any part of the original item being reproduced. Negatives and plates used in making the likenesses must be destroyed after their use for the purpose for which they were made. This policy permits the use of currency reproductions in commercial advertisements, provided they conform to the size and color restrictions."

[LesPalenik]

Today, I had the opportunity to photograph descent of the remaining autumn leaves in an nearby park. To obtain some blur, the first set (incl. a 100% crop) was photographed at 1/40s and the second set at 1/25s. At 1/25s or slower speeds the leaves loose their shape and become almost transparent.
To retain the leaf shape and see some motion, 1/60s to 1/100s seemed appropriate. At 1/160 to 1/250s, the blur was eliminated.