Photography question

[superior]

Last night I was out experimenting with my camera and was trying to take pics of cars travelling at speed from a bridge over a dual carriageway - the effect I got was "long trailing" headlights which looked pretty cool but is it possible to have the opposite effect and just have a normal picture despite shooting such a high speed subject?

Im **guessing** its down to how long the shutter is open for and I need to adjust that to a higher setting - is that correct or is it the other way around? The pics I did take were in just automatic mode - the camera is a Canon 350D.

Also another thing I noticed is that in daylight with no flash the camera can take pics basically as quickly as I can press the button without filling the buffer but at night there is quite a long pause between shots. If this is a shot with flash Im guessing its as the flash recharges - would getting an external flash improve this and if so what should I be looking for? Even when the flash is disabled it still slows down a lot and feels almost clunky - is this normal??

TIA

Phil

P.S. And NO Im not going to use the flash for shooting cars or off bridges etc and startling motorists!!

[DanG]

You'd probably be best off investing in a basic photography book which will explain to you how a camera works, the relationship between shutter speed and aperture settings etc. You can probably get one off of eBay for peanuts. For all the differences between film and digital, the basic principles remain the same for both formats.

To answer your question, fast moving objects like cars need an extremely fast shutter speed setting (because the car will move significantly during a longer exposure, hence the trailing headlights and such), and thus you'll need a wider aperture setting as well to compensate for the extremely brief exposure...this is doubly true if you are going to be shooting at night or in low light levels. If you don't already know, the smaller the aperture number, the bigger the aperture gets (not vice versa)...f2 is considered 'wide open' by most folks.

Like I say, a beginner's photography book (digital or otherwise) will soon get you on the right path....

[superior]

Thanks for replying Dan - can you recommend any decent books? I have looked around for a book but just seem to find one which is pitched at the right level

Phil

[mart]

Public libraries are a good place to look, assuming your local council has kept them going.

Mart

[DanG]

Yes, library is a good bet, you should definitely find something there.

John Hedgecoe seems to be one of the more eminent authors on photography, but pretty much any book will do....