Shutter SPeed

What is Shutter Speed? Shutter speed is exactly what it sounds like... Your camera has little doors, called shutters, that open and close when you push the button to take a photo. How fast or how slow those doors open is called the shutter speed. The shutter speed of your camera is measured in seconds and fractions of seconds.

What Does Shutter Speed do? Your shutter speed does two things... 1. it controls how long light is allowed to go in to your camera and plays a part in determining the exposure (lightness or darkness) of your photo, and 2. controls the movement (also known as motion blur) in your photo.

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Shutter Speed & Exposure A fast shutter speed reduces the amount of time light is allowed in to your camera and will create a darker photo. A slow shutter speed increases the amount of time light is allowed in to your camera and creates brighter photos. FAST shutter speed = LESS TIME for light to enter camera = DARKER photos SLOW shutter speed = MORE TIME for light to enter the camera = LIGHTER photos Keep in mind however, that there are two other elements that control the amount of light your camera collects, the aperture setting and ISO setting. So if you're shooting in Manual mode and want to use a particular shutter speed to create a certain effect in your image (movement/motion blur versus no movement/motion blur) but you find it's making your image too dark or too light, you need to then adjust your aperture or ISO to correct your exposure problem so you can keep the same shutter speed.

Shutter Speed & MOVEMENT By adjusting how fast or slow your cameras little doors open and close you can also change the 'movement' in the photo. A fast shutter speed will 'freeze the action', meaning that if you were to take a photo of your child jumping off something, you would be able to capture them looking like they are hanging in mid-air. On the flipside, if you were to use a slower shutter speed, your child will look blurred, which can give the impression of movement. Depending on the kind of picture you want to take, you can use your shutter speed to add creativity to your photos through movement. If you are photographing anything that moves and you want to reduce motion blur in your photos, then a good rule of thumb is to use a shutter speed of 1/125 or faster. Some people even recommend not using a shutter speed slower than 1/250 to make sure you don't have motion blur when photographing people.

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