Photography Tutorial: Shutter Speed

The shutter speed is defined as the amount of time the shutter is open. The shorter amount of time the faster the shutter and the longer amount of time the slower the shutter. 

It's measured in seconds. When you get into the fractions of a second you are getting a faster shutter speed and less light. 

1/1000 <----- faster      <-------less light  <----freezes motion, more detail

1/500

1/200 

1/100 about midway. I would use a tripod for anything slower than this.

1/50

1/20

1 second

1.5 second

2 seconds

2.5 seconds  <----- slower   <-------- more light <------ captures motion, motion will be blurred

• If you are taking pictures of your child's sports game you will want a faster shutter speed. To be able to capture the details and freeze motion.
• If you are indoors and need more light to capture a photo you could try a slower shutter speed and wider aperture (smaller number),  with hopes of keeping the ISO down.

The following had a shutter speed of 1/160 (shows up 160 when adjusting shutter speed)

The following had a shutter speed of 1/25 of a second. 

Because of the slower shutter speed we captured motion instead of freezing it.


Hubby and I were having some fun with the shutter speed the other night.  We used a flashlight and the shutter speed was set on 2.5 seconds.

 

The Exposure Triangle

We've now discussed all three elements of the exposure triangle. If you change one part of it, it will impact the others. All three work together to achieve the correct exposure.

ISO

Aperture 

Check out the other tutorials! Try shooting in manual!  Another tutorial will be coming next week.