How to Shoot - Shutter Speed

One of the most fundamental concepts in taking a photo is the shutter speed. The shutter speed is the amount of time that the camera's film or digital sensor is exposed to the light coming through the lens. On modern digital SLRs, this usually ranges from about 1/4000th of a second to 30 seconds.

Shutter speed usually needs to be controlled for three reasons: exposure, sharpness, and long exposure effects.

Shutter speed, aperture and ISO are combined to form an overall exposure - the brightness of a photo. A slower shutter speed means that the sensor or film is exposed to light for a longer amount of time, meaning that the photo is brighter (known as a higher exposure). With the same aperture and ISO, a faster shutter speed will mean that the photo is darker.

Shutter speed is also important when attempting to control the sharpness or amount of blur in a photo. When shooting hand-held, it is important to control your shutter speed so that hand-shake will not cause a blurry photo. As a general rule, your shutter speed should be 1/focal length of your lens. For example, shooting at 100mm on a telephoto lens, you should have a shutter speed of 1/100th of a second or faster to ensure a sharp photo. Image stabilisation, found on most modern lenses, can help with this, but only when shooting still subjects.

Shutter speed can also be used for effect. Slow shutter speeds will soften water, and turn passing cars into light trails. Below is an example of the same photo, taken at 1/1600th of a second and 0.8 seconds. The longer shutter speed has softened the fall of the water, giving a much more polished, impressive and professional look the the photo:



Shutter speed is one of the funner settings to have a play around with - so go outside for a day, set your camera to Tv (canon) or S (nikon) mode and play around with long and slow shutter speeds, both handheld and on a tripod.

Good luck!

Cheers
Tal