What is shutter speed
by james on Jul.17, 2011, under Basic Knowledge
Exposure time or also commonly known as shutter speed is an important element in photography. It refers to the amount of time that the camera’s shutter is open. Shutter speed usually works alongside aperture to control the amount of light into the film. For beginners, here is a little tip for you – different combinations of aperture and shutter speed can result in the same exposure.
Shutter speed is deemed important as it affects the movement of subject or object captured on film. Basically, fast shutter speed is set to freeze subjects that are moving really fast such as F1 and sporting events (football). On the other hand, slow shutter speeds are meant to blur subjects for artistic value.
Shutter speed is measured in seconds and here are some of the standard shutter speeds in camera – 1/1000 s, 1/500 s, 1/250 s, 1/125 s, 1/60 s, 1/30 s, 1/15 s, 1/8 s, 1/4 s, 1/2 s and 1 s. This element is often used to manipulate the visual effects of subject in the picture. Generally, 1/1000 s is set to capture sharp photographs of fast moving subjects while 1/500 s and 1/250 s are meant to take sharp photographs of people in moving motions in their everyday lives.
Shutter speed of 1/4 s to 1 s are used to manipulate and capture blur effects on film. However, professional photographers suggest that such shutter speeds are only ideal for tripod-supported cameras. You will usually use shutter speeds of 1/60 s or faster.
One of the reasons is because slower shutter speed is difficult to capture images on film without shaking the camera. Camera shake refers to the camera movement when the shutter is wide open. As a result, your images on film might be blurred.
As suggested above, slow shutter speeds must be supported by a tripod. If you are a beginner, keep in mind a question whenever you want to take pictures. Ask yourself and determine if anything in your scene is a moving subject. Then, think and identify how you want the subject to look like in the picture. If the subject you wish to capture is a moving object, then you can either pick whether to freeze or blur the subject.
Once again a reminder for all, faster shutter speed is to freeze the moving subjects and objects while slower shutter speed is meant to blur the objects for artistic value. Finally, one other factor that you should consider when setting and determining the shutter speed is the focal length. Longer focal lengths of the lens will increase the camera shake.
In that case, you need to strike a balance by setting a faster shutter speed. However, if your camera has the image stabilization feature, you do not have to worry about camera shake. All in all, focal length is meant to use together with ideal shutter speed in cameras without non-image stabilizer feature. So are you ready for the challenge? Grab your camera and start choosing the ideal shutter speed to get the desired effect.