No need to hold a pose if you want your image to look like you’re running. A camera with shutter speed settings is all you need.
What’sup everyone, I’m Gideon van Niekerk, and in this post of TP Camera Basics, we’re going to teach you about the last of the three pillars of photography, SHUTTER SPEED.
If you want to learn about the other two pillars, check out our previous posts on ISO and Aperture by clicking the links.
Table of Contents
What is a Camera Shutter?
The easiest way to think of a camera shutter is to think of a door at the end of a hallway. When you look down the hallway, just on the other side of the door sits the camera sensor.
When the door, or shutter, opens the light hits the sensor and creates the picture.
Once the picture is created, the door immediately closes.
So when we hear people say “shutter speed”, that’s simply the speed at which the door opens and closes.
Some people also call this exposure time. It’s the total time that the camera’s sensor is exposed to light.
Generally shutter speed is measured in fractions of a second. Your camera will have settings of 1/4th, 1/250th, 1/500th and so on.
But you can also take pictures with your shutter speed open for multiple seconds or minutes even.
When a shutter speed is fast, it can freeze action in the picture so you can see the scenes of a drop falling or the feathers of a bird as it flies by.
now if you slow down your shutter speed you can create a sense of motion in the image.
For instance, a car driving by that has a slight blur to make it feel like it’s moving.
Now that you know what shutter speed is and how it can affect your images, how do you know which one to select?
Selecting your Shutter Speed
Setting your camera with shutter speed settings to suite your end result, comes with trial and error. Generally speaking for anything moving where you want to freeze the action, you’ll want to use a setting of 1/500th or higher.
If your subject is really fast like a bird flapping its wings, you might have to go to 1/1000th or higher.
If you want to take pictures of landscapes at night, or add some motion to your picture, what about that?
That’s when a longer exposure will help.
For night time landscapes you might set your shutter to 15 seconds or more to get all the necessary light to make a well exposed image.
If you’re just going for a little bit of motion blur on a moving object you might choose 1/10th or 1/20th of a second.
If you want to see some cool long shutter photos. Have a look at this post.
Conclusion to Camera with Shutter Speed
By selecting your specific shutter speed, you are simply opening the door of light entering for a period of time to capture an object while in motion.
The shorter the shutter speed the easier it is to freeze an object while moving.
The longer the shutter speed, the more motion you’ll capture of the object your photographing.
When you start playing around with your DSLR Camera, you will be amazed at what type of images you can capture, if you simply understand the three pillars of photography, ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed.
Let us know what other photography questions you have in the comments below. And if you still need more tips on Camera Basics. I’m Gideon van Niekerk signing off.
Gideon van Niekerk
Photographer & Blogger
Transform Your Passion for Photography into a Thriving Career! As a professional photographer with over a decade of experience, I share the secrets of building a successful photography business on my blog. Unlock the Secrets to Starting a Profitable Photography Business Today! Join me on an incredible journey of discovery, where you’ll learn insider tips and tricks to building a successful photography empire. Don’t miss out on this exciting opportunity to turn your passion into profit – let’s embark on this journey together!
