Shutter Speeds

Shutter speed means the duration of time that the cameras shutter is held open for, this is measured in fractions of a second such as 1/200th , all the way down to seconds such as 1”. The cameras shutter is located behind the mirror but just in-front of the sensor, the shutter also protects the sensor when its not in use.

Shutter speed changes the way movement is recorded in the camera. It also changes the amount of light entering the sensor. If you have a shutter speed of 1/4000th the subject will appear frozen as the light bouncing off the subject has not had time to change before the shutter has closed. Now, being able to freeze action is great but it does come with one flaw, light.

If the shutter is only left open for a very short duration of time then there isn’t enough time for light to be recorded and in situations such as a dark room, this is inadequate. If the shutter is left open for a long duration of time, then the light has time to change and movement is recorded. This movement can be the movement of people within a scene or can result in camera shake with shutter speeds below 1/50th. the best ways to reduce camera shake are:

1. Use a tripod! If you experience camera shake during long exposure photography then the most useful tool is a tripod. A good, sturdy tripod will last a long time.2. Monopod. If I tripod is too heavy or just not your thing, then a monopod is very useful for most things including sports or wildlife photography because they are mobile and usually quite light.3. Image stabiliser for Canon or Vibration reduction for Nikon lenses, this little switch on your camera is very useful and can sometimes allow you to go four stops lower in shutter speed than usual!4. If none of these methods are available to you, the general rule of thumb for handling a dslr is to keep to the same shutter speed as your focal length because as you zoom in, vibration and camera shake are magnified drastically. For example If you are shooting at 200mm, keep your shutter speed to 1/200th, if you are shooting at 50mm then you can go to 1/50th of a secondShutter speed can be used for cool effects such as light trails or movement in clouds and water to create a dreamy effect. So get out there and experiment with different shutter speeds to create different effects with you images.

0.5s

1/360th

1 Second