When the shutter opens, it exposes light from the exterior allowing a picture to be taken. The length of time that the shutter remains open is termed the shutter speed.
If you look at modern digital cameras, shutter speed is measured in seconds – or in most cases fractions of seconds. The bigger the denominator the faster the speed (e.g 1/1000 is much faster than 1/30).
How do you select the correct shutter speed when taking photos?
- Simply set the camera to automatic mode and take the picture. The cameras in-built auto exposure settings will take care of the shutter speed settings for you.
- Set the camera to manual settings. Use a slow shutter speed (1/60 or lower) if wanting to show some blur in the picture to display speed in the subject.
3.Use a fast shutter speed (1/125 or higher) if you need to capture a fast moving subject
My own examples:
However if the shutter speed is slow, it can create an effect called motion blur, where moving objects appear blurred along the direction of the motion, and can be used in things like advertisements for cars, motorbikes and nature, as seen below of the water.
I experimented myself with this blurred effect within school and this was the outcome:
Within Photographs, exposure determines how light or dark an image will appear when it had been captured by the camera and viewed. This can be determined through aperture, ISO and shutter speed, which can be located on your camera and seen in the exposure triangle below. However you need a combination of all three to make the perfect exposure. If too little light is let into the picture, it will become too dark and underexposed, and the same with letting too much light into it as the image will become too bright and overexposed.
