When taking a photo, the shutter will open and expose the camera sensor to the light that passes through the lens. After the photo is taken, the shutter will then close which stops the light from hitting the sensor. Therefore, the shutter speed refers to how fast or slow the shutter of the camera closes.
The shutter has two main functions:
- To control exposure
- To control the way motion is portrayed in a photo
A faster shutter speed creates a shorter exposure. This limits the length of time the camera is exposed to light. A slow shutter speed creates a longer exposure. Thus, lengthening the amount of time the camera is exposed to light.
A faster shutter speed allows you to capture better photographs of objects that are moving quickly. For example the photo below is a picture of a bird. Without using a fast shutter speed, the photo would be must blurrier or wouldn’t have even captured the bird in time before it passed by.
