What Is Shutter Speed? | Camera Settings In Photography
Updated on November 7, 2022 in Photography by Alifiya Mustafa
Before we talk about what is shutter speed in photography, let’s first understand what is shutter.
The shutter is the curtain, the door at the front of your camera. When this door opens, it exposes the lens to the light and the light enters in.
Shutter speed is the measure of time at which the camera’s shutter closes. It determines how long the camera shutter will allow the light to pass.
Slow vs Fast Shutter Speed In Photography
When you use a slow shutter speed in photography, the lens is exposed to light for significantly less time. This causes motion blur, thus causing a panning effect.
Using fast shutter speed photography allows you to eliminate the motion and almost freeze the frame. This will enable you to capture even the moving object very clearly.
What is a good shutter speed?
According to the rule of thumb, your shutter speed in photography should not surpass your focal length when holding your camera. Let’s say your shutter speed should be 1/200th of a second to produce a detailed, sharp image if you’re shooting with a 200mm lens.
What does 1/30 mean on a camera?
1/30 is the 1/30th of a second. It is usually used for subjects moving slower than 30 miles per hour, i.e., 48 Km/hr. When keeping the shutter at this speed, you typically require your camera to be very stable. Hence, the use of a tripod is necessary.
What is the rule for shutter speed?
It is advised to use the general rule of thumb when using shutter speed. This rule says that your shutter speed should equal two times the focal length of the lens you use when hand-holding the camera.
What shutter speed is 1 second?
1 second of shutter speed in photography is usually used for low light settings such as night photography, fireworks photography, neon lights photography, or for creating motion blur in an image.
Why is shutter speed important?
The shutter speed in photography is critical, especially when you want to capture a sharp image or a moving subject.
For example, if you want to capture a bird flying, you must keep your shutter speed faster to remove the motion and get a clear image of the bird. On the other hand, if your subject is not moving and is in a fixed position, you’ll want the shutter speed to be slower for a more natural and detailed image.
If you want the panning effect, you may still want to keep the shutter speed in photography slow to capture the motion in the image.
Suppose you do not control your shutter speed in photography. In that case, you may never be able to capture different subjects in different motions such as rain, people walking, athletes running, or simple city traffic shots.
Bonus Read
Shutter speed is one of the basic camera settings in photography, along with ISO and Aperture. It is the only element that controls the effect of the motion and no-motion in an image and allows you to capture the subject in every setting.
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