Diagram showing Shutter Speed
My examples:
Water
I used 1/4000 for these photos.
Jumping
I used 1/2500
Football
I used 1/800
Shutter speed is most commonly measured in fractions of a second, like 1/200 seconds or 1/1000 seconds. Some high-end cameras offer shutter speed as fast as 1/8000 seconds. But, shutter speeds can extend to much longer times, generally up to 30 seconds on most cameras.
Shutter speed is the most obvious contributing factor to an exposure. It has one of the biggest effects on your photos.
With a poor knowledge of how to use the correct shutter speed, you’ll end up with blurred results.
This article will teach you the right shutter speed for the right situation. As well as how to use shutter speed creatively for artistic results.
4. What Is Shutter Speed
We won’t go into unnecessary detail as to what a shutter speed definition is. But let’s summarise it.
The shutter speed is the exact amount of time or exposure time that your camera records an image for.
It does this through the use of the camera shutter. The camera’s shutter is what allows the light to hit the film plane or digital sensor.
As a general rule of thumb, a shutter speed value under your lenses’ focal length with cause camera shake. For example, a 300 mm lens (without image stabilization) will need a minimum of 1/500th. Similarly, a 50 mm lens will need anything above 1/60th of a second.
Anything slower than this will require a tripod. Or, as most telephoto lenses will have, image stabilization.
More often than not you’ll want to take your photo within a fraction of a second, such as 1/1000th of a second. This will help freeze the movement of the subject. But, this largely depends on the speed of your subject and how close you are to it.
In most situations, slow shutter speed results in blurred images.
Shutter speed photography uses ‘stops’ in the same way as aperture does. But it’s a lot easier to wrap your head around.
Working out half of an exposure is a lot simpler for shutter speed than aperture. Why would you need to know half of an exposure? Well, a stop up is halving the amount of light, and a step down is doubling the amount of light.
Consider this. You are shooting a scene at 1/500th of a second. Changing the shutter speed down to 1/250th of a second will increase the exposure x2. Changing it from 1/500th to 1/1000th will reduce the exposure by half.
3. Motion Blur and Freezing
Motion Blur
Controlling your shutter speed is a great way to show movement in a still scene. You can create it using a slow shutter speed or panning the camera to follow a subject.
If you are looking to add blur into your image, there are many ways to do so. One way is to use the focal length of a lens to create a selective focus.
Telephoto lenses need a faster shutter speed to capture an image without blur. These lenses pick up and magnify even the slightest movement of the camera. A wide angle lens requires a slower shutter speed as the details in the image are a lot smaller.
This means you can create a blurred image easier with a longer focal length lens.
As a rule of thumb, you can take a sharp, blur-free image by setting the shutter speed to the same as the focal length.
For example, to take a photo at 50 mm in manual mode you would set the shutter speed to 1/60 of a second. There isn’t a 1/50th camera shutter speed available unless you use 1/3 stops.
Any slower and motion blur is likely to occur. It’s worth noting that this rule is only relevant to full frame cameras.
For a crop image sensor, due to its magnifying effect, you would be better off choosing a shutter speed of 1/125 of a second. The rise in number comes from the equivalence factor.
There are always exceptions to the rule. Image stabilization in your lens allows you to get away with slower shutter speeds. As you become more experienced with your digital camera, you’ll gradually improve on vital skills.
These include holding your DSLR cameras in a way that suits you best. Holding your camera with a correct posture will allow you to increase (among other things) your stability if you do this.
Freezing your subject requires a fast shutter speed. It occurs when you take a photo at such a high shutter speed (1/500 and above) that there’s no motion blur. I don’t like shooting at these speeds as the images produced tend to appear flat.
The faster the subject is moving, the faster the shutter speed needs to be. For example, a jet plane will require a 1/2000th of a second or higher. A person riding a bike might only need 1/500th of a second.
When shooting a fast moving object, I like to include a small amount of motion. Otherwise, it may as well have been sitting still.
2. The Right Shutter Speed for the Right Situation
Fast Shutter Speed to Capture a Telephoto Image
When using a telephoto lens, it’s important to use fast shutter speed photography (1/500 or faster). To avoid camera shake, I used a tripod and remote release for the camera’s shutter.
This allows the camera to sit still, preventing movement when taking a photo and having sharp images as a result.
There are times when you want to focus on selective focusing or a shallow depth of field. Here, it is best to use the aperture priority mode setting. This will keep the aperture the same, changing the shutter speed to account for the light setting.
If your scene has moving subjects, a shutter speed priority is best. This way, it keeps your shutter speed, fast or slow, the same. But, your aperture will change according to the ambient light in the scene.
Capturing a Fast Moving Object in a Low Light Situation
In event photography, the artist you’re shooting is likely to be moving around on stage. You have the problem of both low light and a moving subject.
You can usually counter this with a wide aperture and a very high ISO. It’s a compromise, but it does allow you to capture the image without blur.
*THIS WAS COPIED BY THE WEBSITE*
expertphotography.com
Shutter speed is the most obvious contributing factor to an exposure. It has one of the biggest effects on your photos.
With a poor knowledge of how to use the correct shutter speed, you’ll end up with blurred results.
This article will teach you the right shutter speed for the right situation. As well as how to use shutter speed creatively for artistic results.
4. What Is Shutter Speed
We won’t go into unnecessary detail as to what a shutter speed definition is. But let’s summarise it.
The shutter speed is the exact amount of time or exposure time that your camera records an image for.
It does this through the use of the camera shutter. The camera’s shutter is what allows the light to hit the film plane or digital sensor.
As a general rule of thumb, a shutter speed value under your lenses’ focal length with cause camera shake. For example, a 300 mm lens (without image stabilization) will need a minimum of 1/500th. Similarly, a 50 mm lens will need anything above 1/60th of a second.
Anything slower than this will require a tripod. Or, as most telephoto lenses will have, image stabilization.
More often than not you’ll want to take your photo within a fraction of a second, such as 1/1000th of a second. This will help freeze the movement of the subject. But, this largely depends on the speed of your subject and how close you are to it.
In most situations, slow shutter speed results in blurred images.
Shutter speed photography uses ‘stops’ in the same way as aperture does. But it’s a lot easier to wrap your head around.
Working out half of an exposure is a lot simpler for shutter speed than aperture. Why would you need to know half of an exposure? Well, a stop up is halving the amount of light, and a step down is doubling the amount of light.
Consider this. You are shooting a scene at 1/500th of a second. Changing the shutter speed down to 1/250th of a second will increase the exposure x2. Changing it from 1/500th to 1/1000th will reduce the exposure by half.
3. Motion Blur and Freezing
Motion Blur
Controlling your shutter speed is a great way to show movement in a still scene. You can create it using a slow shutter speed or panning the camera to follow a subject.
If you are looking to add blur into your image, there are many ways to do so. One way is to use the focal length of a lens to create a selective focus.
Telephoto lenses need a faster shutter speed to capture an image without blur. These lenses pick up and magnify even the slightest movement of the camera. A wide angle lens requires a slower shutter speed as the details in the image are a lot smaller.
This means you can create a blurred image easier with a longer focal length lens.
As a rule of thumb, you can take a sharp, blur-free image by setting the shutter speed to the same as the focal length.
For example, to take a photo at 50 mm in manual mode you would set the shutter speed to 1/60 of a second. There isn’t a 1/50th camera shutter speed available unless you use 1/3 stops.
Any slower and motion blur is likely to occur. It’s worth noting that this rule is only relevant to full frame cameras.
For a crop image sensor, due to its magnifying effect, you would be better off choosing a shutter speed of 1/125 of a second. The rise in number comes from the equivalence factor.
There are always exceptions to the rule. Image stabilization in your lens allows you to get away with slower shutter speeds. As you become more experienced with your digital camera, you’ll gradually improve on vital skills.
These include holding your DSLR cameras in a way that suits you best. Holding your camera with a correct posture will allow you to increase (among other things) your stability if you do this.
Freezing your subject requires a fast shutter speed. It occurs when you take a photo at such a high shutter speed (1/500 and above) that there’s no motion blur. I don’t like shooting at these speeds as the images produced tend to appear flat.
The faster the subject is moving, the faster the shutter speed needs to be. For example, a jet plane will require a 1/2000th of a second or higher. A person riding a bike might only need 1/500th of a second.
When shooting a fast moving object, I like to include a small amount of motion. Otherwise, it may as well have been sitting still.
2. The Right Shutter Speed for the Right Situation
Fast Shutter Speed to Capture a Telephoto Image
When using a telephoto lens, it’s important to use fast shutter speed photography (1/500 or faster). To avoid camera shake, I used a tripod and remote release for the camera’s shutter.
This allows the camera to sit still, preventing movement when taking a photo and having sharp images as a result.
There are times when you want to focus on selective focusing or a shallow depth of field. Here, it is best to use the aperture priority mode setting. This will keep the aperture the same, changing the shutter speed to account for the light setting.
If your scene has moving subjects, a shutter speed priority is best. This way, it keeps your shutter speed, fast or slow, the same. But, your aperture will change according to the ambient light in the scene.
Capturing a Fast Moving Object in a Low Light Situation
In event photography, the artist you’re shooting is likely to be moving around on stage. You have the problem of both low light and a moving subject.
You can usually counter this with a wide aperture and a very high ISO. It’s a compromise, but it does allow you to capture the image without blur.
*THIS WAS COPIED BY THE WEBSITE*
expertphotography.com
Worst: |
Best: |
The picture on the left is not as good as the one on the right as I captured a lot of the water and the way it swirls back down, however on the left I only captured the droplets and the remains on the water as I couldn't get the timing right even though i had my camera setting on 1/4000.