Shutter Speed Archives - Infrared Conversions, IR Modifications & Photography Tutorials

Cameras are easy to use, aren’t they? You just point and click. Taking photographs can be one of the simplest things you ever attempt, and with camera phones so readily available, virtually everyone on the planet is a digital photographer. But for those people who want to do more than take selfies and post relentlessly online about their food, learning a little more about your camera’s capabilities can be the difference between selfie quality and professional excellence.

One of these elements is shutter speed and it may be more important than you first thought. The basics of how a camera functions is you:

Push the button
The shutter opens to let in light
The film captures whatever the lens is pointed toward
The shutter closes.

From start to finish, that is the most entry-level version of why a shutter is important to photography. So, does speed really matter if it’s actually that basic of a function?

It matters

Yes. It absolutely does. You should take the time to look at your camera’s default settings to better understand why your images are coming out the way they are, and then you can better control the end results. It can be very frustrating when you’re trying to capture that fleeting moment, something precious that you want to remember forever, and then when you print the photo you see that everything is blurry.
Understanding shutter speed can help you fix problems like that before they even happen. In addition to a basic comprehension of aperture and ISO, you’ll quickly see that setting your shutter speed for any given subject or scene will result in much better photos.

What is shutter speed?

The shortest explanation is that shutter speed is how quickly the shutter opens and closes, allowing light exposure. This is the determining process for how back in the day, film accepted an image. This process is exactly the same, the only difference is that the film has been replaced by a digital sensor. Obviously, without this mechanical process, you wouldn’t have an image in the first place. The shutter cuts off light coming inside the camera completely, leaving the light-sensitive sensor unexposed. When the shutter opens, the sensor is exposed, and you get a photograph.

If it’s really that simple, then why is shutter speed so important? The quickness at which the shutter opens and closes either lengthens or shortens the exposure time. The slower the shutter opens and closes, the longer exposure time, and vice versa. In a digital camera, this translates to the amount of time that the sensor within the camera is exposed to light.

Why should I care about shutter speed?

Shutter speed is primarily responsible for two for important aspects of how your photo turns out:

The brightness of your photo
The amount/lack of blurring in your photo

Controlling these two aspects becomes critical when you’re attempting to photograph a different subject. For example, if you’re taking a picture of a person riding a bicycle, do you want the subject to appear to be moving fast? Or do you want the subject to be frozen in your frame? Adjusting your shutter speed can have an effect on what action your subject may be in the middle of doing.

What is the right shutter speed?

Shutter speed is measured in fractions of a second, almost faster than you can perceive with the naked eye. This means that the 1/250 setting on your camera will be making the shutter to open for only one-two-hundred-and-fiftieth of a second. That might sound fast, but there are shutter speeds as fast as 1/8000.

How shutter speed is marked on your camera can be different from brand to brand. Some will mark the increments as actual fractions (like 1/250) and others will simply put 250, so it’s good to know what the settings mean beforehand.

With such a large spread of shutter speeds to choose from, which is the right one? Well, it depends on what you are photographing, what you’re trying to accomplish and how crisp you want your photo to look. Faster shutter speed means less blurring, but you won’t be exposing it to as much light, and therefore the photos might be underexposed. If you want to freeze a moment in time, then the faster the shutter speed, the better. If you want to show movement in your image, then you may consider a slower shutter speed with a longer exposure, creating a blurring effect that captures active movement.

Your decision might also be based on the light that you have available in the scene. Since the longer the shutter speed is, the more light is hitting the sensor, if you have low light conditions then a slower shutter speed is the only way to capture the shot without using flashes. This is great for nighttime photography like for example photographing city scenes or stary skies. To better capture those stars, you want a longer exposure, and therefore a slower shutter speed. Needless to say that a tripod is a must when you are shooting with slow shutter speeds.

Other factors

Shutter speed isn’t the only factor that affects the brightness of your photo. Aperture (the lens opening where light passes through) and ISO (International Organization for Standardization) also impact how bright or dark your photo comes out.

For aperture, consider your own eye and how the iris opens and closes depending on the amount of available light in your immediate area. Aperture works the same way, but for a camera lens. By widening the aperture on your camera, you effectively allow a larger amount of light to enter the camera when the shutter opens. It can cause a blurred background or sharp foreground photos.

ISO is the result of combining two film standards in 1974 which defines film sensitivity. In digital cameras, the setting maintains similar brightness levels. Basically, the lower the ISO setting (such as ISO 100), the darker your photo. If you increase your level from ISO 100 to ISO 200, you’re effectively doubling the brightness of your photo. Beware of using very high ISOs as it can add unwanted noise to your image.

The best way to understand shutter speed is to get out there and start taking pictures! You can avoid having unintentionally blurry pictures or photos that are way too dark by experimenting with your camera. Don’t wait to try and play with the shutter speed, aperture, or ISO settings when you’re about to take an important photo. Go test them out first.

One of the most important concepts of photography is something known as the exposure triangle. But don’t worry it is not a mathematical equation and once you learn what it is, it’s actually pretty simple to understand. There are three components in the exposure triangle. These are shutter speed, aperture and ISO. It is called the exposure triangle because of the relationship these three variables have with each other that determine how a photo is taken and what it looks like. In any photograph, these three elements work together. Which means changing one affects the others. To help you understand this and be able to use these components correctly, here is a simple guide on the exposure triangle.

Shutter speed

This is an important aspect for anyone in photography. The shutter speed refers to how fast the aperture in your lens opens and closes. The faster this is the less light enters the camera. Which is why for example when you are photographing in low light conditions, you need a slower shutter speed. Because this opening and closing of the aperture will be slower it will allow more light to enter the camera.

The shutter speed is also important in helping you be able to freeze motion in your photos. So the faster the movement of your subject the faster your shutter speed needs to be.

Why is shutter speed important?

The shutter speed will determine how the image will be captured. For example, as mentioned above when using a slow shutter speed the sensor of the camera is exposed for a significant time. So besides being able to capture darker scenes with the right level of exposure, it also has an effect on moving objects by creating motion blur. This is a creative technique that all photographers use to help show motion in images. Whether it’s waves crashing onto the beach, a dancer or even a light trails from cars, they are all possible through the shutter speed.

Aperture

To understand aperture better, think of it as the pupils in your eyes. If you walk into a dark room, your pupils get bigger to allow more light to enter your eyes. If you then walk out into bright sunshine your pupils become smaller to limit the amount of light entering your eyes. The aperture on your camera works in exactly the same way. The only difference is that you will have to control the aperture on a camera.

Putting this concept into use for photography, it means that if you photographing in low light conditions, you need more light to enter the camera. So a wider aperture is needed in places like covered markets. But if you are photographing outdoors in bright conditions you will need a smaller aperture otherwise your photos will be too bright.

Why is aperture it important?

The aperture not only controls the amount of light that enters your camera but also your depth of field. In other words how much of your image is sharp from the foreground to the background. The wider or bigger your aperture is, the shallower your depth of field (smaller part will be in focus). The smaller the aperture the greater your depth of field will be. For example, in a landscape scene, you will generally want all of the image as sharp as possible. So a small aperture should be used. But for example, when you are taking a portrait of someone, you can use a wider aperture, as they are the only part of the image you need in focus.

ISO

Back in the days of film, ISO would refer to the sensitivity of film to light. In digital photography, all that has happened is that film has been replaced by a digital sensor. ISO controls how sensitive your sensor will be to light. The higher the ISO the more sensitive your sensor will be which means you can take photos in darker conditions. But this comes at a price. The higher your ISO is the more noise you will see in your photo. This will have a negative effect on the overall quality of your photo by making it less sharp.

Why is ISO important?

The reason that ISO is so important is that there are times where you have no other option but raising your ISO. Because otherwise you simply will not be able to capture a photo because of the lack of light. The is especially important in situations where you have to shoot handheld and need to have a fast enough shutter speed to avoid a blurred photo.

They are all linked together

These three elements are all linked together and changing one will affect the others. But it also allows you far more flexibility in being able to choose the settings that you want. For example, as I mentioned earlier, in landscape photography, you will need a greater depth of field which means a smaller aperture. A small aperture will not allow as much light to enter the camera as a wider aperture. So to compensate for this, your shutter speed will need to be slower. A slower shutter speed will mean that even though your aperture is smaller, it will be open for longer allowing more light to enter the camera.

On in another example, let’s say you are photographing someone dancing indoors where there isn’t a lot of light. To be able to capture a sharp photo you will need a fast shutter speed. You can either achieve this by raising your ISO or by selecting a wider aperture. Because if your aperture is bigger, it won’t need to stay open as long as a small aperture. Allowing you to be able to use faster shutter speeds.

The relationships between these three elements in photography form the basis of any photo. If you want to take better photos, you should spend time learning and practising how to use the exposure triangle. Over time it will become second nature to you and you will quickly be able to select and change settings knowing the impact it will have on other elements in the exposure triangle.

Understanding Shutter Speed And How To Use It Effectively

It matters

What is shutter speed?

Why should I care about shutter speed?

What is the right shutter speed?

Other factors

What Is The Exposure Triangle?

Shutter speed

Why is shutter speed important?

Aperture

Why is aperture it important?

ISO

Why is ISO important?

They are all linked together

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Learn the Basics

Resources

Company