What is Shutter Speed?
Shutter Speed, measured in the fraction of a second, controls the amount of light let in. Photographing moving object requires a faster shutter speed but as with everything in photography, rules are made to be broken.
Below is an example of the same waterfall at different shutter speeds. The photos below were taken on a tripod to allow for slow shutter speeds. As a general rule, when hand held, stick to a minimum of 1/60th second or faster unless you have a steady hand. Slower shutter speeds require a tripod.
Using slower shutter speeds you can create movement to tell the story. The water flowing becomes the feature as it appears like satin sheets draping over the rocks. The faster shutter speed shows the water droplets and catches them in motion.
How fast should I shoot?
It depends entirely on what you are shooting. The speed at which the subject is moving is the guide to how fast. If you are shooting a bird in flight like the one pictured below you will require faster shutter speed. The bird in flight was photographed at 1/640th of a second.
The thing I love about being able to change the settings and shoot in full manual mode is that you have the ability to control the light to tell a story. The bird about to fly away from a stationary friend, with his wings blurred as it begins to flap. The blur tells us it is moving fast away from his stationary friend who he just stole a sneaky snack from! Using shutter speed to indicate movement we can get really creative.
Get creative
Understanding how and why you should change the shutter speed gives you options for being creative with your photography. You might like to create an image that shows movement through blur. You might like to capture the stillness of the perfect moment of a droplet of water, the choice is yours.
Using the perfectly imperfect focus that you get from using movement to tell the story, can lock focus on and car and move left to right to get the blur in the background. Using a zoom lens you can capture a tram moving and make it look like warp speed!
Controlling shutter speed creates interest and tells the story of movement. It can capture a the perfect moment in time.
