A Guide to Adjusting Shutter Speed – Learn Everything You Need to Know

A Guide to Adjusting Shutter Speed Learn Everything You Need to Know

Changing the shutter speed of your camera is something everybody should know.

If you don't know how to do this you're going to have a difficult time with photography. Let's say you wanted to take photographs of athletes at a sports event. Set up your shutter speed the wrong way and all of your photographs will have motion blur in them.

So what will it take for you to avoid this? What shutter speed will you need for fast moving objects and what setting do you have to use for slow movement? You'll find out in this article.

What does a shutter do anyway?

A shutter is a device that controls how long your sensor or photographic film will be exposed to light. Take a setting of four seconds for example. If you set your camera up so that it has a shutter speed of four seconds the sensor or the film in your camera is going to be exposed to light for four seconds. Remember that as long the shutter is open there is light coming in. Any object that moves in front of the camera in while the shutter is open will create motion blur. Shutters aren't the only things that control how much light is coming in your camera. The second thing is the aperture.

What does it take to get decent photographs then?

The answer to that question depends on what type of camera you own. If you own a simple compact camera then it probably won't let you change the shutter speed. Digital single-lens reflex cameras or DSLRs on the other hand allow you to change virtually everything. Putting your camera to tv-mode ( if you own a Canon) or in s-mode ( if you own a Nikon) is the simplest way to changing the speed of the shutter. This setting will let you change the speed and it changes the aperture automatically. An alternative route is putting you camera on manual or M mode.

If you are an advanced user then this might be something for you. It allows you to change the setting manually.

In what kinds of situations do you use a slow configuration?

When I'm talking about a slow setting I mean a setting of about 1/50s or slower. When you use this a lot of light will enter the camera so it is ideal for shooting at night or in other places with low light. Remember that the longer your shutter is open the greater the chance of motion blur is, so it is important that you use a tripod when you do this. In certain situations it is preferred to use a slow shutter speed. Taking photographs of a waterfall for example. Using a fast setting will cause the photograph to be frozen in such a way that you can see individual droplets of water. This doesn't really look nice. When using a slow setting the waterfall would appear as a blur and it would create a better photograph.

What about situation where you need a faster configuration? If you want to photograph fast moving things like airplanes of football players then a fast shutter speed is your friend. You'll need a strong light source if you use fast settings, as there won't be coming much light into the camera. In general a shutter speed of 1/60s is fast enough to take photographs without a tripod. Go any lower than that and chances of motion blur go up really quickly. If you use setting of 1/2000 or higher then the movement will appear as it is frozen. This will create a nice effect especially with photographs of athletes.

There you have it! I've explained what it is and I've told you what you need to focus on in certain situations. Now it's up to you to go out and experiment with the things you learned today. Really think about the different situations and how different settings will affect your photographs.If you want to learn more you can check out my blog

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