Camera Basics: What is Shutter Speed?

Shutter speed is simply how fast or slow your shutter opens. The slower the shutter speed, the more light gets in because it’s open for longer.   Shutter Speed is measured in seconds or fractions of a second. A shutter speed of 1 (”one second”) would be considered really slow, while a shutter speed of 1/1000 (or, “one one-thousandth of a second’) would be considered fast.

While the aperture setting is used to control light and depth of field (how much of the photo is in focus), shutter speed is used to convey the motion of the subject in your photo. Since children move around a lot, using a fast shutter speed will help prevent motion blur.

Yesterday we talked about shooting on aperture priority mode. There is also shutter priority mode. On this setting you’re telling the camera what you want the shutter speed to be and the camera will choose the aperture and ISO for a correct exposure. This setting is perfect to use at your child’s soccer game. Since the kids are running around, you would want a fast shutter speed to freeze the action. You might also want to switch to shutter priority mode at the playground when your child is on the swings or coming down the slide.

A good way to practice and see how shutter speed affects your image is to use water. Set your camera to shutter priority mode. Choose a slow speed, maybe 1/60, and snap a picture of running water at the sink, in the bathtub, a hose, or even a watering can. You should notice some blur. Now, bump up your shutter speed to something fast like 1/320. What’s different? The faster setting should freeze the motion.

When you are shooting with very low shutter speeds, it’s almost impossible to hold the camera without getting blur because your hands naturally shake. In that case, you’d need a tripod or a steady surface to place your camera. With the 4th of July coming up soon,  you might want to snap pictures of fireworks. This is a great example of using a slow shutter speed. Since it’s so dark, you’d want a slow shutter speed to keep the shutter open longer for as much light as possible. A tripod would be necessary.

My hands are super shaky so I always use a fast shutter speed. In fact, I don’t let me shutter speed go below 1/200. The higher the better for me, especially shooting children!

QUICK REVIEW: Very short shutter speeds (meaning, the camera clicks really fast) are used to freeze fast-moving subjects. Very long shutter speeds are used to capture motion (the trails of fireworks).

Here are a few examples where I used a fast shutter speed. In this first image, the kids and their dad were rolling around in the grass and playing, something I definitely wanted to capture, so I moved my shutter speed up pretty high to make sure I caught everyone in focus.

In this image, these sisters and their cousin were walking across the street and I needed my shutter speed to be even higher to make sure there was no blur. If the shutter speed was too slow, their hands and legs might blur because of the motion.

In this last image, notice how high my shutter speed was. This adorable little girl was walking through this creek and I loved how she was holding her dress so it wouldn’t get wet. It was a bright day so I knew I could use a fast shutter speed to balance out the larger aperture. You can see the ripples in the water because of the fast shutter speed. If it was too slow, those might be blurred.