What do shutter speeds mean

Credit: Kyle Cottrell. Just remember to use a tripod to minimise any camera movement. Credit: Roman Denisenko. You can also use a lens a neutral density filter in order to reduce the light entering the lens. Credit: Juanma Clemente-Alloza.

This obviously depends on the amount of available light. This is where image stabilization can come in handy, be it in-camera or in-lens. Freezing a sprinter in motion requires a faster speed. Credit: Nicola Hoizey. Credit: Jan Starek. This will depend on the speed of the object and your distance from it.

The former relates to the movement of an object in your frame, while the latter is due to camera movement. The general rule when deciding your shutter speed for video is to double your frame rate.

This is due to the fact that only a brief instant of the walker's motion was recorded because the shutter was only open for a short time. In the photograph taken at a slow shutter speed, the walker is blurred. This is due to the fact that the walker moved while the shutter was open. Speeds faster than one second are shown as fractions e. Speeds slower than one second are shown by a double prime symbol following the value e.

Imaging Products. Exposure Exposure. If the shutter is left open for a long time, the lens will let in a lot of light, and unless you are shooting a very dark scene, the image will be too bright, or overexposed. If the shutter speed is too quick, on the other hand, the photograph will be too dark. That depends on how much light is in the scene. Shutter speed is also just one of three different settings that affect exposure — you can also widen the aperture or increase the ISO if the photo is too light and vice versa.

Putting shutter speed with ISO and aperture will give you the most creative control over your images, but, if you have no idea what aperture and ISO is, you can still adjust the shutter speed on your camera.

Shutter priority mode allows you to set the shutter speed, while the camera does the rest. In cameras with an LCD screen at the top, the shutter speed will often be displayed there. So what should you set the shutter speed to? That depends on how much light is in the scene as well as how fast the subject is moving. When choosing a shutter speed, err on the side of too fast. Too slow and you could see another side effect of the shutter speed: blur.

When the shutter is open, an image is being taken — but anything that moves while that image is being taken will blur. Shutter speed, then, should match the speed of what you are shooting if you would like to avoid blur, anyways. Shutter priority is a great option for those wanting to get out of Auto, but without having to worry about the aperture though it is also often used by professionals shooting in conditions where the light changes quickly and often.

Changing the shutter speed varies from camera to camera and some even allow you to set which control wheel does this. However, this will limit the amount of light reaching the sensor so you may need to compensate by using a wider aperture. However, at f16 the picture is too dark.

To correct this, I needed to open the aperture to allow more light in. A one stop change, from f16 to f11, meant I was able to keep the same level of motion blur while lightening the image and therefore achieving the correct exposure. This is why an understanding of f-stop changes and the relationship between shutter speed and aperture is important.

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