A digital scrapbook of photography tips - learn and be inspired to take better photographs with your digital camera.
Shutter speeds, refreshingly simple!
Inside the camera body, just in front of the digital sensor, there is a blind - or SHUTTER - which must open to let the focussed light from the lens make its image on the sensor. The shutter opens when you press the shutter button on the camera to take your picture.
The length of time that the shutter blind stays open can be controlled by the photographer, or automatically by the digital camera. The longer the shutter blind stays open, the more light that reaches the sensor.
Shutter speeds are generally measured in units or fractions of a SECOND - though they can sometimes run to MINUTES if you are photographing in the darkness of night.
Each time you extend or reduce the duration that the shutter blind stays open by one "stop" (eg from 1/4s to 1/2s, or 1/250 to 1/1000s), you double or halve, respectively, the amount of light reaching the camera's sensor.
Fast shutter speeds, such as 1/1000s or faster, are used for "freezing" fast action.
See how the dog is frozen in time, and all the water droplets are clearly visible.
Slow shutter speeds, such as 1/2s or slower, are used to allow the subject's movement to blur the image.
See how the movement of these dancers has added grace and artistry to this image.
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