Shutter Speed

1. Shutter Speed controlling motion

2. What is the shutter in your camera? • When you take a picture and you hear that “click”, that is the sound of your shutter opening and closing. Imagine the concept like shutters on your window. You open and close the shutters to control the amount of light entering your room. Same idea goes for the camera.

3. What is SHUTTER SPEED? • Shutter speed controls MOTION and MOVEMENT. • By controlling the amount of TIME the shutter is OPEN, you control the amount of TIME you capture the MOTION.

4. How is shutter speed measured? Shutter speed is measured in seconds, or fractions of a second, which will look like these examples: • 1/80 – means one eightieth of a second. Most cameras will just show the number “80” • 1/100 – means one one-hundredth of a second. Most cameras will just show the number “100” • 1/400- means one four-hundredth of a second. Most cameras will just show the number “400” • 1″ – means one full second. Most cameras will show ” 1″

5. How is shutter speed measured? Because your camera is usually only showing the bottom part of the fraction, the BIGGER the number, the FASTER the shutter speed, the LESS light enters your camera. This means that your exposure is SHORTER, the image will be DARKER. Imagine this: the faster the shutter opens and closes, then obviously, less light comes through. If you stand in front of your window and open/close the window shutters fast, you have less light entering the room. Fast = less light = big number The SMALLER the number, THE SLOWER THE SHUTTER SPEED, the MORE light enters your camera. This means that your exposure is LONGER, the image will be BRIGHTER. Imagine this: the slower the shutter opens and closes, then obviously, the more light comes through. So, if you stand in front of your window and open/close the window shutters slowly, you have more light entering the room. Slow = more light = small number

6. FREEWAY: Shutter speed freezing car lights and artistic night shots: • as you slow the shutter speed (decrease the bottom number) you start to blur the motion of the water. • the slowest shutter speed (at one full second) gives that magical, dreamy look, kinda like the shots you see in gorgeous nature photography • The slowest shutter speed at 10 full seconds gives full blur to the headlights, creating that long stream of lights on the freeway. . But Finally, So,

7. FREEWAY: Shutter speed freezing car lights and artistic night shots: • The faster shutter speed (1/13 seconds) freezes the motion of the cars and lights. Giving a look that you would normally see with the naked eye. • As you slow down the shutter speed (to full seconds), the motion of the car’s headlights start to blur and lengthen. • The slowest shutter speed at 10 full seconds gives full blur to the headlights, creating that long stream of lights on the freeway.

8. This strawberry photograph was shot at 1/8 second, which is a slow shutter speed. We wanted the water to be blurred and soft looking when it splashed on the strawberries. Camera Shake: Shooting on such a slow shutter speed required camera stability on a tripod to still keep the hand and strawberries in focus. As you photograph on slower shutter speeds, the camera will pick up on the most tiny of movements and cause the whole photograph to be blurry. The tripod kept the hand and fruit in focus and allowed only the motion of the water to blurr.

9. There are Two Main Purposes of Controlling Shutter Speed • The primary reason – To Capture Motion. Either by freezing motion with a fast shutter speed (bigger number 600, 1000, etc.) or by allowing continued motion with a slow shutter speed (30, 10, 1″ etc.). • To adjust the Exposure when shooting in Manual. A faster shutter speed (bigger number) will let in less light, the image will be darker. A slower shutter speed (smaller number) and the image will be brighter.