Photography basics for dummies – Manual settings 3 - Shutter Speed

This is the final leg in understanding the basics in manual settings for your DSLR.  Using shutter speed effectively can give you astonishing and awe-inspiring images.  Let’s start right away…

What is shutter speed?

Shutter speed is the duration for which the camera shutter stays open when you click.

Maximum and minimum Shutter speed varies based on the camera used.  Most commonly the fastest shutter speed available would be 1/4000^th of a second, and the slowest would be 30 seconds.  However, this is only an example; certain cameras push this limit higher.

What does shutter speed do?

1. It controls the amount of light received at the sensor by opening and closing of the shutter.  Faster shutter speeds allow lesser light and slow shutter speeds allows more light.
2. It controls the sharpness of the image when shooting moving objects. Faster shutter speeds capture sharper images reducing motion blur. 

See below tabular image to understand how your image would appear based on the shutter speed setting. Assuming other settings is standard. I must say this table is a bit complex!  Give it a shot.

Why should I set my camera to faster shutter speeds such as 1/2000^th of a second or 1/4000^th of a second?

1. When shooting fast moving objects.
2. When attempting to shoot in Burst mode (Continuous Shooting)
3. When attempting to shoot without a tripod.

Shooting with fast shutter speeds require adequate lighting for the image to have the right exposure. Daylight and bright lights will suffice, shooting in low light or night scenarios will require you to use additional flash or compensate the same with higher ISO settings (ISO 800+, higher ISO values increases the sensor’s sensitivity to light, thus receiving more light), again doing so will increase the possibility of noise and grains in your output image.

When should I set my camera to Slow shutter speed such as 5 sec or 10 sec?

1. When you are equipped with a tripod. Shooting without a tripod will also capture jerks and shakes in the image, resulting in a blur output.
2. When you attempt to shoot flowing water and you require a silky flow texture.
3. When you attempt to shoot sharp images in low light scenario (Using tripod). Keeping the shutter open for a longer duration allows the camera sensor to receive more light.

Slow shutter speeds or long exposure settings are used to shoot still objects during low light scenarios. Slower shutter speeds require the use of a Tripod to ensure sharp images; handheld shots will not be sharp.  Shooting in daylight or bright light settings will overexpose your images. However, if your image gathers excessive light and appears too bright or just plain white! You can compensate this by reducing the ISO values (remember lower ISO allows lesser light), doing so will also give you crisper images.  If not, you can add a filter to your camera to cut inflow of light.  Also when shooting with slow shutter speeds during bright light or in day light it is preferable to use a filter to avoid over exposure.

Just as we finish going through the three most important points of basic photography, here are some tips on how to maintain balance with these three settings:

My images appear too bright when shooting in day?

Set your ISO lower, remember Higher ISO settings increase light sensitivity at the sensor. 

You could alternatively try faster shutter speeds. Faster shutter speeds allow lesser light.

My images appear too dark when shooting at night?

If you are shooting still objects using tripod, set your shutter slower to 1sec, 2sec or higher.

If you are shooting moving objects or without a tripod, set ISO800 or above.  However, you should see noise in the images.

What should I do if I’m seeing noise in my images during low light shooting?

Again, if you are shooting still objects using tripod, set your shutter speed higher and set ISO to lower than ISO400.

If the images appear dark, try turning your flash on or improving the lighting on the object.

If you are shooting moving objects; turn on flash or improve lighting on the object and then set ISO to lower than ISO400 to reduce noise.

How do I reduce motion blur?

Set faster shutter speeds; keep lowering until you see the desired output. 

If low lighting, try bumping the ISO settings a few notches, try using Flash.

Remember, the more you experiment, the more you learn.  

Now dust-out your DSLR and get clicking!!! 

Enjoy your photography.

Further Reading:

Part 1 : Basics and Aperture Settings

Part 2: ISO Settings