Introduction
In photography and the shutter speed is the unit of measurement which determines how long the shutter, which is a small flap that covers the digital sensor, remains open as the picture is taken. The slower the shutter speed, the longer the exposure time. The shutter speed and aperture control the total amount of light reaching the sensor. The shutter speed of a camera can range all the way from bulb (manual setting for however long you want the shutter to stay open), to fractions of a second. Most cameras have a maximum shutter speed of 1/8000 of a second.
Use of Shutter Speed
Example 1:
In the photo below we see the shutter speed adjusted and everything else kept the same. The faster the shutter speed the less time there is for light to get through to the sensor. That's why the picture with the shutter speed of 1/60 of a second is much brighter than the shutter speed of 1/2000th of a second.
In the photo below we see the shutter speed adjusted and everything else kept the same. The faster the shutter speed the less time there is for light to get through to the sensor. That's why the picture with the shutter speed of 1/60 of a second is much brighter than the shutter speed of 1/2000th of a second.
Example 2:
These are two pictures I took while at Niagara Falls this past spring break. In the first picture you can notice the water looks much more smooth, this is because I had a slower shutter speed of 1/20 of a second. The second picture as you may notice is much more frozen in time. This is because I shot it with a shutter speed of 1/2000th of a second. This gives it the representation of freezing the water in its place and gives it a sharper, more harsh look.
These are two pictures I took while at Niagara Falls this past spring break. In the first picture you can notice the water looks much more smooth, this is because I had a slower shutter speed of 1/20 of a second. The second picture as you may notice is much more frozen in time. This is because I shot it with a shutter speed of 1/2000th of a second. This gives it the representation of freezing the water in its place and gives it a sharper, more harsh look.
The same thing goes for these two pictures. I adjusted the shutter speed so that one is slow and one is very fast.