 BetterPhoto Member |
Shutter Speeds I don't understand shutter speeds ... 1/60 ... etc. ... please help.
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R.M. Fusco |
It's easy to get confused. Shutter speed is the length of time that the film is exposed to light when the shutter is depressed. The numbers on the shutter dial are somewhat similar to aperture. The aperture is how much light passes through the lens; the shutter speed is how long that same light is exposed to the film (or CCD sensors on a digital). The numbers are whole seconds and fractions of a second. Let's just say, for instance, your camera starts at 1 second. Next down would be 1/2. For every click of the shutter, you are cutting the amount of time in half (closing down=faster=less light) or doubling the amount of time (opening up=slower=more light). The speeds are different from camera to camera. Most are pretty similar. Mine can go as slow as 16 whole seconds, or as fast as 1/4000th of a second. Slow speeds are usually for low light conditions and fast for bright light conditions. Hope this helps. Be glad to help you if you have more ?'s. Regards,
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Bob Cammarata |
R.M.'s response is correct ... in that shutter speed controls the length of time the film (or sensor) is exposed to light. To better understand shutter speeds, keep this simple guideline in mind: The human eye/brain sees motion at 1/60 second. Any action photo shot at that speed will look pretty close to how it was perceived to the naked eye. Picture in your mind, a hovering helicopter, and how the blades appear ... slightly blurred, but discernable. If you were to shoot that heli at 1/60 second, the same degree of implied motion would be evident in the photo. If the chopper were to be shot at 1/125 or faster, you would see more detail in the individual blades. At 1/500 second and beyond ... the blades would be frozen in place, and show no motion at all. Conversely, shutter speeds slower than 1/60 second will transform the motion of the rotors to a soft blur ... getting progressively more pronounced as the time of exposure increases. As far as your particular camera settings go ... choose a shutter speed (and corresponding aperture setting) which will best fit your intended results.
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R.M. Fusco |
Yes, it is correct also that shutter speed affects motion. A fast shutter speed will freeze motion, and a slow shutter speed will blur, or as Bob mentioned, stop motion to the same degree the human eye would see it. Also, I forgot to mention the speeds are represented on the dial or display screen as what may appear to be whole numbers, but are fractions of a second after the number 1. For instance, the #2 is a 1/2 second, the #4 is a 1/4 second, the #8 is an 1/8 second ... etc. ... etc. ... etc. Also, whenever possible, you should use a tripod for shutter speeds slower than 1/125th of a second to avoid blur due to camera shake. Regards,
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