In the previous article, We had seen how aperture works and how changing the aperture affects the depth of field of the image. In this one, We take a look at what shutter speed is and how it works and how changing the shutter speed will affect the image.
So when you take a picture, the shutter opens for a certain amount of time where the light enters the lens and the sensor is exposed to the light until the shutter is closed.
This shutter speed tells us how fast or slow the shutter opens and closes or the amount of time the shutter stays open thereby exposing light onto the camera sensor.
Essentially, it indicates how long your camera spends taking a photo.
Mathematically, this is calculated using seconds. How many fractions of a second or how many seconds was the shutter open?
If the shutter stays open for longer periods of time, that is if the shutter speed is slow, a lot of light enters the camera.
And if the shutter stays open for shorter periods of time, that is if the shutter speed is fast, only very little light enters the camera. So basically Shutter speed is inversely proportional to the amount of light entering the camera.
The numbers in the above image like 1/1000, 1/125, ⅛, 1” represent the amount of time. 1/1000 means the shutter stays open for 1/1000th of a second and so on…
But as we discussed, Changing every setting has a side effect associated with it. In this case, changing the shutter speed of an image also changes the amount of motion blur in an image.
Motion blur is just the blurriness created by moving objects. Shake your hand swiftly in front of your eyes, you’ll know what I am talking about.
In photography, Slower shutter speeds creates a lot of motion blur and Faster shutter speeds create very little motion blur. So we can also say that shutter speed is inversely proportional to the amount of motion blur used.
I hope these images gives you a visual representation of how motion blur works symbiotically with the shutter speed.
And the shutter speed can be manipulated according to our needs to get the aesthetic we are looking for.
For example, While shooting sports or cars or wildlife, Even though the subject is moving really fast, you would want the picture to be really sharp and you would want the subject to be freezed without any blur. This is obtained by using really fast shutter speeds like 1/1000 etc…
And sometimes, you wouldn’t want the moment to be freezed but you would want to use the entire flow of light. This can be achieved by using a slow shutter speed like 1”,6” etc…
Certain aesthetics like long exposure photography, Light trail photography, Steel wool photography are achieved using a really slow shutter speed.
Here are some few examples to give you an idea of how slow shutter speed photography looks.
Well, that's about it for this one. Do check this space out next week, where I will be elborating on ISO.
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