Photography 101: Mastering Your Shutter Speed
Understanding shutter speed is crucial for capturing sharp images and introducing motion in your photos. Have you ever taken a photo of a dog or your friend that turned out blurry? This guide will help you master your shutter speed to ensure your images have the sharpness just the way you intended them to be.
What is a shutter?
A shutter control the time light hits your camera’s sensor. When light hits an object, part of it gets absorbed, and part gets reflected. The reflected light goes through your lens and gets recorded by the sensor as long as the shutter remains open. The longer your shutter speed, the more time your sensor records light, leading to a brighter image. Keep in mind, that you will increase the chance of motion-blur in your photo depending on your subject.
Reading your shutter speed
Your shutter speed is indicated as a fraction, like 1/80. This means the shutter opens and closes within one eightieth of a second. Speeds longer than a full second are indicated with the number followed by two apostrophes, like 1”.
If you think that 1/8000 of a second is fast, some of the latest mirrorless cameras can achieve shutter speeds of 1/32000 electronically. We will cover mirrorless cameras and electronic shutters in a separate article.
Motion blur
Determining the appropriate shutter speed depends on your subject. For static subjects like an apple, you can use slower speeds, For fast-moving subjects, like a Formula 1 racecar, faster speeds are necessary to freeze the action. A lot of trial and error will be involved to get accustomed to different situations. Don’t let it scare you. It’s all part of the learning process.
How to use your shutter speed creatively
There are a myriad of ways to creatively use your shutter speed. Always keep in mind the story that you are trying to tell and what effect you desire to achieve. Over the course of time, I have experimented with different scenarios, and I am happy to share them with you.
Silky-smooth waterflow
Whenever I come across a body of water that has moving/flowing water, I always feel compelled to do a long-exposure. Depending on how much movement there is, I would generally opt for a shutter speed between 1 and 30 seconds. Then again, it really depends on the story that you want to tell.
The Indian Ocean from Alila Villas Uluwatu in Bali, Indonesia.
Nikon D5100
Tokina atx-i 11-16mm f/2.8 CF
f/5.6 | Shutter speed: 4” | ISO: 100
Star trails
Agree or disagree with me, but I think that looking up a clear night sky with little-to-no light pollution is one of the most breathtaking things to do in life. Just looking at thousands of stars lighting the night. There is something about it that makes you feel so incredibly small. But this is not the point I’m trying to make.
As stars move through our field of view at an incredibly slow pace, it will require a very long shutter speed to capture the star trails. Back in 2020, I had the opportunity to experience Nyepi in Bali, Indonesia. This event did not allow for any artificial light on that specific day, which resulted in the clearest and most breathtaking views of the night sky. Below you can see the photo it took and how much patience it took from me.
Star trails during Nyepi at Grand Hyatt Bali in Bali, Indonesia.
Nikon D5100
Tokina atx-i 11-16mm f/2.8 CF
f/2.8 | Shutter speed: 1031” | ISO: 400
Longer shutter speeds with Neutral Density filters.
If you want to achieve longer shutter speeds you first want to look at your aperture and ISO settings and see if there is room for you to play around with them. If it’s still not enough, have a look at Neutral Density (ND-)filters. These filters have the sole purpose of darkening your scene like sunglasses for your eyes.
If you are in the market for one, please keep in mind that there are a variety of systems, strengths, and sizes to choose from.
Ultimately, you will need to balance your shutter speed with your aperture and ISO to achieve the right balance for your exposure. Fortunately, I have created two articles that cover these settings.