Shutter Speed
Shutter speed is your best friend and your worst enemy in photography. If you get it right, it can really make an image perfect, and if you get it wrong, it can make a great image terrible. Shutter speed is how long your cameras shutters are open (these are what expose the digital sensor or film to light). This of course is dependant on the light conditions of the scene.
What if the shutter is open too long?
Simply put, you get blur. This could be what your intending, or this could be a mistake, but you must be aware that having the shutter open for a while results in blur. You can change this by using ISO, or by using Aperture, which will speed up the light intake to the sensor, and reduce the amount of time that the shutter is left open.
Can the shutter close to quickly?
In a manner of speaking, no. Your shutter on most cameras will select the appropriate time to be open, but it can shut too quickly if you are setting it manually, and thus not let enough light in. Shutter can close too quickly also when using flash, but cameras do tend to compensate for this, and compacts/bridge cameras don't have this problem.
The uses of slow shutter speed
Slow shutter speed will get blur, and this can be very useful indeed in the right
circumstances.
Slow shutter speed can be used for:
- Panning of vehicles going by, following. This blurs the background but not the object you are following.
- Painting with light, which is discussed as a how to video. This can be used to leave the shutter open as you write something using light.
- Getting rid of people. One of the best uses for a slow shutter speed is that you can get rid of people. If you leave the shutter open long enough on a busy street, the people won't appear on the final image.
- Water and waterfalls look great with a long shutter, as they will look like flowing water instead of frozen water.
Slow shutter on a compact. This can be achieved by turning the ISO down as much as possible. This is the only way to do this on a compact.
Fast shutter is also important, and will be used more often.
Uses of fast shutter.
- Capturing the moment. A fast shutter will capture the moment more effectively, this is far more important on fast moving subjects like birds.
- Freezing water can look great sometimes, especially with water droplets or things we don't see that often, or more importantly for that long.
- Animals, we've all seen them as a blur as they run away, but sometimes its nice to see what they look like. This, needs a fast shutter.