A couple of weeks ago, I introduced the concept of thinking about Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO as siblings, and I described Aperture as the baby of the family. Today, I’d like to present Shutter Speed, the eldest of the three.
Like a responsible big brother, Shutter Speed keeps track of the time, making sure nobody stays out too late. Shutter Speed refers to the length of time the shutter is open and is measured in seconds and fractions of seconds.
As you can imagine, a Shutter Speed of 1/4000 sec. is lightning quick. It gives your camera very little time to record an image. In bright daylight this is not a problem, because your camera doesn’t need much time to capture an image. A fast Shutter Speed and plenty of light is like a big brother at the top of his game — a quick glance here or there, and he doesn’t miss a trick, no matter how quickly the little ones are scurrying about.
When it starts to get dark, however, Shutter Speed becomes less adept at keeping a steady eye on things. He needs to slow down and take a long look. Relying on a quick glance now will likely cause him to the miss the details, like a younger sibling or two hiding in the bushes. When he slows down, he’ll take in all the details, but if there’s too much movement —from the subject or the hands holding the camera — images will get blurry.
These shots of ornaments on my Christmas tree were taken with the camera on a tripod, so movement was not an issue. I set the ISO to 200 and the ƒ-stop to 5.6. I took the first picture with a moderately fast Shutter Speed of 1/13 sec. This was much too fast, since little more than the colored lights show up in the image.
In the next picture, I set the shutter speed to 1 sec. Without a tripod, it would be nothing but a blur. Thanks to my trusty tripod’s steadiness, though, I was able to record a good image, with plenty of detail and nice balance between the highlights and shadows.
In my third ornament photo, I blew out the highlights with a long shutter speed of 15 sec. I’m back to losing lots of detail. This time, it’s lost in the light, not the dark. With my shutter open for such a long period of time, too much light entered the camera and washed out the image.
There is no one correct Shutter Speed for a given situation. It’s really up to you. Leaving the shutter open for a little longer than your light meter suggests may nudge the amount of captured light just enough to give your image a happy, light-hearted feel. Choosing a shorter Shutter Speed will make your photo darker, but it will also likely give you richer colors. Play around. Take the same shot with three or four different Shutter Speeds and see which one you like best. The image that appeals to you the most may just surprise you and help you begin to develop your own unique style.
