Shutter Speed: Technical Use

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The Details

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How Long Do We Let the Light In?

Let’s make this one really simple. Shutter speed is how long we let light into the camera. Inside your camera is a shutter. When you take a photograph, the shutter opens. Light travels through the aperture and reaches the sensor. Then the shutter closes. That’s it. The amount of time that shutter stays open is your shutter speed.

Think About a Window

Imagine you’re standing in your living room. You’ve got a big window. The bigger the window, the more light can come into the room. Now imagine there are shutters covering that window. When the shutters are closed, no light comes through. Open them, and light comes in.

Now imagine that instead of simply opening and closing them, you could control exactly how long they stayed open. That’s essentially what your camera is doing. Open. Let the light in. Close. The longer they’re open, the more light comes in. The shorter they’re open, the less light comes in.

Shutter Speed Is Measured in Time

You’ll see shutter speeds written as things like 1/1000, 1/500, 1/250, 1/125, 1/60, 1/30, 1/4, 1 second. The numbers represent time. A shutter speed of 1/500 second is very fast. A shutter speed of 1/4 second is much slower. A shutter speed of 1 second is slower still.

So: Longer shutter time = more light. Shorter shutter time = less light. It’s really that simple. Remember our box of light? The longer we leave the box open to the light, the more light we put into it.

But Then Shutter Speed Gets Really Fun

Because the shutter isn’t just controlling light. It’s also controlling time. And things happen while time is passing. Things move. People move. Cars move. Birds move. And water… water is constantly moving. This is where shutter speed becomes one of my favorite creative tools.

Motion Blur

Let’s say someone walks across the room while your shutter is open. They’re moving while the photograph is being made. The result can be motion blur. This is different from being out of focus. The subject can be perfectly focused, but because it moved while the shutter was open, that movement gets recorded in the photograph.

The longer the shutter stays open, the more opportunity there is for movement to be recorded. A fast shutter can freeze movement. A slower shutter can show movement. And that difference can completely change how a photograph feels.

How Fast Is Fast?

A shutter speed of 1/500 second is very fast. In many situations, that’s fast enough to freeze significant movement. Think about a football player running down the field. Or a cheerleader jumping through the air. Or a bird taking off. A fast shutter can capture that instant and make the movement look frozen. You can go even faster: 1/1000, 1/2000, 1/4000. The faster the shutter, the shorter the moment you’re recording.

And Then There’s Water

This is where shutter speed becomes especially important to me. I photograph a lot of water. And water is never really still. There’s an endless dance happening where the water meets the land. Sometimes there is a lot of movement. Sometimes there is very little. And sometimes I want to show that movement. Sometimes I want to soften it. Sometimes I want to freeze it. There isn’t one correct answer. The answer depends on what I want the photograph to feel like.

How I Work With Water

I’ll often start around 1/4 second. Why? Because I’ve found that it gives me a useful starting point for the kind of water photography I do. But it isn’t a magic number. I’ll take the photograph. Then I’ll look at it. And I ask myself: Is the water right? Not: “Is 1/4 second the correct setting?” I want to know whether the water looks right for how I feel about the photograph.

Maybe there’s too much movement. So I’ll make the shutter faster. Maybe the water isn’t blurry enough. I’ll make the shutter slower. Take another photograph. Look at it. Adjust. Try again. That’s photography.

The Same Water Can Tell Different Stories

Imagine the waves are crashing against the rocks. I could use a fast shutter speed and freeze individual drops of water. Now the photograph might feel energetic. Powerful. Chaotic. Exciting.

Or I could slow the shutter down. The water begins to blur. The individual movements disappear into one continuous shape. The photograph may feel calmer. Softer. Dreamier. Neither is “correct.” They’re simply different ways of recording the same thing. And that’s the important part. Shutter speed isn’t just about how much light you let into the camera. It’s about how you choose to record time.

Multiple Settings Can Give You the Same Exposure

This is where the Exposure Triangle really starts to make sense. Suppose your camera tells you that your exposure is good at: f/8, 1/125 second, ISO 100. Now you decide you want more motion in the water. You slow the shutter down to 1/4 second. That’s a lot more time. So you’ve let in more light.

To keep the exposure where you want it, something else may need to change. Maybe you stop down the aperture. Maybe you lower the ISO. Maybe the light has changed and you don’t need to compensate at all. There are multiple ways to arrive at an exposure. But each choice changes something about the photograph. Nothing is free.

This Is Why “What Were Your Settings?” Makes Me Cringe

I get asked this question all the time. “What were your settings?” And I understand why people ask. They’re trying to learn. But here’s what I don’t want you to do. I don’t want you to write down: “Mike used 1/4 second, so I should use 1/4 second.” That’s not the lesson.

My settings were the result of what was happening at that moment. The light. The tide. The wind. The clouds. The moon. The haze. The subject. The composition. And most importantly, what I wanted the photograph to look like. If I go back to the same spot tomorrow, my settings may be completely different. And that’s okay.

How I Think About Shutter Speed

I don’t start by asking: “What shutter speed should I use?” I ask: “How do I want this movement to look?” Do I want to freeze it? Do I want to show some movement? Do I want a lot of motion blur? Once I know that, I have a direction. Then I look at the exposure and make the other decisions I need to make. This is why learning the controls matters. I don’t want you memorizing settings. I want you to understand the relationship between the settings and the photograph.

Try This

Find something that moves. It could be water. A person walking. A fountain. A car. Even the water coming out of your kitchen faucet. Start with a relatively fast shutter speed. Try 1/500 second. Take a photograph.

Now slow it down. Try 1/125. Then 1/30. Then 1/4. Then try 1 second if you can. Look at what changes. Don’t worry about making the perfect photograph. You’re experimenting. Pay attention to the movement. What gets frozen? What starts to blur? How does the photograph feel different?

Then ask yourself: Do I want more motion or less motion? That’s the question I want you to learn to ask. Not: “What shutter speed am I supposed to use?” There is no one setting that gets it right. There is only the setting that gives you the photograph you want.

The camera records the decision.
You make it.

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