Hi #photography lovers on steemit! 📷
This is my second post of 
So let's start...
What is shutter speed?
Shutter speed is the time (or fraction of time) which your camera shutter is open letting the light to hit your sensor. Shutter speed is measured in seconds, but in normal conditions during a day it can be less than a second, so it is displayed as fractions of second like 1/250, 1/30 etc.
In most modern DSLRs shutter speed can be from 30 seconds to 1/8000 or faster and it does not only impact the creative result you can achieve, but also your photo sharpness. When you are not using a tripod your shutter speed is difficult to be slower than 1/30 (this is a rule of thumb) to achieve sharp photos, due to camera shake.
Why do I need to manage shutter speed?
This is a good question😊!
As mentioned before shutter speed should be faster than 1/30 if you are not using a tripod and want to have sharp photos. When shooting handheld the camera shake results in having blurred photos which can be avoided if you increase your shutter speed. Here comes another rule of thumb you need to know, which I wish to have knew earlier to avoid lot's of messy photos.... To avoid camera shake your camera speed needs to be over your focal length. This means that if you are shooting indoor with a 50mm lens your shutter speed needs to be 1/60; The same if you are shooting with a 200mm telephoto lens your shutter speed needs to be 1/250 or more.
Another case the shutter speed applies is moving subjects and that's our today's example. When you have subjects that move with high speed you need to increase your shutter speed. Imagine you are shooting F1 cars or an air show - in that case you need to use high shutter speeds, typically more than 1/500. I will try to explain this with the help of my favorite duckies, this time taking a bath in their natural environment - water!
For the example I am using my camera on a tripod and a 50mm prime lens so my focal length is always the same, letting the shutter speed to demonstrate the result. Also, in both photos I am shooting on shutter priority (Mode Tv for Canon cameras), with ISO100 under the same lighting conditions, so the aperture is auto calculated. Again there is no filter applied, just pure physics!
Image 1 - Speed 1/800sec | Image 2 - Speed 1/40sec |
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| On the left image the high shutter speed has resulted in no motion blur due to movement on the water. High shutter freezes the action. | On the right image with the low shutter speed the duck is blurred due to water movement. Slow shutter speed cannot freeze the action. |
| Camera Settings: 1/800sec - f/5.6 | Camera Settings: 1/40sec - f/22 |
Few more words to wrap up and we are finished!
High shutter speed: High shutter speeds are used by increasing shutter speed on your camera dial. The higher the number the faster the speed, resulting to less light reaching your sensor. As a result you get more sharp photos 😊.
Low shutter speed: Low shutter speeds are used the opposite. You can decrease shutter speed on your camera dial and the lower the number the slower the speed. If you lower the shutter speed a lot you will enter to the seconds area, so more seconds means even lower speed, resulting to more light reaching your sensor... but remember if you are getting low you will need a tripod or a fixed place to rest your camera to avoid camera shake.😎
The below examples can give you an idea on when to use high or low shutter speed on your photography. You can view more on my flickr account
Use of high speed to freeze the water and have a sharp splash. Camera settings : 1/200sec - f/11
Use of very slow speed to let more light reach the sensor. Camera settings: 20sec - f/3.5.
That's all for today! I hope you enjoyed reading and you found this guide as useful as the aperture one. In the next guide I will try to show the balance between aperture and shutter speed and how these two settings can help us to achieve better results in our photography. Until next time grab your camera, enjoy photography and let's hope the ducks are still alive so feed them with your love 💗!