Some Quick Shutter Speed Basics
The shutter speed is what controls the amount of time that light is let into the camera. The longer the shutter speed the brighter the picture. The shorter the shutter speed the darker.
If you have a very bright scene then you will want a shorter shutter speed than if it were a dark room. Shutter speeds are written in seconds and can be as long and even longer than 2 seconds and as fast as 1/2000 seconds. Being able to control the shutter speed also will let you use it for various photographic effects such as depth of field, frozen motion, panning, etc. Below are some rough averages of the shutter speed to use for various occasions.
Bright Sunny Day/Snow/Sand = Shutter Speed 1/250 seconds
Cloudy/Bright = Shutter Speed 1/125 seconds
When you are on “automatic” you don’t have to worry about setting the shutter speed. You can set the shutter speed manually by either going to “shutter priority mode” or “manual” mode.
Shutter Priority will let you set the shutter speed and the aperture will automatically adjust to have a properly exposed image. Having it on manual will mean you will have to set the shutter speed and the aperture. If you set the shutter and forget the aperture the picture may be unexposed or overexposed.
Tags: photography, shutter speed