The shutter speed express for how long the sensor is exposed to light

Shutter speed is the length of time a shutter is open, and is expressed by seconds or rather fractions of a second like 1/60 or 1/250. The longer time (lower number) the more light enters the sensor. In this case 1/60 allows three times more light to enter compared to 1/250.

The shutter scale

Creative use of the shutter setting
The shutter setting is important if you want special effects like “freezing objects in motion like waterfalls or sports action. In this case you will need to keep the shutter open for a very short time. Depending on the motive of course but you will probably need a shutter time of at least 1/1000. Similar you can get “a blurry” effect on the same waterfall by using a longer time (1 second or longer depending on the motive).

Another very important aspect with the shutter is to make sure it is not set to long. With the camera hand held, it is limited how long time you can use before the pictures become unsharp because you did not hold the camera perfectly still.

At lower than 1/60s or 1/30 the risk of getting unsharp pictures because of camera movement while exposing is increasing.

As a thumb of rule to avoid unsharp pictures due to camera shake, you should keep the shutter time above “1/focal length”. If the lens is zoomed in at 250 mm you should use a at least 1/250s. If light is limited this can be difficult to manage. In such case a tripod is the only solution, at least if you want pin sharp pictures. Pro photographers more or less always use a tripod in any light conditions.

Is a tripod the only solution?
It is becoming more and more common cameras have built in image stabilization. With image stabilization the camera will allow you to shoot at longer shutter speed handheld, and manage getting sharp photos. With a DSLR you can use lenses with built in image stabilization.



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