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What is shutter speed, what does it do and how do you use it?

If you own an SLR digital camera then you've also most likely seen a button on top that has the characters TV written on it. Setting the camera mode to TV is what is referred to as shutter priority.

After choosing shutter priority on your digital camera, you then need to set the speed in seconds. Depending on your camera, you can choose to set the speed at 1/8000 th of a second, all the way to a to full 30 seconds or longer if you have bulb capabilities.

Setting the shutter speed tells the camera how long to keep the shutter open for, when taking a photograph. If it's kept open for a long time (full seconds) then it's considered a slow shutter speed. If it's kept open for a short time (for example 1/250 second) then it's considered a fast shutter speed. You need to set the shutter at an effective speed that allows enough light in to reach the image sensor.

At night time you need a long shutter speed to enable enough light in to the sensor. Otherwise your photograph will turn out too black. You can see an example of this in an earlier post on night photography. In daylight you can set the shutter speed much quicker, for example 1/125th of a second. Shutter speed can also be useful when it comes to photographing water. For example a slow shutter speed will make the water look as though it is in slow motion or give it a dreamy poster look to it.

On the other hand, a fast shutter speed will show a brilliant display of water beads.

Shown below is a useful photography tutorial that will further demonstrate what shutter speed is and how it works. To start the tutorial press the go arrow.

You might also be interested in:

What is bulb mode
The difference between fast and slow camera lenses
What do numbers on the camera lens mean?

UPDATE: Our tutorials for photographers are now being continued over at SLR Photography Guide.