Camera basics - shutter speed

There isn't too much to understand about shutter speed. Speed is expressed as fractions of a second, so 60 = 1/60th of a second. Shutter speed moderates the amount of light allowed through the aperture. This can be used to limit light exposure, but can also be used to convey action.

If something is moving faster than the speed of the shutter, then it will be blurry because the film will remember all the time for which it's exposed. So, for example, if you were shooting a hummingbird at 1/20th of a second, the wings would be blurry, but if you shoot at 1/2500th of a second, the wings should be sharp.

Conversely, if you held the shutter open for hours pointed at the night sky, you could see the stars moving in the sky. That's the power of shutter speed control.

It's worth noting that anything slower than 1/60 will usually result in blurring from hand shake. To be safe, it's best to shoot all your shots slower than 1/60 with a tripod or with the camera stabilized against something.

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