Shutter Speed

The shutter speed is a measurement of the amount of time the shutter on the lens remains open. The duration can be controlled to allow a specific amount of light through the lens to expose the film and therefore the shutter speed can be used to control the brightness of an image.

Shutter speed is measured in fractions of a second. An example range is as follows starting from the longest interval to the shortest:

B - 1 - 2 - 4 - 8 - 15 - 30 - 60 - 125 - 250 - 500 - 1000

The values stated are equivalent to 1 divided by the number i.e. 8 is actually 1/8th second. Each shutter speed setting corresponds to an amount of light that is allowed to pass through the lens so that if the setting is reduced from 1/30 to 1/15, twice the amount of light is allowed to pass through the lens.

In addition to controlling the brightness of the image, shutter speed can be used to freeze or blur movement. A relatively fast shutter speed of 1/250th second can be applied to freeze action. A slower shutter speed of 1/2 second can be used to portray movement. A slower shutter speed can allow one to ‘pan’ a moving object by following its direction with the camera.

In the selection of shutter speed photographs on the following pages, varying shutter speeds have been used that have resulted in images displaying blurred and frozen movement.