Many photographers click a picture with moving water like flakes of cotton spread over stones.

But, how do they do it?

Well, they do it by playing with the shutter speed in the camera.

Shutter speed, in simple, is how fast the camera shutter opens or closes to allow light to enter the camera. It controls the amount of time your lens is exposed to light.

It is the length of time when the shutter button opens and closes. The faster the shutter speed the more the image freezes. While if you slow down the shutter speed you will notice the motion in your picture. It may create a blurry image if you lack the technique to shoot in short shutter speed.

Shutter speed is measured in a fraction of second. And bigger the denominator, faster is the shutter speed. For eg 1/60 is a slow shutter speed than 1/1000. If you do not want camera shakes while clicking in slow shutter speed then you can use the 1/60th second’s shutter speed. The slower shutter than this range causes camera shake resulting in image blur.

Playing with the shutter speed also means playing with aperture and ISO setting in the camera. When you change the shutter speed in the camera, you also need to work on the aperture and ISO to compensate on the exposure and picture quality.

Playing with the shutter speed and exposures in a camera is quite tricky. Here are a few ways you can play with shutter speed during a photographic task:

Click in Shutter Priority Mode

If you want to play with shutter speed in the camera in outdoor photography to capture moving objects, setting the camera in Shutter Priority mode is the best way to do it. In this mode, you can play with the shutter speed any way you want without having to bother about the exposure. Because the camera automatically adjusts the aperture to balance the exposure in the Shutter priority after you set the preferred shutter speed.

Freeze the Movement with the Fastest Shutter Speed

If you set the shutter speed to the fastest then less light will pass through the camera sensor. It implies you’ll get to frame the sharp image. With the fast shutter speed, you freeze the movement and be able to capture moving animals and birds, or even dancers.

For example, if you want to click a dancing girl focusing on her hand gestures and movement then you need to set the high shutter speed.

Along with it, anyone who wants to frame the water droplets or bird’s flight, fast shutter speed works the best.  With the fast shutter, you will get to click the sharpest details.

Portray the Motion of Things with the Slowest Shutter Speed

Slow shutter speed in your camera means you get to freeze the motion. When the shutter speed is slow there will be enough time for the light to enter through the camera sensor. This in return allows the camera to frame even the slightest motions nearby the focussed subject.

For example, if you focus on the moving car with a slow shutter speed then you can focus on its body. This allows you to frame the motion of the things nearby. The motion of the wheels and the surrounding vehicle with a well-focused car body reflects a sense of movement in the image.

You can also use slow shutter speed to frame the motion of running water or you can click the light trails. The pictures clicked in slow shutter speed appear more artistic with the color and composition uniqueness.

Set the Fast Shutter Speed For Outdoor Shoots

Playing with the shutter speed increases or decreases the exposure in your photograph. When your camera is set to a high shutter speed the exposure is usually is low. For this reason, you need to adjust the shutter speed and ISO.

In a sunny day, because of the external light, you can click bright images even in the fast shutter speed. You do not have to worry about camera exposure.

So, normally you can click with 1/500 shutter speed in the daylight for the finest detail on the image. You can also switch the shutter speed to 1/100th second if you are clicking in the shades or cloudy day.

Set the Shutter Speed Equivalent to Your Lens’s Focal Length

The camera shakes and photo blurs are common when you play with the shutter speed especially when you are clicking in the low shutter speed. To prevent motion blur, you can use the shutter speed corresponding to the camera lens.

For example, you can set your camera shutter speed to 1/300th second if you are using the 30 mm lens. If you manage the shutter speed in correspondence with your camera lens it prevents motion blur.

For Night Photography Use a Slow Shutter Speed

To click in the night you need to focus on the exposure because you do not want your image to turn dark lacking the point of focus. And to balance the exposure with the composition you can click with the slow shutter speed.

You need to click in the slow shutter speed which involves the long-time exposure. With the long exposure, you get to frame the lights, star trails, night scenes, or fireworks. With the slow shutter speed in the night photography, you can frame the artistic lights and motion of the stars, traffic, water, and the like.

But when you set the camera to long exposure, camera shakes are frequent. To prevent this, you can click in the bulb mode where you can press the shutter button as long as you want to frame the night objects. Whatever way you adapt to click the night time image it is a good idea to use a tripod to prevent the blurry image.

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