Shutter Speeds- What Are They?
Okay like the whole world you have gone ahead and bought a digital camera and like any newbie a little intimidated by all the daunting features. However don’t despair because that’s the beauty of digicams it lets you experiment without leaving a dent on your pocket. However one thing that is essential in any kind of photography is Shutter Speed and its basic understanding. So let’s see what this word is all about in the digital photography world!
Shutter Speed in layman’s term simply means a sheet which covers the CCD in a digicam and throws light on the CCD for a desired period of time. Hence the picture is recorded on the CCD and the length of time the shutter is open is called Shutter Speed. If you open the shutter for long then the lower the shutter speed. Low shutter speeds are used to capture details and generally applied in portrait, product and night photography. Fast shutter speeds are used in high action shots like sports photography.
Shutter Speeds are expressed in denominations like 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/125, 1/250 etc with each one being a fraction of a second and is half of the one before it. Those who like to play around with manual settings on their digicam would find the knowledge of shutter speeds more handy. For slow shutter speeds a tripod is vital or you’ll have just blurry shots all the time. So go on experiment believe me photography will be more fun.