Shutter Speed

Shutter speed is the length of time the camera’s shutter is open during the time of the photograph being takes, if the camera is set on a low shutter speed time the photograph would be taken straight away. For example if the shutter is open for a time of 1/1000s of a second the photograph would be taken straight away of that moment. Whereas if the shutter is open for 6 seconds the photograph would record whatever is happening in front of the camera within those 6 seconds. A short shutter speed time is used to freeze fast moving objects, whereas a long shutter speed time is used to blur/capture a moving light or object. Shutter speed combined with the light exposure has a big effect on how the photograph turns out, the light exposure has to be correct or the photograph could be overexposed or underexposed. A higher f number doubles the amount of light coming into the camera and a lower f number gives a lower amount of light into the camera, therefore the shutter speed and the f number have to be correctly balanced to get the photograph right which may take time.  An extended exposure can be used to catch flashes of light such as lightening.

This photograph is an internet example which was taken with a slow shutter speed.

I have also produced my own example, using a shutter speed of 8 seconds and an f number of 22. I used the light off my phone and spun it in a circle so the camera captured this light and created this photograph.