Photography Tips: Shutter (part 1 of 4)

The emergence of affordable Digital SLR cameras has introduced a lot of people to photography. However, not everyone come from a photography-nerd background, so some of the terminology can be a little confusing at first. This series will introduce you to the very basics of photography.

Photography is all about capturing light. Light bounces off objects, passes through the lens of your camera, and hits the film or image sensor, creating an image. More light means brighter images.

SHUTTER:

The shutter controls how long the film or sensor is exposed to light.

A long exposure means the shutter is open for a long time, so a lot of light reaches the sensor.
A fast exposure means the shutter is only open for a very short time, so very little light reaches the sensor.

The shutter is measured in fractions of a second.
60 means that a shot is open for one 60th of a second.
1000 means that a shutter is open for 1000th of a second.
bigger numbers mean less light is hitting the film or image sensor.
Longer exposures means more light reaches the sensor, but objects must remain still, or you will get motion blur.

B is for bulb when this setting is selected, the shutter stays open until the button is pressed a second time.

General rule of thumb: when shooting hand held, without a tripod, never go slower than 60, or the image will blur due to the natural shakiness of your hands.

When your shutter is set to 8000/th of a second, everything is clear. When the shutter is open a bit longer, some of the faster moving objects appear blurry, this is called motion blur. When the shutter is open even longer, only the perfectly still objects are in crisp focus. Set it to 1/4th of a second, now the shutter is open for a very long time, and your own hand movements and breathing cause everything to become blurry. So get a tripod for long exposure work!


Kyle Clements
2010
cc-by-nc-sa

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Kyle
• Clements
• photos
• pictures
• tips
• shutter
• exposure
• speed
• camera
• DSLR
• digital
• single
• lens
• lense
• reflex

[libramoonchild]

kyle, awesome job :)

[theheadlessrabbit]

Hey, thank you so much.

It means a lot getting a compliment from a real professional photographer. It means that this fake professional photographer is doing something right ;)

[jayskates]

great job man, you do a better job of explaining this than my first semester photography teacher hahah

[theheadlessrabbit]

Ha ha. thanks man.

the secret to clear instruction is having a very bad green screen behind you.

[TerribleTony]

Just starting out myself. That was a clear consise video and very easy to follow. Hope you do some more. At this stage I can spot a bad pic when I take one I'm just not sure what went wrong or how to fix it next time. I was under the impression when I bought my camers the "Intelligent Auto Mode" was just that, boy was I wrong. I now realise that taking pics on full auto is a hit and miss affair.

[yes350yes]

Thanks but it wouldve been nice to know the f stop used with that 1/1000 shutter speed.

[RealtyStudioHD]

Thank you so much for all of your videos! You have the best, most clear, simple and visual ways of explaining photography that I have seen on YouTube! You should make tutorials and sell them!

[StephenMichaelMeyer]

Great video, love the horror movie lighting!

[manojkumarshow]

hey thanx bro..am a beginner and i find tis really useful :)