Exposure: ShutterSpeed

In Digital Photography the shutter speed is one of the most important elements to consider to have a impressive shot, but let us understand fully how the shutter speed works.

What is shutter speed ?
The aperture diaphragm of a lens (bigger or smaller values) and timing (open and close) of the camera's shutter curtain - both perform the tasks of regulating the amount of light entering the camera and expose onto the film. The shutter speed scales engraved on the shutter speed dial of conventional camera bodies with a shutter speed ring OR via some flickering digital numerals on the LCD screen like: 1/8000, 1/4000, 1/1000, 1/500, 1/250, 1/125, 1/60, 1/30, 1/15, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 1 or -1, -2 etc. are essentially indicators of the duration (timing) at which the shutter curtain opens up and closes during an exposure process. A 1/125 setting means the shutter curtain open and close within one hundred and twenty five of a second while 1 means an one full-second the shutter opens up during exposure to absorb the available light source onto the film to form an exposure.

What does shutter speeds do ?

In principle, shutter speeds, like aperture value detailed on earlier section, contributing as the next half of the main components for any exposure process - the interval at which the shutter opens to allow a specific amount of light (also depends on the opening of the lens diaphragm) to pass through and expose the film inside..

Different selection of shutter speeds will yield different kind of visual effect on a final photograph. Generally, a fast shutter speed can freeze action while slow speed can blur your image. I am not indicating these are fixed rules. If you understand the nature of how various shutter speed(s) will affect an exposure, you may put them to creative use to enhance the effect - like other than freezing a fast action scene, a slow shutter speed can also put to good use in portraying movement. You can try on to "PAN" a moving subject by following its direction or simply generates a sense flow of movement. But MOST people relates SLOW means BLURRING AN IMAGE which leave little for them to select this alternative to try them out. Well, it is excusable because in most PR-type of photography (photo session on public relation matters like wedding, gathering, seminars, or personal domestic duties for some privileged group - includes your wife, mistress or girl friends..), who would appreciate a defocus or blurry images ? BUT - for the creative minded photographer, slower shutter speed sometimes may create a more powerful visual impact than images taken with action-freeze high shutter speed(s), say, a free flowing river, traffic, a flock of birds taking off or even speed-demons on a race track.. etc..

A basic mechanical SLR camera body like the Nikon F2S of the mid-seventies only offers manual exposure control. AE may require accessory such as DS-1 to transform it into an shutter priority AE camera.

A camera operating in manual mode or a mechanical camera requires you to set the shutter speed and aperture value on the lens manually. In an automatic camera, there is usually at least one type of automatic exposure mode is available. Because of complication of mechanism involves, most camera manufacturers offer only Aperture Priority AE or Programmed AE modes on their EARLY electronic camera models. A good example is Minolta and Canon with their MD and FD mount cameras and lenses while in some exceptional case, such automation was made possible using a mechanical device such as Nikon's F2 with their EE Aperture Control Unit. However, by early '80 with development and refinement made on both cameras and lenses (Most would require a new series of optics), majority of them started to offer "Shutter Priority AE" and "Intelligent Programmed AE" as well.