What is Shutter Speed?

*horribly blurry image of shutter speed location on my olympus film camera

Shutter speed determines how long the shutter is open. The click you hear when you take a picture is the shutter.

On older film camera where you can't adjust iso, you can use this feature to adjust lighting.

**you will be safe if you use any shutter speed over 100

Shutter speed affects 2 things.

1. light

2. movement

For Light... The faster the shutter speed, the less light it lets in and vis versa.

If you are outside and it's sunny, there is already a lot of light coming into the photographs... so use a shutter speed over 200.

1/1000 1/100
(fast) (slow)

For movement... like a waterfall... to capture a still and focused picture you want a faster shutter speed (anything over 800)

if you want to show the movement of the water you want a slower shutter speed (smaller #).