What is Shutter Speed in photography

The shutter is the part of your camera that acts as a curtain for the sensor, when it’s open it lets light through and when it’s closed, it stops light.

Shutter speed is the setting that determines how long the curtain is open.

The faster the shutter speed, the less light will reach your sensor; the slower the shutter speed, the more light will reach your sensor.

At first glance it might seem like you just need to make your shutter speed slower and then you’ll have brighter pictures. While this pictures will be brighter, it does’t necessarily mean they’ll be better.

Let me explain: the longer the shutter is open, the more susceptible your photos are to being blurry. This is because if anything moves while the shutter is open, it will be blurred in the picture.

This is why shutter speed is measured in fractions of a second, ranging from 1/8000th of a second down to 30 seconds. In order to get sharp portraits, it’s important to use a fast enough shutter speed.

In general, a shutter speed over 1/125th of a second will freeze motion in a regular portrait. If you’re shooting an active child, however, you’ll want a much faster shutter speed — kids have a tendency to run around, jump around and otherwise not sit very still.