One of the key elements in creating an image is shutter speed! Remember when I mentioned the human eye? Your "shutter" is your eyelids, and how fast you blink is your "shutter speed". A little hard to grasp at first I'm sure, but trust me... it will make more sense as we move forward.
Inside your camera and behind the lense, there is a sensor. Your shutter clicks open and closed (you can hear it) when you push the button to take your picture, allowing a certain amount of light to come through the lense and hit that sensor. That light IS your image!
So why have variable shutter speeds? Back to the human eye. Go into a brightly lit room and close your eyes tight for a second or two. Now open your eyes and close them as fast as you can. For a couple of seconds you will still have traces of light that resemble the room burned in your brain after you've closed them... and you pretty much saw the whole room when you opened them for that fraction of a second didn't you? Congratulations, you just took a picture with a fast shutter speed! Because there is alot of light available in the room, you only need to allow the light in for a SHORT period of time to still get a full image.
"FAST SHUTTER SPEED"
What about slow shutter speeds? What does that do? Well..... basically it allows more time to collect light at the sensor in cases where there's less available. This time, go into a very dim room.... ALMOST dark. Pitch black won't help unless you have infrared eyes. Close your eyes tight, then open and close as fast as you can. You probably saw just black for that moment because "fast shutter speeds" don't work well in low light. This time open your eyes and leave them open for a long time. Slowly you will start to make out the shapes in the room and will be able to see some detail (within reason). Congratulations.... you just shot a slow shutter night image!
"SLOW SHUTTER SPEED"
To sum things up, when having control over the key elements of an image and understanding what they do... the possibilities are endless! Knowing you shutter speed can mean the difference between having your "brights blown out" on a sunny day, or not being able to shoot a night image when your flash is out of reach.
Sorry guys and gals... if you're shooting in Auto Mode, you don't get to have control over this valuable feature. Remember that in Auto, the camera is doing ALL the thinking for you! In full Manual Mode you can adjust the shutter speed, as well as in Shutter Priority mode. After I get through the basic elements of a photo series, I will re-visit each of the settings we have discussed and we will put them to use! The goal for today is simply...understanding! Now let's get you shooting in Manual Mode!!
~Tommy Post
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