NOTE: As a rule of thumb, the average person can take a sharp, blur-free
image by setting the speed to a fraction of a focal length. For example, to
take a photo at 30mm, you would set the shutter speed to 1/30 of a second;
any slower and motion blur is likely to occur. It’s worth noting however, that
this rule is only relevant to full frame cameras. For a crop sensor, due its
magnifying effect, you would be better off choosing a speed of 1/45 of a
second.
When to Use Different Shutter Speeds
You will notice that the shutter speed halves each time, which means that
the exposure changes by 1 stop. There are third stops between these speed on
cameras, but we’d be here all day if I went through them all.
A lot of the speeds listed below are dependant on how close the subject is to
you, so bear that in mind. Also, this doesn’t really take exposure into
consideration, this is purely about what you capture at these speeds.
• 1/4000 of a Second - Freezing really fast moving objects. Think of the
sorts of things you may capture is a high-speed camera. A baseball
pitch, a balloon pop, that sort of thing.
• 1/2000 of a Second - Freezing the flight of birds. They move their wings
really fast so you have to crank up the shutter speed really high.
• 1/1000 of a Second - Freezing very fast moving objects, such as moving
vehicles.
• 1/500 of a Second - This is where you will start to freeze fast moving
people, such as runners and cyclists.
• 1/250 of a Second - A great speed for freezing your still subject,
without having to think too much about focal length and how that
affects the motion blur. Great for portrait photography.
• 1/125 of a Second - You won’t typically want to go much slower than
this if you’re shooting handheld, otherwise, you will likely capture
motion blur from your hands. This is also where you will start to be
able to use your shutter speed for panning.
• 1/60 of a Second - Again, this is a great speed for panning photography,
and handheld photography in low light.
• 1/30 of a Second - This is about as slow as you will want to go while
capturing panning photography, as much slower and your photo will
become too much of a blur.
• 1/15 of a Second - You can mount your camera on a tripod at this
speed and capture sight movement from moving objects. Think
people walking, cars moving in traffic, water blurring slightly.
• 1/8 of a Second - Capturing motion blur in water.
• 1/4 of a Second - Blurred movement in a scene. Not so little that it
appears accidental, but not so much that it’s hard to tell what’s going
on.
• 1/2 of a Second - More motion blur, only much stronger than before.
Think of water starting to appear like mist.
• 1 Second - Twilight photography. The sun may not be completely gone,
but there’s not enough light to make up the exposure you’re looking
for. You may incorporate a flash, and you’re more than likely using a
tripod.
• More than 1 Second - This is where night photography starts to come
into play. You can play with different speeds and capture awesome
nighttime photos.
• Bulb Mode - This is used for exposures longer than 30 seconds, where
you can manually control the exposure time with the shutter release.
This is used for astrophotography where you may want to capture
some stars. You may also use this mode for slow sync flash where you
want to have immediate control of the shutter speed.
Manfrotto 055XPROB Pro Tripod Legs (Black)
Manfrotto 327RC2 Joystick Head with Quick Release (Black)