Choosing the right shutter speed can make or break a photograph. It’s not just about light or exposure; it’s about how you convey your subject’s motion and stillness. This video highlights different scenarios where varying shutter speeds bring out the best qualities in a shot.
Coming to you from Brian Matiash, this insightful video explains how to choose the appropriate shutter speed for different subjects. Matiash categorizes shutter speeds into four groups: fast, kind of slow, slow, and very slow. He shares his experiences with each type, providing practical insights that go beyond textbook definitions. By breaking down each category with real-world examples, he demonstrates how shutter speed affects the overall look and feel of your photos, which is particularly useful when shooting in different environments or lighting conditions.
In fast shutter speed scenarios, Matiash explains that it’s not just about freezing motion—it’s about choosing a speed that captures the essence of what’s moving. He shows examples like dogs running through snow and a wave crashing along the shore, using shutter speeds up to 1/2,000th of a second. These examples emphasize the role shutter speed plays in maintaining sharpness and clarity in dynamic scenes. His commentary provides insight into why you might want to freeze motion in some cases and why a little blur could enhance others, depending on how you want to present your subject.
When it comes to slower shutter speeds, Matiash explores techniques like panning and adding motion blur for creative effect. He shares images taken with slower settings, around 1/25th to 1 second, to show how these speeds add a sense of movement or atmosphere to a static scene. Panning with a subject, for instance, blurs the background while keeping the subject in focus, which can add energy to the shot. He also explains how slower speeds can create dramatic effects, like smooth water or blurred clouds, that transform ordinary settings into something visually compelling.
The next section focuses on even slower shutter speeds, ranging from 5 to 30 seconds, where Matiash discusses when and why to use such settings. These are perfect for nighttime photography or when you want to introduce an ethereal, dreamy quality to the water or sky. With examples from Norway and the Oregon coast, he shows how these exposures can enhance landscapes, giving them a sense of tranquility or surrealism.
For the longest exposures—anything above 30 seconds—Matiash explains when you might consider such settings, like for star trails or capturing the aurora. This category requires planning and patience, but it can yield stunning results. Using a tripod and cable release is essential to maintain sharpness, and experimenting with these settings can produce images that reveal movements imperceptible to the naked eye. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Matiash.
I'm either a quarter second or I'm 30 seconds. I don't like that 3 to 5 second exposure which just ends up with "mush" when shooting water. You just end up with a big white blob of water and I can't stand it. Everyone does it for the waterfall photos and it looks te and the other thing that happens is when you go to that longer shutter speed any foliage or trees and so forth will move in that time so that's why I go for the 1/4 to half second shutter speed most of the time. I also like to texture in the water. This is one of my favourite photos which I shot at a quarter of a second. You still get some spray but you get a beautiful wall face of water and texture!