Alright lets break down the exposure triangle a bit and look at each piece separately. We’ll start with shutter speed as it’s generally the easiest to grasp. Here is the definition of Shutter Speed that I gave you in Step 2.

Shutter Speed – is the amount of time that the shutter is open to allow light into the camera sensor.

Shutter speed is measured in seconds. Most often it’s a fraction of a second. So the bigger the denominator the faster the shutter closes. 1/2000 sec is going to shut much faster than at 1/30 sec. If you’re beginning to shoot under 1/30 sec you’re going to want to find a way to stabilize your camera to minimize camera shake, or use a tripod.

To determine what shutter speed you want first look at what your photographing and the movement involved. How much movement do you want to show in your photo? You can freeze it with a faster shutter speed or let it blur a little or a lot by slowing the shutter speed.

Motion isn’t bad. It could be exactly the story you’re trying to tell.

One other thing to consider when determining your shutter speed is the length of your lens.  The longer the lens the more shake you have, meaning the need for higher shutter speeds to avoid camera shake blur.  A good rule of thumb is to keep your shutter speed 2x the length of your lens. So if I put a 50mm lens on my camera I’m going to want my shutter speed 1/100 or faster if I’m trying to avoid motion blur.

Now remember when you’re in Manual mode there are 3 pieces to making making the exposure you want. Shutter speed is just one of them. As you change you shutter speed between images you may need to change the aperture or iso to get the right exposure. We’ll talk about aperture and iso separately next and then bring them all together!

Lost? Check out the previous steps:

Step 1 – Get to Know Your Camera

Step 2 – Modes & Exposure Triangle

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