After yesterday’s post on f/stop, I received this question which I think was meant as tongue in cheek. But it’s really is a darn good question and one more photographers should ask of their photography. Most think of shutter speed only in terms of being really fast for sharp photos, hence all the high ISO photos. When it comes to storytelling though, because we are shooting stills, how do we speak about movement in our photographs if we always have a fast shutter speed? Just like there is NO one f/stop there is NO one shutter speed that is the best. Personally, I tend to work with slower speeds rather than faster because I want the movement in the frame. Like the Griz above, I wanted to speak about the rushing water it’s standing in. I know I couldn’t stand in that rush of water so I wanted to show off its skills. The opposite is true as well, if I want to show how fast something is moving, I want the background blurred.
FG-1D Corsair
The slow shutter speed not only blurs the spinning prop of this screaming Corsair, but totally blurs the background as well. That comes from panning with the subject freezing it and blurring the background. And unlike DoF for some odd reason, most associate shutter speed with sharpness rather than aperture (when DoF is all about sharpness). Often a slower shutter speed is associated with the use of a tripod because most have little faith in their handholding ability. So just like DoF, finding the right shutter speed for YOUR photography again requires you to go out and shoot to find YOUR answer. I’m here to tell you though, shutter speed is just as important as aperture when it comes to storytelling!