Photography Tips - Shutter Speed

Almost all automatic cameras today have some sort of pre-programmed shooting modes. These are designed for specific situations such as action, landscapes, and portraits. The following information shows how shutter speed affects basic pre-programmed camera modes.

Action
Action mode is an automatic setting mode where the camera is predisposed to use the highest shutter speed possible for the lighting situation. In this mode you can not set the exact shutter speed you want but you can lessen your chances of a blurry image due to slow shutter speed by using this mode.

Landscape
Landscape mode is basically the opposite of Action Mode. Landscape is programmed to give the smallest aperture (largest F-Stop) possible in order to ensure a large depth of field. This means that the shutter speed will be slower. If your camera does not allow Manual or Tv mode and you are wanting to shoot a nighttime or blurred motion shot, try the Landscape setting.

Night
Night mode goes a step farther than landscape mode. Night mode not only prefers the slowest shutter speed possible, it also turns off the flash and sets the fastest film speed possible. This means that your shutter speed may be only marginally slower because the fast film speed decreases the amount of light needed to expose the image.

Portrait
Portrait mode is a bit tricky when dealing with shutter speed. Portrait is programmed to have a shallow depth of field (large aperture/small F-Stop) and use a slow film speed in order to throw the background out of focus and obtain a very fine film grain. This means that the shutter speed will be faster due to the aperture setting BUT because the camera is using a slower film speed you will probably loose any shutter speed advantage.