Have you ever wanted to learn how to get a correct shutter speed with a digital camera? Shutter speed can be affected by many aspects of photography, including light and motion.

The history of photography dates all the way back to the 5th and 4th centuries. Greek and Chinese philosophers thought, discussed, and described the basic principles of optics, proving they were along the right track concerning capturing images. They then understood the basic principles of how a camera could work, even though such an invention had not come into being yet. In 1814, Joseph Niepce was able to take the first photograph using a camera obscura, an old-fashioned camera used in a dark room.http://inventors.about.com/od/pstartinventions/a/Photography.htm http://brightbytes.com/cosite/what.html The image was much different from what you would find today--in fact, Niepce's photograph needed eight hours of light exposure and soon faded. Although Niepce did take the first photograph using a camera, Alexander Wolcott received the first American patent in photography and was officially credited for it. Since then, photography has come a long way.http://inventors.about.com/od/pstartinventions/a/Photography.htm

This page will instruct you how to get a correct shutter speed with three simple steps.

Before you learn about what shutter speed you need for a particular photo you've been wanting to take, you must learn about what shutter speed is. A basic definition of shutter speed is the amount of time the shutter is open. The shutter is open in order to capture light and motion. Shutter speed is measured in seconds. By using a digital camera, you will have many options for shutter speeds, depending on what kind of photo you are looking for.http://digital-photography-school.com/shutter-speed

Now that you have a basic understanding of shutter speed, it's time to apply it. If you are taking a photograph of fast motion--fast-moving objects--then you will want to use a high shutter speed. By using a high shutter speed, it will enable you to take crisp, clear photos. If you use a low shutter speed when taking photographs of fast-moving objects, then you will get a slight blur. Low shutter speed is better for slow-moving or still objects.

As you learned earlier in Step 1, the shutter speed is the amount of time the shutter is open. Thus, the shutter speed will affect how much light will come in. Once again, envision what you want your photograph to look like before choosing a shutter speed. Do you want a lot of light or would you prefer a substantial amount of darker shades?

Depending on the light you are using, the slower shutter speed that you use will allow more light to come in. The faster the shutter speed, the less light that is able to come into the camera.

Now that you've learned about shutter speeds and how they are affected by light and motion, it's time to figure out how to choose one. Let's go through several situations:

If you're looking for a shot filled with light and still objects go with a low shutter speed. A low shutter speed would be anything lower than 1/60. Remember that shutter speed is measured in seconds (or fractions of seconds). The bigger the denomination (the bottom number of the fraction), the faster the shutter speed.http://digital-photography-school.com/shutter-speed

Maybe you want a shot with lots of people moving, but you want them blurred. You would still use a low shutter speed of 1/60 or lower because you want to get that blurred effect.http://digital-photography-school.com/shutter-speed

Or, perhaps you'd like to take a photograph of people moving or animals in nature moving, but you want crystal clear quality. Then, you would choose a shutter speed like 1/500.http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/fototech/apershutter/shutter.htm

However, most of the time you'll probably be using a 1/60 shutter speed or faster if you're taking regular photographs with nothing specific in mind. Above 1/60 (and close around it) is the normal, average shutter speed.http://digital-photography-school.com/shutter-speed

Check out these other helpful How Tos about photography on Mahalo

1. How to Choose a Camera Lens Wide Angle
2. How to Choose a Camera Lens Telephoto
3. How to Use a White Balance
4. How to Get a Correct Shutter Speed
5. How to Edit and Organize Photos
6. How to Choose Between Auto and Manual Focus
7. How to Get a Correct F Stop
8. How to Get a Correct Exposure
9. How to Use Auto Exposure Bracketing
10. How to Choose a Camera Lens
11. How to Control the Depth of Field With Your Camera
12. How to Become a Photographer the Basics
13. How to Become a Photographer Practice
14. How to Become a Photographer Stay Competitive
15. How to Become a Photographer Build a Portfolio
16. How to Clean Your Digital SLR Camera
17. How to Change the Lens on Your Digital SLR Camera