How to Set the Correct Shutter Speed on a DSLR

DSLR cameras are a mix of the convenience of digital cameras and the control of film-based SLR cameras. They have their roots in simple mechanical devices and have grown in to sophisticated electromechanical marvels, yet an exposure still consists of nothing more than a combination of shutter speed and aperture. Read on to learn about selecting the proper shutter speed on your digital SLR camera.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. Determine what your minimum shutter speed is. Your minimum shutter speed may be determined by your subject, your camera setup or both. If you are photographing a subject that is moving at a high rate of speed you will have to use a high shutter speed; anything lower and the subject will not be in focus in the final image. Even if you subject is not moving you will still have a minimum shutter speed below which hand held shots will produce blurry images. A rough way to determine the minimum shutter speed is to invert the focal length of your lens. If you are shooting with a 100-millimeter lens your minimum shutter speed will be 1/100th of a second.
2. Set the desired aperture. Set the camera's aperture based upon what look you would like to achieve in your image: a shallow depth of field to isolate a subject, a wide aperture in low light conditions, or a large depth of field for landscape images; the choice is yours. Set the aperture via the camera's controls on the body of the camera or on the body of the lens.
3. Meter the subject. Using the internal light meter or an external light meter, take a reading off of the subject or the light that the subject will be in. Meter off of known references such as grass and the sky which should be within one or two stops of neutral depending on how light or dark they are. Adjust your shutter speed until a proper exposure is indicated by the light meter. If the shutter speed indicated by the camera is slower than your minimum shutter speed, increase the "iso" value in camera and repeat the process.
4. Take a test shot. Using the shutter speed found while metering and the aperture previously selected take a picture. Using the histogram and image preview look at the image and determine if you need to adjust the shutter speed. If there are any blown highlights increase your shutter speed. If the image is too dark lower your shutter speed and re-shoot. Repeat this process to further fine-tune your shutter speed.

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