How to take photos with a slow shutter?

Moose

I was talking with a fellow T2i owner over on my Facebook page and she was wondering about shutter speed; more specifically what it his and how to control it. I thought it would be beneficial to share our conversation with all of you...

Bethany's Reply: Hey Moose, another quick question. What is it when people say "slow shutter" and how do you take those kinds of pictures?

Moose's Reply: The term "slow shutter" refers to a slow shutter speed. The shutter speed is the amount of time that light is exposed to the image sensor. Think of it like eyes and eyelids. Your eye in this case would be the image sensor and your eyelid would be the shutter. When your eyelids open up, light is exposed to your eye. If you were to open and close your eyelids very quickly, you would only see a "moment" in time. This would represent a fast shutter speed. If you were to open your eyes for a couple seconds, you'd be able to see subjects moving. This would represent a slow shutter speed. Slow shutter speeds can capture "light trails" (think postcards of cities where you see the trails of light on the highway), moving water (images where the water appears smooth and silky), and really anything else where you want to capture subject movement.

If you do experiment with slow shutter speeds, make sure you have your T2i mounted to a tripod. If you don't, then your images will be affected by camera shake (the tiny hand movement while holding the camera).

PBked

Not a comment about shutter speed, just a jealous comment about boyfriends surfing as I sit at my computer on a wet, cold dreary day in London, England. How the other half live eh? Regards, PBked

Moose

@PBked - Ha! I know the feeling. :)