Tips for Setting Shutter Speed for Wildlife Photography
A resident of Stoughton, Massachusetts, Peter Nakhili serves as the Lead Flight Coordinator at Jets.com in Weymouth. In this role, he coordinates aircraft on all flight requests, organizes and monitors all logistics pertaining to flights, and tracks and maintains flights on all client and operator levels, both internally and externally. In his free time, Peter Nakhili enjoys fishing and photography.
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Shutter speed is an important setting in wildlife photography because most animals move around. The appropriate shutter speed for animal photography varies depending on a number of factors, including the type of animal, activity level, and camera lens. Slow shutter speeds, even as low as 1/100th of a second, are appropriate for still animals. For subjects that are in a constant state of motion, a shutter speed of 1/500th is often sufficient. To create a sharp photograph of a running subject, you should set the shutter speed to 1/1000th of a second. For flying birds, 1/1250th of a second is generally appropriate.
For cameras that work in aperture priority mode, shutter speed depends on the aperture. Choosing a smaller f-stop number results in a faster shutter speed, and vice versa. If your camera doesn’t offer manual aperture or shutter speed control, you’ll have options for switching to different auto scenes. For example, the sports scene will direct the camera to prioritize a fast shutter speed for capturing motion and creating sharp results.
Originally published at https://www.tumblr.com on June 22, 2023.
