June 2021 • Nebraskaland 37
your image to be darker or brighter, you can simply adjust
both the shutter speed and aperture the same number of
increments. On most cameras, that means if you rotate your
shutter speed knob three clicks one way, you have to rotate
your aperture knob three clicks the other way to maintain
the same exposure. Depending upon how much control
you want, you can make all those adjustments yourself.
Otherwise, your camera will handle either the shutter speed
or aperture decisions — or both.
However, while shutter speed and aperture are
complementary, the decisions you make about those settings
have important ramifi cations. For example, if you want more
depth of fi eld and tell your camera to close down the aperture,
you'll need a slower shutter speed to get enough light to make
a nice image. That can create problems if you're trying to
freeze the action of a deer jumping a fence or a fl ower waving
back and forth in a breeze.
Shutter Speed and Blur
A fast shutter speed helps prevent blurry photos as a result
of your hands shaking slightly while holding the camera. For
In this photo, the fl ower is sharply focused. The background is not totally sharp, but still contributes to the
photo. Wide-angle lenses naturally have more depth of fi eld than lenses with a longer focal length, making depth of fi eld
less of an issue.
