Spent 3 years guessing on shutter speed until a guy at a camera shop in Portland set me straight

I used to just wing it with my aperture priority mode and hope for the best with moving subjects. Then last month this old timer at Pro Photo Supply told me to lock in at 1/250th for street shots and actually check my LCD after every frame. Now I'm kicking myself for all those blurry pictures of my dog running around Laurelhurst Park. Has anyone else had a similar moment where one specific tip just clicked for you?

2 comments

2 Comments

jennifer_west23d ago

Wait are you saying 1/250th was the magic number for any lens or just that specific setup?

raymartin23d ago

Honestly I gotta push back on the 1/250th thing a little bit. That rule works okay for people walking slow but your dog running around Laurelhurst Park is gonna need way faster, like 1/500th or even 1/1000th depending on how fast he's moving. I learned that the hard way too (chasing my kid around the playground for two years with blurry results). The real trick is learning to match your shutter speed to what you're actually shooting, not just picking one number and calling it done.