Interiors? Shutter Speed at 1/60th of a Second

Shooting interiors without a flash? Don’t go any longer than 1/60th of a second. But why will setting your camera’s shutter speed to 1/60th of a second benefit you? I can start by saying that 1/60th isn’t a magic number for many shots, but it is a magic number for most people shooting interiors handheld. Anything slower than 1/60th of a second and you will likely get motion blur, as most people can’t hold still for longer than that. Sure, the occasional photograph can be attained from longer handheld exposures, but most photographers have several factors against them that will affect their picture:

1. Heartbeat. Yes, our hearts do beat, and even more so when you have to stop for a few seconds and grab a shot.
2. Breathing. We all breath and when we stop for a few seconds, our heart seems to pick up the pace…
3. Standing. As bipeds, our brain keeps our body from falling over at all times while standing. While it’s difficult to put our finger on an exact number of calculations per second, it is needless to say that everyone has a bit of wobbling going on while standing.
4. Arms. To hold a camera up and “steady”, our brain is again making calculations and sending the information to our shoulders, arms, and fingers. Whether we want it to happen or not, our arms have some wobble…

Put all four of the above together and 1/60th of a second seems like an eternity. Some photographers (often attributed with becoming an older photographer) may be slightly more shakey and even need a slightly faster shutter speed, like 1/100th of a second, so that motion blur isn’t present in the shot. But the problem is that interiors are usually ill-lit (i.e., not a lot of light for wiggle room).

Without a decent amount of light, a photographer can’t always get the best shots. Sure, a photographer can bump up the ISO speeds, but that will introduce grain. Even more, many cameras don’t go above ISO 800, meaning there’s not a lot of help from your camera’s ISO. A photographer can open the aperture up, but many photographers don’t have a fast enough lens (they cost money) to allow enough light to come thru (the lens) and get a proper exposure…

Back to the 1/60th of a second shutter speed… It’s really a fine line to walk on – but shooting interiors at 1/60th of a second will buy you enough speed to keep the camera stable for the amount of time necessary, and also allow you enough light to get that properly exposed shot. Using too fast a shutter speed inside, one needs to watch for underexposure. Using too slow of a shutter speed means one must watch for motion blur…

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