Shutter Speed Doesn’t Matter in the Studio
Did the headline make your head spin? Well, it was supposed to, and it’s almost always true. In practical terms, shutter speed plays a very small role in the studio. I’m speaking about situations where you’re working with strobes, with little to no ambient light and within practical shutter ranges and ISO values one typically uses in the studio.
There is one caveat, and that’s an all-important shutter speed setting known as your maximum flash sync speed. This setting is critical to your success in the studio and in mixed-light situations. Your camera’s maximum flash sync speed is the fastest shutter speed at which you can successfully use flash. Maximum flash sync speeds differ from camera to camera, but generally fall somewhere between 1/160 and 1/250 of a second for DSLRs with mechanical shutters, and higher for cameras with electronic shutters and medium-format digital cameras equipped with leaf shutters.
