Look at your exposure dial for the big letter ‘S’ and you’ve found Shutter Priority mode. If you’re a Canon user you’ll be hunting for ‘Tv’ on the dial. Canon calls it Time Value just to be different.



Shutter Priority allows you to preset the shutter speed and the camera will pick the correct aperture for proper exposure. Sports and action photographers are most likely to use this mode. They need to make sure the shutter speed is high enough to stop the action they are shooting. You could also use Shutter Priority to preset an appropriate sync speed when using your flash. Great for those times when using fill flash outdoors.



Depending on your lighting conditions, it is possible to try to set an unusable shutter speed. Your camera will give you some sort of Error message in the viewfinder. My Nikon D70 displays a ‘Hi’ or ‘Lo’ to tell me I’m outside the usable range. The solution is to change the shutter speed until the error goes away. Sometimes, like in low light conditions, you may have to bump up the ISO in order to get an appropriate shutter speed.



Whereas Sports mode tries to push the shutter speed as high as possible, Shutter Priority lets you use the full range. You get to decide whether to use a sow or fast shutter speed. Try Shutter Priority the next few times you’re out shooting and see if it’s a useful tool for your style of shooting.