In order to master shutter speeds, it is critical that you understand the math of fractions. I know many of you may grandeur this idea, but it is worth it. If you can not learn fractions at best, you will be a very mediocre photographer. You have to understand this relationship.

So, I designed this little quiz, so we can see how fractions and shutter speeds work together. Keep in mind these keywords faster, slower, longer, shorter. Okay.

Now, intuitively when we think about fractions, it is easy to get confused. So let us start off simple. If I had a shutter speed of one second and I wanted to increase it 10 times or to be 10 times longer, how long would that be? If you said 10 seconds, you are absolutely right. That was pretty easy.

Now, if I wanted to take a one second shutter speed and make it 10 times faster, how fast would that be? If you said 1/10th of a second, you are correct.

If I had a shutter speed 1/10th of a second and I wanted it to be 10 times faster, you would say it would be 1/100th of a second. And 10 times faster than 1/100th of a second would be what? That is right. It would be 1/1000th of a second.

Now, up to this point, it has been pretty easy. Okay. So I am going to throw you a little curve ball here and I am going to ask you. If you had a shutter speed on 1/100th of a second, what would be twice as long? Now, what was that? Say it out loud. What is twice as long as 1/100th of second? You have to actually say it out loud before the DVD will continue. The DVD would not work unless you say it out loud. Okay. If you said 1/200th of a second, that is incorrect. The answer is 1/50th of a second because 1/100th plus 1/100th is to 1/100th which is really 1/50th of a second. Okay.

Now, I know you are ready to redeem yourself. What is four times as fast as 1/25th of a second? So, four times faster than 1/25th of a second, what is it? You got to say it out loud. If you said 1/100th of a second, you are correct.

Now, five times as long as 1/500th of a second, what is five times as long or—if I said five times slower that 1/500th of a second. If you said 1/100th of a second, you are correct.

Now, the reason why we did this quiz is so you can understand how the fractions which are the measurements of shutter speed relate to the length of time they are open. You have to understand this relationship. Just keep in mind that the longer the shutter speed, the more light you will have.

A shutter speed which is open twice as long as another will allow twice as much light to enter the camera. If there is any confusion, go ahead and replay this portion of the DVD until you master this concept.