Knowing and understanding what Shutter Speed is:

For centuries big thinkers have been fascinated with time. Visionaries from all over the world of all shapes, colors, and sizes have tried to master the forward moving machine that has no mercy. That may be what makes the camera so powerful. A camera can trap time or moments with the press of a button. This stops motion and shows you the details. In the process of speeding up, or slowing down frames, this has to do with adjusting the shutter speed. If you've ever seen a picture of a subject that looks still but the background is moving, this is an example of the photographer adjusting the shutter speed. When light travels through a camera's lens there is a shutter that opens. How long this shutter is open is in contrast to the camera's adjusted shutter speed. One second of the shutter being open may show the water flowing from the facet, while 1/800 of a second may show little pieces of the water flowing from the facet. Here is a good way to try your own experiment of shutter speed without the camera: draw each frame of the running motion of a stick figure; then put the pictures together and breeze through them. It will look as if the stick figure is running. Not only is this an example of shutter speed, but it has a lot to do with animation and cinematography as well. In each image you will see different things. When you put the images in sequence you will not only get a glimpse of time, but you will get different perceptions of motion while moving through time. A better way to understand shutter speed would be to say, "If you could trap time and control motion while being able to view it,  adjust your shutter speed."