My “Nikon D3 Shutter Release in Super Slow Motion” post from two weeks ago, in which I offered a nice presentation of the ingenious work by Marianne Oelund, garnered quite a lot of attention, quickly becoming the most popular post on my blog (which perhaps doesn't say much, but in any case, it's still – two weeks later – getting many thousands of views a day).

A lot of people have commented that they had no idea that a camera shutter was so complex, and for the most part, that's okay because, for the most part, photographers really don't need to be concerned with how the shutter works.

For the most part.

There are two situations in which knowledge of how a shutter works can really benefit a photographer:

1. when the subject being photographed is moving very quickly (e.g. the prop of a plane)
2. when using a flash

If you are a photographer who might ever face either situation, you owe it to yourself to read Derek Miller's most excellent:

It's a really excellent writeup about how the shutter design and operation is deeply related to how flash photography can be done. For example, it explains in a clear, concise manner “flash sync speed” and other mysteries.

Even if you never intend to use a flash, or to photograph something moving really quickly, if you're at all a camera geek, you'll love his writeup.

I can't believe it hasn't been mentioned on Strobist yet. I'm sure it's only a matter of time.