How long should your shutter speed be to blur the motion?

When you ask a professional photographer or some photography expert that 'how long should your shutter speed be to blur the motion?', the first thing they would ask you is the speed of your subject. The speed at which your subject is moving plays a greater role while deciding for the shutter speed. Capturing a walking kid is obviously different that capturing a racing car. Capturing them both at the same shutter speed will give different results.

The other important factor that you should consider to determine shutter speed is the light. What kind of lighting conditions you will be working in, what quality of light will be available, what is your light source etc. are the questions that you should ask yourself. A longer shutter speed lets more light into your camera. If the amount of light is uncontrolled, there exists a risk of blowing out or overexposing your shot. If you control or set your camera to let less light in or have controlled light in, you will be able to click clear and sharp shots.

So, how long should your shutter speed be to blur the motion? To be honest, there's no exact and precise answer. Because it varies from situation to situation. Setting up a shutter speed depends on many conditions than just a specific one. The main factor being the speed of your subject. It also depends on how much blur you want to capture and how well lit the subject is. The key is to experiment (something that a digital camera is ideal for as you can take as many shots as you like without it costing you anything).