Shutter Speed

The most important thing to remember with shutter speed is that is units of 1/x seconds. So if some one says 1000 shutter speed they usually mean 1/1000 of a second. That is why larger number like 1000 shutter speed is faster then a smaller number like 500 shutter speed. Your camera body also might show the full (1/x) shutter speed while other cameras will only show just the (x) number. Again, just remember when talking about shutter speed it is usually 1 over the number. However when you are talking about actual full seconds then most photographers will say "I had my shutter speed at (x) actual seconds"

Check out the video

Lets look at some pictures to see what happens when you change the shutter speed.  

The first picture is a motorcycle traveling about 40km/h through my frame. My camera was stationary and it is set to 1/60 of a second. As you can see during that 1/60 of a second the motorcycle can not be captured because the shutter is open for too long capturing its movement.

Now look at this picture. The camera was set at 1/360 of a second. It does a better job at capturing the motorcycle.

Now look at this picture set at 1/1000 of a second. It captured the motorcycle traveling around 40km/h with out any blur. The shutter speed was set so fast it freezes the moment.