Mirror Slap is a form of camera shake due to the vibration caused by the mirror in an SLR flipping out of the way before a shot. This vibration can be avoided using a mirror lock.
Mirror slap vibrations can be critical when you are doing telephoto and macro photography. At higher shutter speeds these vibrations aren't significant.
If you want to see what mirror slap looks like, firmly mount your camera on a tripod and attach your highest magnification lens, either a big telephoto or a high-power macro lens. Point it at something flat with clear, sharp detail.
A phenomenon known as mirror slap can detract from the sharpness of a photo. The shutter speeds that present the greatest amount of slap range from one half second to one thirtieth. They are most impacted using lenses 200mm and longer.
This more or less commits certain photographers (macroscopy enthusiasts for example) to the purchase of a remote release in order to avoid blur caused by vibrations from camera movement and/or mirror slap.
The simple solution to avoid blur caused by mirror slap is to flip up the mirror, wait at least a second or two to let the vibrations die down and then take the photo. There are two basic ways that cameras can do this.
Also, you should use a camera that has a mirror locking feature, a mirror slap can cause an object in space to move thousands of miles.
There is often a ring of soft material around the focusing screen, which helps to both cushion the impact of the mirror slapping up and helps seal the mirror box from light entering through the eye piece.
 See also: Camera, Lens, SLR, Shutter, Light
  
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