The phase-shifting method is a powerful tool for analyzing the phase information of fringe patterns. This paper presents the fundamental principle of the newly developed spatiotemporal phase-shifting method (ST-PSM) and its applications in non-contact three-dimensional shape measurement. The simulation results show that ST-PSM can significantly reduce random noise, and eliminate the influence of nonlinear response and small dynamic range of image sensor on the measurement results. The experimental results show that ST-PSM can perform stable non-contact shape measurement under extremely low exposure conditions.