How to Stop Taking Blurry Pictures

There may be times that you want an image to be blurry. The pictured image of a running doe and fawn was taken on a tripod and the tripod was panned during exposure to add a sense of movement to the image. In most cases though, you want to freeze the action of an image to define the ultimate moment of the scene. There are a number of reasons that images are blurry, but the most important factor is the movement of the camera during exposure. If the camera moves, the image will blur. I know that most of us like to think we are as steady as a rock, but we aren’t. The place to start, however, is with the equipment. Make sure the front and back elements of the lens are clean. Dirty lens elements can be a major contributor to image degradation. Follow the tips in my article, “How to Clean a Digital Camera” and then read this article to discover the road to sharper pictures.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Camera
• Tripod
• Patience

1. 
   Know The Equipment

   When shooting with a hand-held camera, try leaning against a rail, building or tree to steady your body during exposure. It is actually more difficult to steady the camera when holding it at arms length and using the screen of a digital camera. It is easier to steady yourself while looking through the viewfinder during exposure. The exposure of an image is caused by light, shutter speed and aperture. Aperture is controlled through the iris, the smaller the iris, the less light strikes the sensor. However, smaller apertures improve depth of field. Make your decision about aperture first. Shutter speed controls the amount of time the shutter is open and letting light strike the sensor. The faster the shutter speeds, the faster the action you can freeze. When photographing sports you should have a shutter speed of 1/500th of a second minimum. Faster is better for freezing action. Adjust the ISO sensitivity so that you can achieve faster shutter speeds.

2. 
   Mini Tripod

   Use a tripod whenever you can. Get to know your tripod; have a relationship with it. I believe a serious photographer needs two tripods: a large sturdy tripod used for scenic views and portraits at the best ISO sensitivity to capture the detail. This may require slow shutter speeds and small apertures and even the use of a cable release to make sure you have no camera movement. The second should be a mini tripod that you can pack up in your camera bag. Sometimes I just can’t carry a big tripod with me.

3. 
   Know Your Lens

   Take the time to know your lenses. Longer focal length lenses are great for sports but very heavy. I can steady a 200mm lens at a shutter speed of 1/500th of a second. The more zoomed in you are to your subject, the more difficult it is to steady the camera. Larger lenses have image stabilization systems but they can be very expensive.

4. 
   Test your Steadiness

   Test your own ability at each different shutter speed. Take hand-held pictures of an object that doesn’t move. Take a picture at each shutter speed with each lens. Review the images and see which ones are blurry. This will give you a personal guideline as to when you need to get out the tripod. Blurred motion can be great way to photograph moving objects but only if you can control it. Take the time to learn your own limitations so you can make creative decisions about when to use slow shutter speeds with bodies in motion.

Tips & Warnings

• Experiment with blurred motion. Take pictures of something in motion at different shutter speeds. Learn how to use blurred motion to create artistic images.

[cmemove]

on 9/2/2009 great tips.

[jseven]

on 8/26/2009 Thanks for the great tips, I like the new digital cameras a lot!

[franchesca]

on 8/26/2009 Great advice! I have to work on taking clearer pictures as I tend to move the camera when I click the picture.*

[jenng]

on 8/24/2009 Great article on How to Stop Taking Blurry Pictures 5*

[luvzbooks]

on 8/24/2009 This article gives great info. I especially like the tip about learning your own capabilities (i.e. experiementing with which settings you can personally use that won't result in blurry pictures.)