TUTORIAL - No Blurry Photos

[timned88]

First let me preface this topic by saying that there are three reasons for blurry photos - and the term "blurry photo" is usually used to mean one of the three reasons. a bit inaccurate, but "blurry photo" is often used by novices as a catch-all term.

1. Improper focus - The focusing mechanism did not fully engage or engaged in error. Rare, but it does happen. Remember a camera is a machine or tool and is not always 100 % perfect.

2. Camera shake - This is due to the shutter speed being too slow for the photographer to hold the camera. This usually happens at lower shutter speeds (less than 1/60 sec) but if the person is very unsteady it can creep up into higher speeds.

3. Motion blur - The subject of the photo is moving too fast for the camera to stop the motor. Again, usually happens at lower shutter speeds but can happen at higher speed if the subject is moving very fast or is fairly close to the camera.

To reduce the chances of getting a "blurry photo" -

Focus
Make sure the focus is locked in and you get your confirmation, whether it's a beep, or a light on the camera, or something in the viewfinder. Don't jump the gun and hold the camera steady.

Use proper photography technique
Hold the camera with two hands, using your right hand to hold the camera and press the shutter and use your left hand to hold the camera under the lens barrel if possible. This might be tough for point and shoot cameras in which case use your left hand on the bottom of the camera. NEVER HOLD THE CAMERA BY BOTH SIDES because you won't be able to hold it steady.

Shutter speed
To enure a sharp image, you need to make sure your shutter is fast enough to eliminate the chance of blur. A rule of thumb for shutter speed is 1/x sec, where x is the focal length. (ie. If your lens is at 135mm, you need to be 1/135sec or faster to ensure a sharp image, slightly faster is your hands are not steady, or lower if your have very steady hands).

Remember to take into account the "crop factor". You need to know what the crop factor on your camera is and increase the shutter speed accordingly. Unless you are using a film camera or a full frame digital camera (of which there a many fewer) there will be a crop factor, also known as a focal length multiplier. in short, it increases the focal length equivalent to something higher than the actual focal length. for example, my Canon 20d has a 1.6x crop factor, meaning that a photo at 100mm has a focal length equivalent of 160mm. This is due to the fact that a 35mm film slide is 1.6 times bigger than the sensor on my camera. There are many different crop factors for all of the different cameras, some are 1.3x, 1.6x, and I had an old point and shoot that was 4.7x. I tell people all the time...KNOW YOUR EQUIPMENT! To find out what the crop factor is, try Googling the make and model of your camera with the words "crop factor" added into the search.

To reduce the chance of motion blur (moving subject is blurry, everything else is sharp) you need to increase the shutter speed. I can't tell all of you how to do this with your particular cameras, but there are two ways to do this as long as you can adjust settings on the camera... 1. Raise the ISO (aka film speed); the higher the ISO, the faster the shutter. 2. Lower the aperture (aka f-number); the lower the f-number the faster the shutter.

There are tradeoffs to either way of doing this...lowering the f-number will decrease the depth of field and raising the ISO will increase the noise or graininess in the image. Depth of field (DOF) refers to the amount of the photo that will be in acceptable focus; portraits where the face is in focus but the background is blurry have shallow DOF and landscape shots were everything is in focus have high DOF. Generally speaking, the "sharpest" f-number for any lens is somewhere is middle of the range. I almost always use between f8 and f11 in outdoor, bright light unless I specifically want a different depth of field.

I encourage you to go to my website, http://www.themagicinpixels.com and check the aperture and shutter speed combinations on a lot of different images in the gallery to see specific examples of what I am talking about in this thread. Hope this helps, and good luck!

 

[0bli0]

good information. inexperience with shallow DOF and having too many active focus points are big reasons people have 'out of focus' issues and you've explained them well. fwiw i seldom use f8 or above, but i have specific reasons for doing so. your suggestions are spot on.

btw don't forget to take the crop factor into account for the 1 over focal length rule!

 

[timned88]

good point about the crop factor...i have updated the original post to include that fact. thanks!

 

[UKDEB]

I know that most others will disagree with me, but I do feel a level of disquiet over these types of posts on Discussion Forums. That's not to say the information isn't useful, nor that it's not provided with the best of intentions, but I would prefer to see it in response to another member's specific question.

You did ask . I haven't voted in the poll - there doesn't seem to be a relevant option for me .

 

[barrie]

Hi Debbie - I guess I'll be the first to disagree with you - I actually like this kind of a post on this board. I feel like a lot of us come to the photography board to learn and I appreciate folks like Tim sharing their knowledge. There will, no doubt, be plenty of discussion to follow. Barrie

 

[eeyoreforever]

Hi Debbie - I guess I'll be the first to disagree with you - I actually like this kind of a post on this board. I feel like a lot of us come to the photography board to learn and I appreciate folks like Tim sharing their knowledge. There will, no doubt, be plenty of discussion to follow. Barrie

I have to agree with Barrie. I have learned a lot of useful information from reading threads like this one. I wouldn't just start asking questions about a lot of things (because I don't know enough to ask the questions), but when I read threads like this I almost always pick up some new information.

 

[jann1033]

i'll third that emotion...while questions are useful, some may not always ask them or even know how to ask about something...this type of thread takes the guess work out of it...

imo, i'm more than happy to listen to someone who knows more than i do especially when it's helpful info like this so i just don't get why some would be bothered by it but like any other thread, if it bothers you, don't go to it. i also think the general "feel" of this board has gone downhill in the past few weeks due to a lack of informative threads like this( which is why i pretty much haven't bothered posting or coming here except to post/look at pictures)

so imo, any more where this came from?

 

[JR6ooo4]

good point about the crop factor...i have updated the original post to include that fact. thanks!

I do not see how the drop factor matters...

a 300 lens is still 300mm no matter what camera you put it on. It just does not capture as wide a field of view with a crop factor camera. So how does that affect the stabilization problem? 1 degree of arc (or camera shake) at 300mm is always 1 degree of movement. Just because the light hits a smaller sensor does not change how much camera shake there is. Or am I confusing myself.

Mikeeee

 

[timned88]

...Or am I confusing myself.

i think you might be making this more technical and complicated that it needs to be

the crop factor takes the image at xxxx mm focal length and essentially crops the outside of the image, leaving only the center of the frame. it's similar to cropping a photo in an editing program, or cutting a paper photo, which essentially makes it look more "zoomed in" than it actually is. picutre a box inside a box...the inside box is the photo with the crop factor, the outside box is the 35mm film frame.

you are right, 300mm is 300mm and a crop factor doesn't change that however it is something that needs to be accounted for as the 300mm is artifically increased due to the smaller sensor size.

maybe you do need to account for it, maybe you don't but i wrote the thread as a guide to novices and if it helps them but having a shutter faster than necessary, so be it.

 

[Groucho]

I don't see any mention of image stabilization (no matter how its done.) I believe I read that you use mostly IS lenses, so someone attempting to take the same photo at the same focal length, aperture, and shutter speed may find blurriness that isn't in your photo, just because they lack IS.

I just don't want someone to get frustrated if they try to follow all the "rules" but consistently find their photos less sharp than someone else taking the picture with all the same settings, but with IS, which can give you an extra 2-3 stops.

FWIW, I agree that crop factor shouldn't be an issue. It's no different than taking your 35mm prints and slicing off a bit on each side - it won't change the blurriness of the picture at all.

 

[PoohJen]

I enjoyed the quick tutorial.

First, it was a quick, light lunchtime read! Also, I too may be too novice to even know what questions to be asking.

Thanks for the useful tip/explanation

 

[JR6ooo4]

i think you might be making this more technical and complicated that it needs to be

the crop factor takes the image at xxxx mm focal length and essentially crops the outside of the image, leaving only the center of the frame. it's similar to cropping a photo in an editing program, or cutting a paper photo, which essentially makes it look more "zoomed in" than it actually is. picutre a box inside a box...the inside box is the photo with the crop factor, the outside box is the 35mm film frame.

you are right, 300mm is 300mm and a crop factor doesn't change that however it is something that needs to be accounted for as the 300mm is artifically increased due to the smaller sensor size.

So you agree that it makes no difference as far as holding the camera still?
And the only time you can visualize the scenario is when you have both cameras and view both photos at the same length of a common side, ie 8x10, whether it is on the monitor or printed.

I appreciate your efforts with this tutorial. I just wanted to make sure I did not have a misconception.

thanks
Mikeeee

 

[fitzperry]

I don't see any mention of image stabilization (no matter how its done.) I believe I read that you use mostly IS lenses, so someone attempting to take the same photo at the same focal length, aperture, and shutter speed may find blurriness that isn't in your photo, just because they lack IS.

I just don't want someone to get frustrated if they try to follow all the "rules" but consistently find their photos less sharp than someone else taking the picture with all the same settings, but with IS, which can give you an extra 2-3 stops.

FWIW, I agree that crop factor shouldn't be an issue. It's no different than taking your 35mm prints and slicing off a bit on each side - it won't change the blurriness of the picture at all.

The 1/focal length rule of thumb pre-dates IS. In other words, if you follow that guideline, you should be ok regardless of whether your camera or lens has IS. If you do have IS, then you'll be able to get away with a shutter speed that is a couple of stops slower.

FWIW, I agree about the crop factor too. I don't see why it would make a difference.

 

[fitzperry]

I know that most others will disagree with me, but I do feel a level of disquiet over these types of posts on Discussion Forums. That's not to say the information isn't useful, nor that it's not provided with the best of intentions, but I would prefer to see it in response to another member's specific question.

You did ask . I haven't voted in the poll - there doesn't seem to be a relevant option for me .

FWIW, I think it actually provides good fodder for discussion, as demonstrated by the discussion that has ensued concerning the effect of digital crop factors on shutter speed/blur. I also agree with Jann that things haven't been as interesting around here lately, so I'm pleased to see some discussion/debate.

 

[JR6ooo4]

I also agree with Jann that things haven't been as interesting around here lately, so I'm pleased to see some discussion/debate.

Ya, I found myself elsewhere talking about animals stuck in chimneys..., and why I don't have any tags. I need to go shooting this weekend!

Mikeeee

 

[makinorlando]

i'll third that emotion...while questions are useful, some may not always ask them or even know how to ask about something...this type of thread takes the guess work out of it...

imo, i'm more than happy to listen to someone who knows more than i do especially when it's helpful info like this so i just don't get why some would be bothered by it but like any other thread, if it bothers you, don't go to it. i also think the general "feel" of this board has gone downhill in the past few weeks due to a lack of informative threads like this( which is why i pretty much haven't bothered posting or coming here except to post/look at pictures)

so imo, any more where this came from?

 

[timned88]

let's not make this thread into anything more than it was intented to be. a helpful guide so people can get some better images. there have been a lot of theads about "all my photos are blurry", etc etc. so i was trying to help

my advice in the thread was just that. advice. if you don't want to use it, then don't use it. if you learned something new great. hopefully the majority of readers here will find something useful to try so they have better success and less frustration.

let's not get overburdened with technical details and semantics and stick to the fun of taking and sharing great photos.

 

[UKDEB]

let's not make this thread into anything more than it was intented to be. a helpful guide so people can get some better images

But you did post a poll.

 

[jann1033]

Ya, I found myself elsewhere talking about animals stuck in chimneys..., and why I don't have any tags. I need to go shooting this weekend!

Mikeeee

it might be illegal to shoot tagged animals in chimneys...maybe check your local ordinances

 

[boBQuincy]

jr60004 was correct the first time, the crop factor has no effect on shutter speed blur since it has no effect on focal length. Technical details are important when discussing technical subjects.


"Tutorials" such as this one can be helpful to someone who is looking for advice with their photography but the writer must be very careful to avoid spreading any misinformation. Crop factor misinformation is a prime suspect since it has been explained in many ways, most of them incorrect.


It is also good to have someone proofread the article first, to avoid any spelling or grammar errors (personal crusade).