5 WAYS TO AVOID BLURRY PICTURES

Nothing is more annoying than to get home and upload your photos only to find out that the pictures you thought were terrific are nothing but rejects because they are blurry. Blurry pictures are the most common problem many photographers face, particularly those just starting. Note that not all blurry pictures are a problem. Some blurriness in a photo is desirable or even sought after. You have probably heard about bokeh (an out-of-focus look caused by the lens). That kind of blur is pleasing. The problem is an undesirable blur, making your images difficult to view.

While so many computer programs on the market claim to fix blurry pictures, most blurry pictures are beyond the capabilities of even the most sophisticated post-processing software. Therefore, understanding the common causes of blurry pictures is essential.

There are many reasons why pictures can end up blurry, from hardware (lens) to software (faulty camera processors). Here, we focus on five of the most common mistakes by photographers that cause blurry pictures. These are camera shake, poor focusing mode choice, aperture choice, and shutter speed choice.

Blurry pictures can be avoided in-camera by understanding and hence preventing these common causes of blurry images. The key is to take the time to access the subject and the shooting conditions, leading to a better choice of equipment and camera settings. Let’s start with camera shake.

1 CAMERA SHAKE

As the name implies, when the camera shakes while the shutter is open, the image will be blurry. When shooting a stationary object, any movement of the camera while the shutter is open will be recorded by the camera as a blur. Camera shake is one of the most common reasons pictures turn out blurry. It is easy for the camera to move; a simple act of breathing can shake the camera, and shooting handheld with a slow shutter speed or when you are zoomed in on a small area can cause the camera to move. 

The camera itself can also create vibrations, which can destabilize the camera. The mechanical movement of the mirror inside the camera can cause the camera to vibrate. Mirror movement is a problem, especially with digital SLR (single lens reflex) cameras (mirrorless cameras, as the name implies, have no mirror; hence, they are unaffected by this problem). For SLR cameras to expose the sensor, a mirror which sits between the sensor and the lens must first move up before the shutter opens. The movement of the mirror can cause the camera to vibrate, introducing a camera shake. The camera shake problems can worsen when using a longer lens with a slow shutter speed.

How to avoid camera shake

The solution to prevent blurry pictures caused by camera shake is to ensure the camera is stable. One of the most common tools to stabilize the camera is a tripod. Mounting your camera on a sound and sturdy tripod ensures that the camera is sturdy and will remain sturdy as the picture is taken, freezing any camera shake.

What about camera shake caused by the movement of the mirror? Apart from using a shorter lens and a fast shutter speed, there is a trick to eliminating this kind of camera shake. The trick is to set your camera to mirror lock mode before taking the photo. In this mode, the camera will move the mirror up, lock, and open the shutter. By moving and locking the mirror before the shutter opens, the camera can stabilize any movement introduced by the mechanical movement of the mirror, producing a sharp, blur-free image.

There are other tools and ways of reducing camera shake. These include the use of wired or wireless remote camera triggers. Using these tools ensures that the photographer does not touch the camera, eliminating camera shake caused by the photographer pressing the shutter button. An external trigger with a sturdy tripod is helpful, especially when using low shutter speeds (below 1/60 sec). If you do not have an external trigger, worry not because your camera has a built-in alternative. The timer in your camera can yield the same results as an external shutter trigger. The timer on your camera delays the triggering of the shutter by a set amount of time. This delay is ideal for reducing camera shake as it gives the camera time to stabilize any movement caused by internal or external factors.

2 POOR FOCUSING MODE CHOICE (single vs. continuous)

One of the most significant innovations in photography was the introduction of autofocus. Back in the day, the only way to get your subject in focus was to move the focusing ring while checking the viewfinder to see if the subject was in focus. 

With autofocus, the camera takes the task of making sure that the picture is in focus. To focus, the camera uses one of the two available focusing modes. The two focusing methods, which are called by different names depending on the manufacturer but operate similarly, are continuous focus (AF-C for Nikon, Al Servo AF for Cannon) and single focus (AF-S for Nikon, Al Servo AF for Cannon). How the camera will set focus depends on the focusing method established by the photographer. Poor choice of focusing mode by the photographer can lead to blurry pictures. This problem can be avoided by understanding how these two methods work, which will enable the photographer to choose the right focusing mode based on the shooting situation.

Continuous Focus

In this mode, the camera keeps focusing as the subject moves. If you press the shutter button halfway, the camera’s autofocus system will keep tracking the subject, refocusing every time the subject moves. Pushing the shutter down stops focus tracking and opens the shutter to expose the frame. Because focusing is not locked, this mode is ideal for moving subjects, which must be tracked to keep them in focus as they move. For example, if you photograph children, selecting a continuous focus mode to track their movements is good. For this reason, sports photographers prefer this mode to keep the athletes in focus as they move.

Single Focus

In this mode, focusing is locked on a single point. When the shutter button is pressed halfway, the camera focuses, and once the subject is in focus, it locks focus at that point. If the subject moves, the camera focus does not track the subject. It stays locked at the original focus point.

This mode is, therefore, ideal for a stationary subject and in situations where a specific part of your scene is to be in focus, in which case you focus on the part you want, recompose the shot and take the picture. For example, in portraiture, eyes must be in focus. You can focus on the eyes using a single-focus mode and recompose your image and shot. The eyes will remain sharp if the subject does not move out of the plane of focus.

When taking pictures, it is essential to assess the shooting environment to determine the ideal focusing mode. Choosing the wrong focus mode can fool the camera into missing focus or focusing on the wrong area, resulting in blurry pictures.

Tip: Back button focusing is a trick that will help to move between these two focusing modes seamlessly. Back-button focusing decouples focusing from the shutter and uses the AF/AE button. This way, holding the AF/AE button keeps focussing on (continuous focusing mode), and letting the button go locks the focus (single focusing mode). Consult your camera manual or check online how to set this up in your camera.

3 APERTURE CHOICE

The aperture is the size of the lens opening. The f-stop number represents the size of the lens opening. A lower number represents a wide opening of the lens, and a bigger number represents a smaller lens opening. F-stop 2 is, therefore, larger than a stop of F-12. The F-stop numbering system can seem counter-intuitive, but an easy way to remember the relationship between the F-stop number and lens opening is to treat the F-stop as a fraction. F/2 as a fraction is greater than f/12; hence, f/2 has a wider aperture opening than f/12.

The size of the lens opening has a bearing on the image’s overall sharpness. Otherwise known as depth of field, it is the difference in sharpness between objects in the foreground and those in the background. When the objects in the foreground are sharp and those in the background are not, the image is said to have a shallow depth of field.

Because the aperture controls the depth of field, knowing what f-stop number to use is essential to not only have sharp pictures but also to avoid blurry pictures. If you want your image to be sharp from foreground to background, the lens must be closed down, dialling in a higher f-stop number such as f16. To throw the background out of focus (bokeh effect), the lens must be opened using a lower f-stop number like f1.2.

Before you dial in your settings, assess the depth of field you are trying to achieve and choose the appropriate aperture. If you photograph a group of people, closing down the lens is better to avoid throwing people in the back out of focus. For personal portraits with a busy background, it’s better to open up the lens; this will make the background blurry, making your subject stand out

4 SHUTTER SPEED CHOICE

Poor shutter speed choice is another major cause of blurry pictures. The shutter speed you choose directly affects how sharp the image will be. When shooting handheld or with a longer lens, selecting a shutter speed that is not appropriate will magnify camera or subject movement into picture blur. To avoid this issue, we must understand the working of the camera shutter.

The film or sensor within the camera must be exposed to light to take a picture. Proper exposure will be achieved when the amount of time the shutter is open matches the amount of light in the scene. Because the film\sensor is sensitive to light, it must be covered and opened when reading the light. The time the shutter is open to allow in light is called shutter speed. This duration of time can range from as long as needed (bulb mode) to a fraction of a second. How does shutter speed affect the image?

When the shutter is opened, recording the light into a picture begins. As long as the shutter is open, the camera will keep reading the light stopping when the shutter closes. If there is movement when the shutter is open, it will show as a blur in the resulting picture. The longer you keep the shutter open, the more you will capture the motion of moving objects. To eliminate this effect, therefore, a proper shutter speed must be chosen to freeze movement. 

If you are photographing stationary objects and the camera is stable, the shutter speed you choose will not have any blurring effect on the picture. On the other hand, when your subject is moving, a fast shutter speed must be set. By using a fast shutter speed, the camera will not have enough time to record the movement of your subject. The result is frozen movement and no picture blur.

It is imperative, therefore, to set a fast shutter speed if you are shooting handheld to counter camera shake and using a long focal length to combat the magnifying effect a longer lens has on body movement. A rule of thumb when shooting handheld is to, at the very least, match the shutter speed to the focal length. If you are shooting at 100mm, your shutter speed at the bare minimum should be 1\100 of a second. At this speed, your images will be sharper and without blur.

5 FINAL THOUGHTS

Believe it or not, rushing to take a picture before assessing the scene and envisioning the final result can lead to blurry images. Photography is an art form. The photographer must first have a vision of the outcome before clicking the shutter button. Work backward, start with the end goal and then map your way to that goal. Imagine telling your GPS to calculate the fastest route to a destination you did not indicate. The GPS can’t determine the best route to an unknown destination.

Unfortunately, this is how many photographers operate – point the camera and trigger the shutter. If you take the time to figure out your ‘destination,’ you can devise the necessary tools, tripods, etc. and the proper setting to get you the picture you want.

Next time you go out to take pictures, assess your shooting environment and what kind of image you want before you take your camera out. This step will help you think about what settings you need to get a sharp and not blurry picture!