![\"\u00a9](\"http:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Untitled_Panorama31-2.jpg\" "\\"Night")
<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a9 by Paul Martini, used with permission<\/p>\n
Causes of Blurry Photographs and Their Cures<\/h3>\n
Hand held photography always runs the risk of getting blurry photographs because of camera movement at the moment the shutter button is pressed.\u00a0 Landscape photographers eliminate that problem by using the greatest image stabilization device ever created, the tripod.<\/p>\n
But you can still get sharp hand held images if you follow this simple rule.\u00a0 If your shutter speed is fast enough a slight movement of the camera will not show up.\u00a0 The rule of thumb here is to have a shutter speed as least as fast as 1\/(lens focal length).\u00a0 For example, if you are shooting with a 50mm lens then your shutter speed must be 1\/50 of a second or faster.\u00a0 If you\u2019re shooting with a 400mm lens then you need a shutter speed of 1\/400 of a second or faster.\u00a0 If you have an image stabilized lens then you can shoot with slower shutter speeds.\u00a0 For example, if your image stabilized lens gives you a 2 stop advantage then with the 50mm lens you can photograph at 1\/12 of a second and with your 400mm lens you can photograph at 1\/100 of a second.<\/p>\n
And you can still get blurry images when photographing from a tripod.\u00a0 There are lots of ways this can happen.\u00a0 First and foremost is touching the camera or tripod when the shutter fires.\u00a0 Pressing the shutter button is the way this can happen.\u00a0 That\u2019s why we use remote releases connected to your camera.\u00a0 You press the button on the remote release which triggers the shutter \u2013 hands free.<\/p>\n
There is another more subtle cause of blur \u2013 camera vibration.\u00a0 This is generally caused by \u2018mirror flap.\u2019\u00a0 In digital SLRs when the shutter is activated a mirror inside the camera flips up out of the way, allowing the light to pass through to the sensor.\u00a0 When the mirror snaps into place it sends vibrations throughout the camera.\u00a0 These vibrations actually travel not only through the camera but through the tripod all the way down to the ground.\u00a0 You can prove this to yourself.\u00a0 Rest your hand on your tripod leg and fire the shutter.\u00a0 You\u2019ll fell the vibrations from the mirror flap.\u00a0 Mirror flap only becomes a problem at the longer focal lengths, say 100mm and up with the effect getting stronger as focal lengths get higher.\u00a0 When you get up to 300mm and 400mm and above it\u2019s a big problem.<\/p>\n
There are a couple of ways to eliminate mirror flap.\u00a0 One is to use mirror lockup.\u00a0 This means you press the shutter twice \u2013 once to flip the mirror up and again to fire the shutter.\u00a0 If you wait a few seconds between the first and second shutter press you will give the vibrations in the camera and tripod time to settle down.\u00a0 In some cameras you can set the drive to a 2 second or 10 second delay.\u00a0 With mirror lockup turned on a single press of the shutter will flip up the mirror, wait 2 seconds and then fire the shutter.\u00a0 Yet another way to eliminate mirror flap vibrations is to photograph while in live view.\u00a0 The mirror is already up.\u00a0 My personal preference is mirror lockup with the two second delay.\u00a0 When I\u2019m shooting with my 100-400 lens I\u2019ll often use a 10 second delay.<\/p>\n
Even when shooting from a tripod another thing that can cause blur is anything that disturbs the tripod.\u00a0 If you\u2019re touching the tripod when the shutter fires you may giggle it just a little which would transfer the motion to the camera.\u00a0 So don\u2019t be touching the tripod either when\u00a0the shutter is pressed.\u00a0 But wind can also move the tripod.\u00a0 I keep the strap on my camera because when I\u2019m walking around doing hand held photography I want the protection of the strap around my neck.\u00a0 But on a tripod the strap can blow in the wind and that can cause camera motion.\u00a0 So I hold the strap to keep it from flapping when the shutter fires.<\/p>\n
Focus<\/h2>\n
The other cause of fuzzy photographs is that they are not focused correctly.\u00a0 You can tell when this is the problem because there will generally be some part of the image that is in focus and other parts that are not.\u00a0 For example, the distant mountains may be in focus but the foreground is not. or it may be the other way around.<\/p>\n
This effect often times can be desirable.\u00a0 When photographing people out of doors it\u2019s very appealing to have their face sharp but the background out of focus.\u00a0 Also in macro photography it\u2019s common to have the bee in the flower in sharp focus but everything else out of focus.\u00a0 So once again, if it\u2019s intentional, if it supports your creative vision, out of focus is a good thing.\u00a0 But if it\u2019s unintentional, it\u2019s going to be a disappointment.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s an example of a challenging situation I faced in Minnesota\u2019s North Woods along the Cascade River.\u00a0 The twisted roots of the\u00a0 tree are just a couple of feet from the lens but the waterfall is at least 100 yards away. \u00a0But they are all in focus.<\/p>\n
Cascade Falls (2011) There are two primary causes of out of focus or improperly focused photographs.\u00a0 There may be insufficient depth of field or the wrong thing may have been what was focused on (wrong focal distance).\u00a0 Let\u2019s take up focal distance first.<\/p>\n What you focus on is very important in determining what will be in focus and what will not.\u00a0 It\u2019s possible to have a photograph where only part of it is in focus because you focused on the wrong object.\u00a0 Had you focused on the right object it would have all been in focus.<\/p>\n Your DSLR has an array of focusing points.\u00a0 When you photograph in auto-focus mode the camera decides which focusing points to use and therefore what to focus on; in other words, it determines the focal distance.\u00a0 And in most situations it does an excellent job.\u00a0 But sometimes it is fooled and it focuses on the wrong object.\u00a0 There are a couple of things you can do when this happens.\u00a0 You can override the camera\u2019s selection of focusing points and tell it which focusing point to use.\u00a0 That way you can control your focal distance.<\/p>\n Of you can switch to manual focus and do it all yourself.\u00a0 With live view this becomes a very precise way to focus.\u00a0 You select the object you want to focus on and in live view you move the little rectangular viewing area over that object and increase the magnification to 10x.\u00a0 Now you can get a very precise focus on that object.<\/p>\n But how do you know what object to focus on?\u00a0 If you have a near\/far composition in which you have a foreground, middle ground and background you want to focus on an object that is twice the distance to the closest object in your composition.\u00a0 For example, if the nearest object is 10 feet from your lens, you want to focus on an object that is 20 feet away.\u00a0 This is the most accurate method.\u00a0 But another method that works almost as well is, when viewing your composition in live view, select an object that is 1\/3rd up from the bottom of the frame and focus on that.\u00a0 Now this requires a little bit of judgment.\u00a0 For example, if a tree trunk extending from the bottom to the top of your image was your closest object you wouldn\u2019t focus on it but rather something behind it.<\/p>\n When doing macro photography the rule is different.\u00a0 Focus on the object itself that you are photographing.\u00a0 This applies to wildlife and outdoor portrait photography as well.\u00a0 In the case of wildlife and portraits you want to focus on the eyes.\u00a0 In this situation it\u2019s OK if other elements within the frame are out of focus.<\/p>\n This leads to the second cause of images being out of focus \u2013 depth of field.\u00a0 Depth of field is that range in front of your camera from nearer to farther where objects within that range will be in focus and objects either in front of it or behind it will be out of focus.\u00a0 If we continue with the example above where in our composition the nearest object is 10 feet from the camera and the most distant object is at infinity, we said that the focal distance is twice the distance to the nearest object which is 20 feet.\u00a0 However, if the depth of field is too shallow the depth of field may only extend from 15 feet to, say, 200 feet.\u00a0 So anything closer than 15 feet or farther that 200 feet will be out of focus.<\/p>\n Depth of field is controlled by three variables, what I call the 3 F\u2019s \u2013 the focal distance (which we have already discussed), the focal length of your lens and the f\/stop.\u00a0 Normally the focal length of your lens will be determined by the composition as will the focal distance.\u00a0 So the only variable left to adjust the depth of field is the f\/stop.\u00a0 The lower the f\/stop the shallower the depth of field; the higher the f\/stop the deeper the depth of field.\u00a0 I have another article that tells you how to calculate the f\/stop you need for the appropriate depth of field so I won’t go into it here.\u00a0 Read Mastering Sharpness \u2013 Depth of Field<\/a>.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve mastered all of these skills and techniques and you can too.\u00a0 It takes a little practice but they\u2019re not hard to perfect.\u00a0 So why do I still come home with fuzzy images?\u00a0 The answer is simple.\u00a0 I\u2019m not always careful enough.\u00a0 I don\u2019t slow down enough to make sure everything is right before I press the shutter.\u00a0 When I take the time to ensure every aspect is correct I get excellent images.\u00a0 But when I get into a rush there\u2019s a chance that I\u2019ll come home with fuzzy images.\u00a0 And the biggest culprit is depth of field.<\/p>\n So my advice to you is to also slow down.\u00a0 Make sure you have the correct depth of field for the image you are taking.\u00a0 When you do you will have mastered sharpness and no longer experience the disappointment that comes from discovering when you get home that photograph you were really excited about is fuzzy.<\/p>\n We welcome your feedback and appreciate it when you also share your experiences.\u00a0 So please leave a comment.<\/p>\n If you know of someone who would also enjoy this article, please feel free to share it with them or share it on Facebook.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\u00a9 by Ralph Nordstrom<\/p>\nCauses of Out of Focus Photographs and Their Cures<\/h3>\n
Summing It All Up<\/h2>\n
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