My Account 
In photography teaching for many years, I have seen a lot of students switch to DSLR and shoot with the camera when they see the picture they like. Unfortunately, the photos taken are blurred due to various reasons, making the resulting effect better than using the old style. The point-and-shoot camera is even worse. After reading this article, the photos you take will become absolutely clear!
In fact, blurry photos will be taken, nothing more than three main reasons, as long as we clearly remember these points, and then solve them one by one, your photos will be sharper from now on! First look at these three reasons:
- Body, Hand and Camera Stand
One of the most important factors is the body, especially the hands shaking or body moving. The camera may be moving when the shutter is opened. If the posture of holding the camera is not good and the center of gravity is not stable enough, the body is easy to move, especially when squatting. No matter how stable your hands are, normal humans will definitely have “handshake”. Of course, if your hands shake more obviously, the photo changes will easily become blurred. Even if you have the camera mounted on a tripod, if the tripod is not stable enough, or if the wind is too strong, it will make the camera move and blur the photos. - Motion of Person and Subject
Another factor that can make the photo blurry is the movement of the subject or person, so even if your camera is very stable, if the shutter is not fast enough, the photo will lose sharpness. An easy-to-understand example is that when shooting a moving car, direct shooting has the opportunity to blur the photo. - Focus failure
The last reason there is a possibility that the photo not clear is due to the focus failure. Especially at a large aperture or shallow depth of field, if the focus point is not placed on the subject, the subject will have a high chance of becoming blurred!
Ways to keep the photo clear
- Remember the formula of safe shutter
To solve the problem of “handshake”, we must remember the formula of “safe shutter”:
Safe Shutter = 1/ Focal Length
The meaning is: when you are shooting with an 80mm (focal length) lens, the shutter must be at least 1/80 second when holding it, so that the photo will not be affected by hand shake. But it should be noted that in most cases, the shutter cannot be slower than 1/50 second in hand, even if you are using 18mm, 35mm, etc. lenses.
Example:
120mm Lens 1/200s
100mm Lens 1/100s
35mm Lens 1/50s
18mm Lens 1/50s - Adjust the combination of aperture and ISO
In explaining the first point, the formula of “safe shutter” is introduced. “Shutter speed” is an important part. So how can we ensure that the shutter speed is correct? At this time, pay attention to the combination of aperture and ISO:
Step 1 — Determine the aperture first-the larger the aperture, the shallower the depth of field (the background becomes blurred);
Step 2 — Determine the ISO value-Determine whether the ISO value should be increased according to the size of the aperture and the camera’s built-in light meter. If it is found that the exposure is underexposed at the aperture value, the ISO is finally increased to ensure that the shutter is within the safe shutter range. - Make use of a tripod
If you are in a low-light environment and the subject is not moving fast, please use a tripod to shoot. A tripod not only keep your photos clear, but also increase the ISO value without compromising the shutter speed, thus keeping the photo quality in the best condition. - Hold the camera well
Be sure to hold the camera in a good and stable posture. It is best to keep the center of gravity in the same straight line with your feet and keep your breath closed when you press the shutter. This will make the camera more stable. - Focus first then compose the picture
In order to avoid focusing on non-subjects and blur the subject, we can set the camera to “single focus” and then half-press the shutter to focus before moving the camera to compose the picture. The camera will then lock the focus until the shutter is fully pressed.
Written by Collin Smith @ remotes.works Holborn London
