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Want Clear Pictures? Tips for a Stabilized & Steady Camera

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LukeLewis

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  • #1
I've been taking photos lately and have been noticing that there's some blur in a few of them. I would really like to avoid any type of camera shake in my images, so I'm wondering if anyone has any advice that may help. I know what's done is done and I can't get rid of the blur, but what can I do to avoid it in the first place?
 
JGaulard

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  • #2
Camera shake is caused by one thing; a shutter speed that's too slow for the movement the camera is experiencing. If you've got a shutter speed that's fast enough, you'd be able to take a crisp clear photograph while swinging the camera around on a rope. Obviously, that's an extreme example, but it's true.

Your Options​

To deal with the blur you're experiencing in your photos, you'll have to either hasten your camera's shutter speed or stop moving the camera while taking pictures. If you can, try using a tripod. This will allow you to keep as slow of a shutter speed as you want with no blur at all. If you're shooting handheld, you'll need to manually set your shutter speed so it's faster. How fast? Here's the rule:

What's the Slowest Shutter Speed for Handheld Photography?​

The best guideline that's currently available is to set your camera's shutter speed to at least a bare minimum of what would avoid the blur that's caused by camera shake. The minimum shutter speed is the reciprocal of the lens' focal length. For example, if you're lens' focal length is 100mm, then you'd want at least a 1/100th of a second for your shutter speed. If you're shooting at 40mm, then you'd want at least a 1/40th of a second for your shutter speed. This makes sense if you think about it. Shooting at 100mm means that you're pretty zoomed in. Any shake at that distance is going to be a lot more noticeable than at 40mm. Because of the sensitivity while zoomed in, a faster shutter speed will be necessary to avoid blur.

ISO + Aperture​

Obviously, if you alter your shutter speed, there will be a price to pay with either your ISO, aperture, or both. When you make a shutter speed faster, you'll have the choice of raising your ISO value or making your aperture size bigger (smaller number). You'll need to do these things in order to keep your photos properly exposed. You'll need to make that choice while shooting. Can your aperture go any bigger than it already is? No? Then you'll need to rely on either raising your ISO or using a different lens that offers a larger maximum aperture.

When Does Camera Shake Usually Occur?​

I find that most of the blur that's caused by camera shake occurs at night or in dark rooms indoors. The reason for this is because while the camera is actually exposing the photo correctly, it doesn't know my intentions. It doesn't know that I'm shooting handheld and that I need a faster shutter speed. If the scene is dark enough, the camera will likely set a very slow shutter speed automatically to compensate for that lack of light. To deal with this, I'll use shutter priority mode and set the shutter speed for something that's fast enough. I'll let the camera decide what it wants to do with the aperture and ISO.

I hope this helps.
 
Newman

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  • #3

5 Tips To Hold Your Camera Steady For Clear Pictures​

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As amateur and professional photographers, we all want clear pictures. If what we capture isn't clear, it isn't of much value. Not even for the sake of sentimentality. I think many folks wonder if there are tried and true methods for holding a camera with the intention of stability in mind. I'm here to tell you that there is. You can hold a camera in such a way that will reduce, or even eliminate, camera shake. All you have to do is alter what you're already doing and follow a few tips.

Tips For Holding Your Camera Steady​

I'm going to offer a few tips on how best to hold your camera. I know - we all have our habits. If you're having issues with blurry pictures though, it's time to break those habits. Start now and continue on throughout your days of taking photographs.

1. Use your left hand as a post. Some of us may hold our cameras with both hands, while both of our elbows are sticking out like two chicken wings. While this may offer a nice, natural grip on the camera, it doesn't do much to keep the camera from shaking. Those slight movements towards the end of the lens can be magnified if your subject is far enough away.

A better way to hold the camera is to tuck your elbows in toward your ribs. Continue holding the camera the same with with your right hand, but keep that elbow close to your chest. As for the left hand, instead of holding the lens so your hand is shaped like a "C," flip the hand over and shape it like a "U." So if your thumb is close to your face, rotate your hand so your thumb is now further away from your face. Also, tuck your left elbow into your ribs as to use your arm as a stable post. This will take much of the shake out of the camera and make for much clearer pictures.

2. Change shutter fingers. When taking portrait oriented photos, instead of holding your right arm way up and away from your body in an attempt to keep your pointer finger on the shutter button, change your fingers so you are using either your middle or ring finger to push the button. Then, move your right arm back down so it's closer to your chest. This will have much of the same effect as my previous tip, keeping everything snug and tight as to reduce camera shake.

3. Stand firm and strong. If you stood with your feet about a foot apart and in the same position as each other and asked someone to give you a light shove backwards, you'd most likely stumble back. Now, if you stood with a firm stance, one foot in front of the other, like a boxer stands and asked the same person to give you a shove, you most likely wouldn't move at all. Believe it or not, your stance can add to or reduce the stability of your camera, so stand strong, with one foot in back of the other and pretend that you're in the ring.

4. Breath slowly and smoothly. For most of us, when we're out shooting, we're excited. Our hearts may be beating at an advanced rate and our breathing may be short and quick. Needless to say, this type of atmosphere is no good for keeping our cameras steady to focus in for those clear photos.

Back when I first began taking pictures, I realized how much my breathing was affecting my shots, so I began holding my breath, and then pressing the shutter button. It took a while to realize that I may have been doing more harm than good. What I had done was, instead of having my camera move slightly because of short, quick breathing, I had my camera move because of the shaking, or trembling caused by my breath being held.

Over the years, I found that taking a deep breath and letting it out was much more relaxing to my body than holding my breath. The deep breath gave my body the oxygen it needed, so when I was ready to hold up the camera to focus it, I was neither breathing quickly, nor shaking. I actually wasn't breathing at all. The deep breath gave my lungs a break for a few seconds, which, in turn, kept my camera steady.

5. Go easy on the shutter button. One of the easiest ways to shake your camera after having it all set up is to do it with your shutter finger. For some reason, many beginners think that they need to really push down hard on the button, when, in fact, they don't need to push hard at all. If you are lifting your finger off the button after every shot and then tapping it down to take your next one, you may have better luck with keeping your finger put. In fact, don't lift your finger at all.

In order to properly and smoothly push your camera shutter button, rest your finger on it lightly. When you push down to focus your camera, keep the pressure there until you're ready to shoot. When you're ready, continue to push lightly until the picture is taken. Once that happens, don't let your finger up. Continue to hold it on the shutter button until you're ready to shoot again. You should never even see your finger move - that's how gentle you should be.

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I hope these quick and easy tips help you out when trying to take crisp, clear photos. If you're interested in more easy tips for great photography, be sure to check out our photography forum link above.
 
WendyMay

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  • #4

Simple Tips & Tools That Can Help Stabilize Your Camera​

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It's long been a goal to stabilize our cameras as much as possible in order to capture the most crisp, clear photos. Methods have been elusive though - many of us think we need to spend an arm and a leg to purchase the most up-to-date and the most fancy equipment. The truth is, we really don't need to shell out much cash at all to get what we're looking for. In some cases, sure, you'll need to proper equipment, but in others, you'll get away with spending no money at all. In this post, I'll cover both some situations where both of these cases apply.

Free Methods to Keep Your Camera Steady​

Use a table top. I've done this forever. When I need to take a photo of something indoors and need something very stable to keep my camera steady because of the slower shutter speed, I look for a table top. Tables are super solid and give the room necessary to angle up and down and rotate around.

Use a glass, stack of books, a pillow or a rolled up pair of jeans. The point here is that when you need to raise your camera slightly off the table, there are a number of household items that will fit the bill. Some of these items are inherently stable, such as the glass and the stack of books, but other aren't stable at all, such as the pillow and rolled up pair of jeans. This is where a pro-tip comes into play.

If you've decided that you need to lift your camera off a stable object and you'd like to use something like a pillow, but are concerned that pushing the shutter button will cause too much camera shake, don't worry. Help is here. There are two great tips to follow in a situation like this:

Set your camera timer. One option to keep your hands off the camera is to set your timer to take a picture a few seconds after you push the shutter button. This way, your finger won't cause your camera to take a blurry picture.

Use a remote shutter release. I've been using one of these gadgets for years. You can pick one up from your favorite camera store for only a few dollars and you'll be amazed at how often you use it. And it's ideal for the situation I'm discussing here - perfect to keep your hands off the camera at a time like this.

Not-Free Methods to Keep Your Camera Steady​

I've got some more tips for you, but unfortunately, these will cost some money. I'll begin with the least expensive and continue on from there.

Use a GorillaPod. I actually have two of these. One is light duty ($19.95) for smaller cameras and the other is somewhat heavy duty ($99.95) for cameras that weigh a bit more. Both serve the same fundamental purpose - to keep your camera steady in awkward situations.

If you take a look at the picture I added to the top of this post, you'll see one of my GorillaPods in action. It's basically a ball and socket idea that has three legs. You attach your camera to the top, just like you would to a traditional tripod, and then wrap the flexible legs around many different types of objects. In the case above, I chose to wrap them around part of a fence. This item is really great for keeping a camera steady out in the field and doesn't weigh much at all. And what's really great is that you can use the GorillaPod as a regular desk-top tripod because of its compact size.

Use a camera clamp. You may have to purchase an attachment to fit your camera (you might not have to), but a clamp will add another tool to your camera bag and is quite versatile in many different situations. For example, say you have a pole, tripod, hand rail or a table available near the subject you'd like to photograph and would like to set your camera up to "cling" onto one of these. With a clamp, you can easily do this and it will add the stability you're looking for. Simply slide the clamp over what you've got and tighten it. These types of gadgets are great to have around.

Use a tripod. Ah, the tripod. Every serious photographer needs one of these. The trick here is to purchase the correct tripod for what you'll be using it for. Way back when, I purchased a tripod that was far too large for everyday use. I sold it and replaced what I had with a smaller one. I still have the second tripod today because it's perfect for what I do a lot of, which is landscape and nature photography.

Tripods come in all shapes and sizes. And they come in all price ranges as well. My advice to you would be - if you're a beginner, stick with a less expensive tripod. Some are really great and can be picked up for less than $50. Once you decide that photography is for you, you may want to start looking for all the bells and whistles. At that point, you can sell your old tripod to another beginner.

Now, just a word of caution - tripods aren't perfect. While they will hold your camera steady, they will still shake a bit when you press the shutter release. To compensate for this, you can use the methods I described above, which are taking advantage of the camera timer or using a remote shutter release.

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If you have any questions or comments about this post, I encourage you to leave them below. If you're interested in more photography related articles, please be sure to click the photography forum link at the top of the page.
 
WendyMay

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  • #5

I Hand Hold My Camera a Lot - How Can I Avoid Camera Shake Blur?​

This is a very common question when it comes to photography. Essentially, the question is, what’s the bottom limit when it comes to shutter speed for hand holding a camera? What’s the slowest shutter speed you should have to avoid blur from camera shake? Because after all, camera shake is experienced every single time you hand hold your camera and if your shutter speed is too slow, you’ll see slight blur in your resulting photograph. Which I might add, is highly annoying.

By the way, I’ve already written a more extensive post on this topic, so if you’re really into this type of thing, please go ahead and read all about camera shake and shutter speed to your heart’s content.

So here are the basic rules. If you hand hold your camera and set your shutter speed (or have Auto mode do it for you) to anything faster than 1/80 of a second, you should be confident that you won’t see much blur from camera shake. That’s assuming you’re using a normal lens at a normal focal length. Meaning, you’re not standing outside taking pictures of eagles flying a mile away with a 500mm lens.

For a more tried and true rule, photographers say that you shouldn’t go any slower, in terms of shutter speed, than your lens’s focal length. So if you’re shooting with a 10mm prime lens, don’t go slower than 1/10 of the second. The reason for this is because short focal lengths aren’t very magnified. There’s not a lot of shake that goes along with something like that. As you work with longer focal lengths, more shake, and as a result, blur, is introduced. That’s why you need to hasten the shutter speed.

Do you have any tips to share regarding shutter speed, camera shake and blur? Do you have any questions? If so, please contribute below. Thanks!
 
WendyMay

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  • #6

What’s a Good Tripod to Bring Along Hiking?​

Question: I plan on going to the mountains this weekend and I’d like to bring a tripod along. I don’t own one, so I’ll be buying it. I’m looking for something that’s good (obviously), but not very heavy. It would be nice if it came with some sort of a travel sack or some type of bag, but that’s not critical. I just want it to be tall enough, light enough and to have the capability of me turning my camera from landscape mode to portrait mode while the camera is still attached. Oh yeah, it can’t be crazy expensive either. Any advice?

Answer: At one point, I owned the SLIK PRO 700DX Professional Tripod with Panhead for some reason, but I sold it because it was enormous and I couldn’t bring it anywhere. Bad choice on my part. I think I paid close to $170 for this one on Amazon. Before I sold it for $50 on Craigslist down in Palm Coast, Florida, I bought another tripod to replace it. I was in the same boat as you. I wanted something lighter and more mobile. I eventually purchased the SLIK Pro 330EZ Tripod with 2-Way Pan/Tilt Head and have been very happy with it. It’s like the little brother to the 700DX. It cost about $80-$90 for the tripod and it’s got everything that’s needed. It’s light, pretty small, tall enough and can go from landscape to portrait. The 700DX has two handles and more maneuverability, but the 330EZ offers a simple twist of the top plate for pretty much the same thing. Check out the 330EZ. You might like it. There are many other tripods in the same category, but this is a good start.
 
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