Fixing Blurry Photos (Part 1)

Have you ever taken a picture with your digital camera and had it come out blurry?! Not fun, is it? Well, over the next couple of weeks we're going to explore some of the causes and remedies for blurry images.

When someone tells me "my pictures keep coming out blurry" I usually ask, "Is your subject moving or stationary?" This is because in most cases the specific cause of the blur can be narrowed to one (or more) of three options:

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1. The photographer is causing the camera to move during the shutter release
2. The subject is moving too quickly for the current shutter setting to freeze it
3. The camera cannot focus because the subject is too close to the lens

Let's take option #1... If the subject was not moving that means the cause was "camera shake", which means exactly that. Most people don't  realize the amount of movement they introduce to the equation when pressing the shutter release button (especially with cell phones and small point-and-shoot cameras). Try stabilizing the camera by bracing your elbows against something firm , resting the camera on a table, or using a tripod. You also might want to try increasing the shutter speed to eliminate the blur.

We'll dive in to shutter speed next time, so stay tuned!