Friday, August 13, 2010

Digital Photography for Moms and Aunties: How To Avoid Blurry Pictures

Modern digital cameras equipped with automatic settings make it easy to take beautiful pictures of your family. Still there are some tips to remember to avoid pretty common photo defects that can not be fixed with photo retouching. We'll cover them one by one and give you very simple practical tips to avoid these mishaps.

Our first topic is picture blurriness. We, at PhotoHand, quite often get request to sharpen blurry photos. This can be done only to some extent before the image turns pixelated. So how to avoid blurriness?

First of all, use a real camera, not a phone camera. Even if your phone camera takes multi-megapixel shots, there are a lot of other technical parameters that are missing from it to deliver a quality image.
The second common problem is "shaky shots". A digital camera is very light and there is a big probability that it could be easily shaken or swayed when you take a shot.

We suggest you always hold the camera with both hands.

When taking a shot, assume a steady and stable position to avoid any shaking or wobbling of your camera that will result in blurring in your pictures. If you are standing, make sure that you are on level ground and that your feet are shoulder width apart. If possible, lean against a wall or a tree.
If possible, do not hold your camera at arm’s length as this could cause swaying of your camera. Keep your elbows close to your sides.

When kneeling, rest your elbow(s) on your knee for support.

If you have a DSLR camera, your left hand must be placed around the lens and the bottom edge to support the edge of the camera.

If you are still getting shaky pictures, it is normally recommended to use a tripod or a monopod (a one-legged tripod). We don't see these as a practical solution for a moms. But there is an easy-to-carry lightweight (4.8 oz) alternative to tripods and monopods - SteadePod. It resembles a stainless-steel tape measure - you attach one end to your camera, pull the retractable 6' steel cable down to the ground, hold it with your foot, and the slight tension on the cable gives you a steady camera position. This device costs $24.99 at B&H and can be ordered online.





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