Working with digital images

[Chrissypaige]

I took  a photo (actually several) with my digital camera which is a Nikon 5700 and it was on Auto Focus at the time and a lot of the shots were coming out blurry.  I have some examples if anyone could tell me how to attach them.  Thanks.

[ShutterbugGail]

Hi Chrissypaige,

Welcome to the Q&A Board.

There are several reasons why your images can be blurry so it would be very helpful to see them full sized. Our board isn't really geared to displaying full sized images so is it possible for you to upload them somewhere and post the links to them in a repy?

It would also be helpful if you told us some of your camera settings, such as shutter speed, which type focus mode you used, and if you use the two-step shutter release sequence to first lock focus:

Sites such as Flickr offer free photo hosting:

http://www.digicamhelp.com/what-is-photo-hosting/

[bdery]

Hi,

there are several reasons why your images might be blurry. The most obvious one is that you might have been in a situation where the light level was low. In that case, the camera has to leave the shutter open longer to get more light in. Slow shutter speeds increase the risk of moving the camera slightly and creating blur.

Another possibility is that the camera might have focused on the wrong subject. I'm guessing here, it would be easier if you could show us some pictures. Here's a link telling you how to do it :

http://www.digicamhelp.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=errors;action=display;num=1089641725

If the images are large, you might prefer posting a link to a web page where they are hosted. Providing the EXIF data would also be useful.

[Chrissypaige]

The camera that I use has the two step focus and I do use it.  I have it set to auto now, I was at a camera store and they said that I had it in "program mode" and I am pretty sure that the camera is set to a 1600 ISO?  I am attaching a link to the photo that I am talking about.  I made it black and white because it was blurry.  The little girl in the photo was clapping her hands at the time of the photo if that helps.


http://upload.pbase.com/edit_gallery/chrissypaige/blurry_photos

[bdery]

Hi,

first, the Coolpix 5700 doesn't go up to ISO 1600. It's limited to 800, but looking at your pics I doubt you went that far up, there would have been more grain (noise) on the images.

Program mode shouldn't make your pictures more blurred. It's basically the same as Auto, but with some more controls available (metering mode, ISO, etc). If you were in A mode, it would mean that you had the possibility to set the aperture and the camera would set the shutter speed accordingly. T (or S) mode is the reverse.

The image of the girl clapping looks to me as if there was motion blur. I say this because no part of the picture is in focus. If the camera had focused on the wrong point, that point (the wall, for instance) would be sharp. I can't access the EXIF data (the part of the file containing data on the way the picture was taken) for some reason, maybe it disapeared when you turned the pic to sepia. Anyway, if the shutter speed was too slow, you ran the risk of moving slightly and causing blur.

The pic of the little girl's face is another matter. It seems to me she was simply too near the camera for it to achieve focus. Or maybe she moved turing the time the camera was trying to focus. If you look at her hair, and at the background, it's sharper than her face. That suggests the camera was unable to lock focus on the face. If not in macro mode, the 5700 focuses no nearer than 50 cm.

Without EXIF data, it's hard to tell for sure, but that's my two cents. What this tells us is that it's important to be aware of the limitations of each camera, and to work with them. Also remember that it takes time to achieve the best results with any camera, so don't get discouraged just yet!

[Deb]

Hi there Chrissypage! That is a darling image! What a cute little girl!

Let's see, from the exif data I can see that your shutterspeed was 1/64. A bit too slow to freeze the action therefore the blur resulted. By increasing the shutterspeed your aperture would have changed but I think you could have afforded the accompanying change. It which would have given you a shorter depth-of-field.

The exif data also indicates that your ISO was 100. An alternative method would be to increase your ISO value. You would have then been able to increase the shutterspeed while maintaining the aperture setting. All in all, you did a pretty good job of steadying the camera while you made that shot.  

You might like to give shutterpriority mode a try for capturing these types of action images. It would give you more control. Remember though, that if your ambient light situation is low, you may need to increase your ISO value to accomodate the faster shutterspeed you select. But too high an ISO setting will result in digital noise, so it is a balance. You could also try using flash. Experiment and have fun with it. See what you come up with.

[Chrissypaige]

So then are you guys saying that on the clapping photo, I probably moved my hand a little? and the other one she was just way too close to my camera, because I am not sure that I had it on macro?

[Deb]

Hi, I'm guessing that the photos of the little girl clapping were shot with too slow a shutterspeed for the speed of her action and that her movement wasn't "frozen" as a result. You may have moved a tad too (the act of pressing down the shutter button would typically show up as up and down blur). To avoid blur at slow shutterspeeds caused by camera movement, try a tripod or monopod or brace yourself against something solid.

As for the close-up of the baby, it does look like you were closer than the range of your camera's focussing ability AND she was moving faster than the slow shutterspeed could freeze. A couple of things were going on here.

Hope this helps!

[Chrissypaige]

It definitely helps, I am going to try to adjust my shutter speed and see how I do from there.  Whenever I put the camera on sport, I don't seem to get clear photos ever.

[Deb]

Hi there, glad to hear it! Have fun practicing!  

I'm curious about something though. You mentioned that you don't get clear photos using "sports" mode. Sports mode on most camera's increases the shutterspeed so that the camera can freeze the action. By "clear" do you mean the images are blurry (action not frozen) or, instead, do you mean they are out-of-focus?

[Chrissypaige]

I think the photos seem to take a long time to take so I might move the camera before the photo is locked?

[Chrissypaige]

I'm going to attach a few more photos that are out of focus and maybe you could tell me what's wrong.
http://www.pbase.com/chrissypaige/blurry_photos

[bdery]

Chrissypaige,

I see two things in that pic. First, the little girl is moving fast, and there is definite movement blur there. The only way to remedy to that would be to increase the shutter speed. Maybe by using the flash? Even if there's natural light, sometimes a flash can remedy that kind of situation.

Second, the overall image seems to be either out of focus, or blurrerd because you moved. The rule of thumb is to remember that

1-speeds slower than 1/60 seconds (about 0.17 seconds) is the average limit for blur-free pictures if you don't have a stabilization system
2-when you zoom, you increase the risk of blurring your image, even if the conditions are good.

You see that it's not as simple as it might seem. There are things that you cannot work around efficiently without some struggle. One simple thing you could do is use a tripod. You'd still have blur if your subject is moving, but you diminish the risks. Using the flash also helps in some situations. finally, making sure you use a wide aperture (which allows a faster shutter speed) will also improve your pics.

[ShutterbugGail]

Do other type photos come out okay, or are all of your images blurry? There have been a lot of good suggestions given so far.

If the Nikon 5700 is like my Nikon 5400, there is a large amount of shutter lag. Make sure you lock focus and by pressing the shutter release button half-way before fully pressing it down. I think the most important thing you can do is use a faster shutter speed, particularly when zooming in a lot.

You can also use a wider zoom range (ie. less telephoto) and crop closer when editing.

[Chrissypaige]

Thank you everyone.  I am going to try to up my shutter speed. There is definitely a significant lag time in my shutter speed.  I'm going to try to take some action shots and see how it goes and I will try not to zoom in as much - the camera has 6 or 8 pixels so there shouldn't be a clarity problem when cropping & enlarging, right?

[ShutterbugGail]

[quote ]the camera has 6 or 8 pixels so there shouldn't be a clarity problem when cropping & enlarging, right?[/quote]

Yes, you are right about this. If you regularly crop as I do, shoot jpegs at the best quality settings: highest resolution and lowest compression.

Let us know if the suggestions help.

Related reading: Image quality and compression

http://www.digicamhelp.com/taking-pictures/image_quality.htm