No More Blurry Pictures - Details Inside

[Adrastos]

Okay - I've seen too many blurry pictures lately. It's a trend that is painfully increase.

So - I am creating a thread where photographers can share tricks to getting *good* shots. Hopefully - this will help others increase the quality of their images so we can all enjoy the purty corals and fishies.

Here are my tips:

1) Use a tripod. This combined with #2 will probably fix almost all of the problems. Almost every camera made has the ability to attach to a tripod. You can find good cheap tripods for under 20 bucks. Tripods - BestBuy

2) Use the timed shooting mode. Usually this is set to 10 seconds. By doing this you will remove all of the vibration and shaking from your hands.

3) Don't use your flash. It will wash out the colors of your picture.

4) Don't use the digital zoom. Digital Zoom is just a smoke and mirrors trick from camera companies to trick people. The digital zoom is not actually the image. It's what the camera thinks the image would look like if it could zoom that close. The more digital zoom - the worse the picture will look. Only use the optical zoom.

5) How to fake a manual focus. Unless you have a DSLR or an older Film SLR you don't have the ability to manually focus your lens. There is an easy trick. Focus as best as you can on the object or a surrounding object. Don't fully press the shutter but keep that focus locked. Move the camera back or forward slowly until the subject is in focus.


The following is for more 'advanced' cameras. Not all cameras will allow you to change these settings.

5) White Balance. Don't use the auto setting. The auto setting was created for general use and will create an odd color to your picture. Some cameras have a flourescent setting. Some cameras you can even adjust for the temp of the lights. Play around with your camera to find the best white balance setting or if you can manually set it - try that!

6) Adjusting shutter speed and F-stop. These are very hard to do and I'm not the best at it. Personally- I let my Nikon do these adjustments on it's own.

I hope these tips help and I hope more people add their tips to this thread!

[yote]

Those are some great tips Ad.
Thanks for taking the time to post that.

[MikMcgyver]

I use a DSLR and point and shoot digital. I have a Nikon D70 with a couple of lenses but cant seem to figure it out too good. I just got a panasonic 7.2mp digi cam for $200. Mostly used outside and for small vid clips... I wanna get the nikon running good, I know it can take good pics, just not sure how...

[Adrastos]

My father in law has a D70. Great camera and still takes great pictures. It was seeing his great outdoor shots that finally pushed me to splurge and buy my D40X. I just have a 'standard' 18 to 55mm AFS nikkor. I'd really like to get a 300mm lens.

What lenses do you have? There are some awesome deals on old D70 lenses out there.

[ReefKeeper]

try actually TOUCHING the camera lens to the glass of the tank to keep it steady. this will also help the camera focus better on the object you are trying to capture.

[Adrastos]

Originally Posted by ReefKeeper

try actually TOUCHING the camera lens to the glass of the tank to keep it steady. this will also help the camera focus better on the object you are trying to capture.

That's part of a good tip that I forgot! Take pictures head on to the glass. If you take them on an angle - you risk some odd distortions.

[MikMcgyver]

Great tip Ad, not sure what the lenses are, will look in a bit

[reeffreak]

I use a regular Olympus 8mp digital point and shoot.Focusing and color balance takes some work.

Here's a tip:CLEAN THE DAMN GLASS!

[Bifferwine]

I've found that with my camera, having the flash on brings out the colors much better than having it off.

[fishbait]

I actually sat down and started reading the manuel for the camera that I bought a year ago! It actually takes decent pictures once you learn how to use it, which I haven't fully figured out yet. by the way it's a cannon powershot a530. nothing reall fancy, but it works.