5 clever tricks to take sharper pictures

There are several things that you can do to take sharper pictures. Lots of things can contribute to a pictures that is a little soft or downright blurry: too slow a shutter speed, not enough light, etc. There is one technique that you can do EVERY time you take a photo that can significantly increase the chances that you’ll get a nice sharp photo: hold your camera steady.

Tripods are great for several reasons, one of them being that it will hold your camera nice and steady when taking pictures. (read my article on 3 reasons to use a tripod) The problem is that a tripod can sometimes be inconvenient or bulky to carry around. So is it possible to hold your camera nice and steady without a tripod? Sure you can! Below I have a few tips that might give you the edge you need for those steady photos.

Never hold your camera at arms length. The farther away your camera is from your body, the greater the chance it’s going to bob and weave in a way that will get you a soft or blurry photo. It’s tempting though, I understand. The advent of the LCD screen on the back immediately changed the way people hold the camera when they take pictures. It used to be that you had to put a viewfinder up to your eye to frame the shot. By doing this you automatically stabilized your camera with your eyebrow, eye socket, nose and cheek. Today, most people frame their shot using the LCD screen while holding the camera near full arms length. I know that one of the reasons that I’m tempted to hold it farther away is my eyesight. Once past 40, my eyes need the “help” of close up lenses or reading glasses. This combined with the convenience of an LCD screen might tempt you to hold out your camera and take the shot: Don’t do it! Here are a few things you can do.

Use the eyepiece! If your camera has an eyepiece / viewfinder, use it. You’ll steady your camera and it’s a lot easier to compose your shot in bright sunlight. Although what many viewfinders “see” is not exactly what will be captured on the sensor, it’s still good enough. Your composition may be off by a bit, but I found that in most cases, you can fix and recompose in post processing. The difference simply isn’t that significant.

Use your elbows! If you need to use the LCD screen, use your elbows! Keep your elbows tight to your side, on your ribs and squeeze a bit. By doing this, you’ll stabilize your camera much more than you would if you held your camera out at arms length. It may feel awkward at first, but you’ll get used to it and you won’t mind so much when your pictures come out sharper in the end. TIP!: For those of you that suffer from “eyesight challenges” like me at this close range, keep this in mind: If your camera has auto-focus, then it doesn’t matter if YOU see the image in focus or not! It dawned on my one day while shooting, that I was moving the LCD screen away from me so that I could see the image clearly before I took the shot. Who cares as long as the CAMERA sees the image clearly and auto-focuses?! I could then pull the camera closer, elbows in and, even though the LCD image was a bit blurry to me, roughly compose the scene and shoot! As long as I could tell that my subject and other objects were in the location on the LCD screen that I wanted, AND as long as my camera was auto-focusing on the right area, I’d shoot and the picture would come out the way I expected. Another thing I’ve done is wear my reading glasses while taking photos. This works pretty good too.

Hold your breath. This skill / technique / habit may take some getting used to. Practice it enough and it will become second nature. You won’t even think about it. For me, it’s become such a habit now that I find myself holding my breath even when I shoot on a tripod. Absolutely unnecessary then! I’ll catch myself doing that and smirk. When you’re about to take your shot take a breath, hold it or let it slowly out. Slowly and controlled. Doing this makes you conscious, purposeful and intentional about how you take your shots. Focus on your shot and control your breathing. Snipers and target gun shooters know that this can make all the difference, photographers should take note.

Squeeze, don’t push. Some people think that in order to take a quick picture, they need to quickly push the shutter button. Not true. The shutter will snap shut at the same speed regardless of how vigorously you mash on the button. The only thing you may accomplish is a blurry picture. A gentle squeeze is a subtle difference from a button push. A squeeze involves your whole hand and is more stable, a button push isolates one finger. Think of the difference when you gently squeeze a toothpaste tube or when you carefully cut with scissors versus pushing a doorbell. Think about slowly squeezing out a drop when you drip medicine in your eye versus typing a key on a keyboard.

Bonus: Take several pictures in “burst” or “continuous” mode. Most cameras will allow you to take several shots within one second by holding down the shutter release button. You’ll need to set your camera to do this. Usually the 2nd or 3rd shot will come out sharper because you gave your hand time to stabilize. Fire off a few and discard unwanted shots at home.

When taking a picture, if you don’t have the benefit of a tripod, you’re gonna want to hold your camera as still as you can. Hold it up to your eye or as close to your body as you can. Don’t worry that the LCD might be blurry to you, let autofocus do it’s work. Brace your elbows on your ribs, take a breath, let it out slowly, and gently squeeze. Squeeze off a few more shots. Let your breath out. Relax and know that you probably got some killer sharp shots!