How to prevent camera shake



Camera shake is something that we all deal with. But how do we keep it from happening? Well, the answer is simple, but it's not great. Let me explain:

Camera shake results when we hold our camera and the shutter speed that we (or the camera) chooses is too slow to compensate for our movement. What happens is our own movement then gives us a blurry photo. Even if things are still. You can always try techniques to try to keep yourself as still as possible, but it's not always that easy.

So how do we know what shutter speed is too slow to hold the camera without getting camera shake? Well, photographers over the years have used a general rule that works most of the time. Here it is: take the longest focal length of your lens and then make it a fraction. Example: I have a lens that can zoom to 55mm. Therefore, the slowest shutter speed that I can possibly hand-hold my camera is around 1/55 of a second. For my own personal preference, I tend to bump the shutter speed a little bit faster than even that, maybe to 1/70th or 1/80th of a second.

If I had a lens that was 200mm long, then I would require a shutter speed of around 1/200 of a second.

There are various technologies out there that can help. If your camera or lens has some sort of image stabilization (Canon lenses) or Vibration Reduction (Nikon Lenses), then you can turn that on and it will help you hold the camera with an even slower shutter speed. For the most part, I just try to stick to the rules since these technologies only go so far.

Following this simple tip and paying attention to your shutter speed (you're shooting in manul, right?) will significantly decrease your blurry shots. Try it out! See what the slowest shutter speed is that you can hold your camera before getting blurry shots.

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