How to create blurry photos and why you might want to

Creating blurry photographs is not necessarily at the top of things you want to achieve during a shoot. However, as with other 'problem' areas, understanding what causes blur can open up a whole range of creative options, and that is the focus of this podcast.

The type of blur you have can usually be reduced to one of the following causes:

• Motion blur: Where either the subject or the camera moves while the shutter is open.
• Focus blur: The focus is set incorrectly, or you have insufficient depth of field.
• Lens quality: A possible issue with the lens itself, either through poor manufacturing or damage to the lens.
• Incorrect camera settings: Shutter speed, aperture or incorrect AF settings.

To correct unwanted blur, your main options are to:

• Use a faster shutter speed
• Use a tripod or stabilise the camera (wedge the camera somehow if you don't have a tripod)
• Use the image stabilisation features of your lens/camera
• Make sure you are correctly focussed

From an equipment perspective, consider the following:

• Is the lens suitable for the outcome you want? Remember that short focal length lenses have more limited depth of field control than longer lenses.
• Do you need to add a tripod or gimbal to your equipment pool?
• Are your lens and sensor clean!?

Environment:

• Low-light situations can contribute to blur.
• Weather can also play a part.
• Low contrast can make it more difficult for AF systems to operate correctly.

Turning blur to your advantage.

Having covered the sources of blur, how can you change your perspective and make blur a tool, a way to come up with more creative images? I gave a couple of examples in the podcast, so what can you come up with?

I hope you enjoy the podcast.

It's time for another podcast...

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Transcript

>> Graham: 0:08

Foreign. Hello again. In this podcast, I'm going to talk about Blur. Not, the pop group, but, what happens when you take a photograph. And I'm going to come at it from two angles. So usually when I've spoken about blur, before and I have mentioned it in different podcasts, I'm looking at it from the perspective of it being something that you don't want in your image. So it's, Well, I'm wanting blur, I suppose, to, put it very simply. However, once I've gone through that, I also want to flip things around and look at, blur as a creative element of your photography. So it's one of the reasons for doing this podcast is, is that I really want you to start thinking about the aspects of photography that can be regarded as a problem. So things that turn up in your photos unwanted, and that's fair enough. If you don't want them, you need to know how to get rid of them. But equally, those elements, whatever they are, can also be used in a creative way to create images that are different, that stand out from the rest. And it might give you ideas and perhaps a new avenue or another creative direction where you can take your photography. So that's really why I want to talk about blur from those two perspectives. So before I dive into that, just a reminder to please, like, subscribe, give me a comment, give me some feedback, let me know what you'd like me to talk about or any, anything you, think I should cover that I haven't so far. That's always very, very welcome. And, yeah, let's, let's dive into it. So what are the causes of blur, first of all? So I'm going to talk about four, causes. So the first one is motion blur. And what I mean by that is that it's blur that's been created by your subject moving. Okay, so you are set up correctly or you might be on a tripod, so you're not going to introduce any movement yourself. But, you've got motion blur because whatever you're photographing, is moving and therefore you get blur, in that situation. The second one is focus blur. So this is where you've got your focus setting correctly and therefore the subject is out of focus, basically, so it will look blurry. the third thing is lens quality, and this is less common and hopefully something you won't have to deal with. But if you've got all your settings correct and, your focus is correct, but you're still getting blurry images. It might be an indication that either you've got a low quality lens or perhaps more likely the lens has been damaged and the elements inside have got out of alignment somewhere. So that would be the third possible source of blur. And finally you've got camera settings. So this is where you have the wrong shutter speed. I'll talk about all of this, aperture. So don't remember, don't forget rather that aperture controls the depth of field. So if you have got your focus set correctly, you do need to make sure that you've got your depth of field set so that everything you want in focus is in focus. And then everything you don't want in focus is out of focus. And obviously you control that through aperture. And by the way, if there's anything that I'm talking about here that doesn't make any sense to you, please think about doing the course. Particularly, if you're new to photography, I think it's important to get a good grounding of the basics and from there you can really start to experiment and I think really have a more fulfilling experience with your photography. Whereas if you don't do that and you're kind of learning bits and pieces by just trial and error, that can be a bit more frustrating. So what I should say about motion blur as well, is also blur caused by the camera moving. So it's, on the one hand it's the subject moving, but the other source of motion blur is you moving the camera. So they are the four like most likely, reasons that you have blur in your image. So what can you do to avoid blur? Well, the first one is to make sure you're using the correct shutter speed. So as a general rule, if you're using thousandths of a second, you're going to freeze the action. If you're using hundredths, you're going to slow things down, but you might have some blur. So an example I like to give is when I was photographing, propeller driven aircraft at air shows. In order to get that disc, that propeller disc, in the, in the final image I would shoot at 1 125th of a second and pan with the aircraft. So the idea being that the aircraft fuselage, the pilot and nice and sharp, but you have some movement in the propeller. It doesn't have to be a complete disc, but it does show movement. And to me that's a more compelling image than something where you've shot in thousandths of a second and absolutely frozen everything. But then it's kind of static. Could be model. It doesn't have any, to me it doesn't have any energy to it, any life to it. It's pretty much a, ah, pretty much a dead image. So using hundredths of a second will allow you to start introducing blur and movement into your image. And then when you go slower to tenths of a second and slower than that, this is when you start to get these more ethereal looking images. So if you've got water for example, moving in a river, depending how fast it's moving obviously. But if you have the shutter open for long enough that you get several, let's say wave cycles or whatever it is that's going on, you get this kind of very, the movement tends to sort of blur out and you can get these, these really cool effects. So hopefully you know what I'm talking about there. So shutter speed is definitely the first place to look. And that also applies to movement introduced by you moving the camera. So if you are, I'm assuming that you're going to be hand holding your camera. And the general rule, this will differ from person to person a little bit. But the, the general rule that is used to determine how low a shutter speed you can use and still happily handhold the camera is to basically put one over the focal length of the lens. So in other words, if you have a 100 millimeter lens on your camera, then the slowest shutter speed you should be able to comfortably shoot with, or you should at least be able to get down this low and possibly low, but it would be 1/100 of a second. So it's just one over the focal length. And again if it's a 50 millimeter lens, then it would be 1 50th of a second. So that, that's just the general guide. It will depend how steady you are. There's also techniques that you can use with your breathing to allow you to go quite slow and still hand hold the camera without introducing movement. But that's all part of it. So shutter speed is the first one to look at. secondly, to avoid movement if you are having to use slow shutter speed. So that could be in low light situations or you deliberately want to introduce blur. So I'll come back to that. But that's to use either a tripod if you have one, or to stabilize the camera somehow. And I'll talk about different ways I do that if I don't have a tripod with me because I actually don't have a tripod with me that often. when I do shoot in low light situations. And I want something in the image to be still and not moving, not necessarily my subject. but there are things you can use to, just keep everything nice and steady. So we'll come back to that. if you have image stabilization in your lens, then definitely have that switched on. So this could be another issue. If you have got your shutter speed correct, your focus is correct, make sure you've got image stabilization on the lens. That would generally remove things like any shake you might introduce. But, if you've got it on your lens, some of the, particularly the newer systems, some of them are really effective. So, do make use of that. And the reason I say that is that it does allow you to shoot and get good results at lower shutter speeds. And when you start getting down to lower shutter speeds, that does open up, a whole other sort of raft of creative options that you have. And then finally, just make sure you're in focus, whether that's a manual focus or autofocus. And if it's autofocus, make sure you understand how your AF system works and, how it, how it decides how the camera decides what it needs to focus on. So I'm not going to go into AF systems in this podcast, but I do, recommend that you understand yours. Again, this is something that I cover in my course. I cover it in workshops when I run those from time to time. So this is, these are important basics to understand. It's like understanding your, the camera is your tool and if you don't understand how it works, you're going to struggle. You might get good results, but it's more down to chance in most instances than actually consciously knowing what you're doing. And the reason that consciously knowing what you're doing is so important is obviously so that you can repeat it and you can vary it and then you can expand your creative options. So that's something, that I definitely encourage, people to do. Okay. So, other things to think about are just looking at whether or not you have the correct equipment. So is the lens that you're using suitable for the scenario that you're shooting? And one example of this is if you do want to use depth of field creatively, one thing to really understand is that depth of field is more controllable in terms of the final image on a longer lens than it is on a shorter focal length lens, a wide angle lens. What you're likely to find in as you certainly go wider as you go for a shorter focal length, is that most of the time everything will be in focus almost regardless of what aperture you set. Whereas if you go to a long telephoto lens, say 300, 400, something like that, even a 200, you will get quite, you've got quite a lot of control over exactly what stays in focus in front of and behind your subject. So the lens definitely is something to be conscious of when you are thinking about how to use blur, and have things out of focus. Obviously you need to just be aware of your gear. I mean if you are shooting at slow shutter speeds a lot, then it's definitely worth investing in a tripod. it may even be worth investing in one of these gimbal systems. So if you are trying to focus something, follow something, rather than keep it in focus, this would obviously apply equally to movie, situations, probably more so to movie than stills. But nonetheless it definitely has a place with stills. So you might want some sort of a gimbal system which will take out a lot of the movement and keep. In fact some of the new systems are really good because they can lock onto the subject once you've identified what the subject is. So it might be someone's face for example, and then it will just keep them focused and keep them sometimes in a particular part of the frame as well. So it depends on the system you're using. So if that's the kind of thing that's relevant to you, do have a look at that. Because it's definitely worth understanding what's out there and how you can use the technology to help you to get better results more often. And then it comes back down to the basics like making sure things are clean, the sensors, clean the lens, that kind of thing. Because obviously if you get, if you get dirt and grime everywhere, that's really not going to help your photography at all. something to be aware of as well. In some packages, with post processing you can recover blurry images to a point. So you can sharpen images. So things like Photoshop allow you to do that. If you have a bit more money and you shoot a lot of images, you might want to think about something, ah, like Topaz Labs, they do ah, a number of software packages that are designed to sharpen up images so you can recover an image. It might be just one of those shots that you've got, but the focus was a little bit off and it just gives you that opportunity, to sharpen it. So sharpen AI is the package that I use and it's one of three that I use with Topaz Labs when I'm getting basically preparing images to to go onto the website for sale. also just be aware of the conditions that are more light or more conducive to blurring, let's say. So this is definitely, anything low light essentially because obviously once your light levels start to drop, you need to compensate. So somewhere. And it might be by pushing up ISO, but it might also be by using a slower shutter speed. And obviously using a slower shutter speed means that you're more likely to have blur of some sort in the image. weather conditions are another factor. So some weather conditions will reduce the amount of light anyway. So for cloudy day, cloudy days actually things like portraits give you really nice even light, but it's a lower level of light than you get on a sunny day, but also without the hard contrast difference. So again, just be aware of that strong wind, does depend exactly how strong it is. I mean if you're in danger of being blown away, then I really wouldn't recommend you going out and shooting. I would leave that for another day. but definitely if you've got gusty wind, it can just knock you a little bit, it can blow the camera a little bit. even on a tripod you can get a bit of movement. So just be conscious of that. And then the other thing is just to be aware of the contrast available because autofocus does require or depend on a certain level of contrast. So it can identify elements within the. What's on the viewfinder. So if you've got very low contrast or very low light, it can be quite. It can actually stop the AF working properly. And I've certainly come across this on photo walks when I was doing them in Sydney when we're doing them at night. And what I would tend to do was just try and find something that was well lit and approximately the same distance from me that my subject was. do an AF focus on that lit area and then go back with manual focus. So just set the foot, flip the focus to manual, but without refocusing and just shoot that way. So it's just one way around it. And obviously if you are able to use and you've got enough light to use an aperture that gives you a bigger depth of field, that's another safety factor. so these are just things to be be aware of. So having spoken about blur is more something that's a problem, which is sort of the where I'm coming from on this part of the podcast. Anyway, I want to talk about how you can use it positively in an image. So I've already given one example which is the photograph an aircraft and deliberately using a slower shutter speed. So a speed that doesn't freeze everything but allow some movement to come in. Now this is definitely a question of getting good at tracking your subject and knowing how to work in those in that particular environment. So I did a lot of photography at air shows with propeller driven aircraft and I did all mine, when I was learning on film cameras as well. So that had the disadvantage that I couldn't see what results I had until the film had been developed. So these days of digital, as I know I've said before, I'm sure many other people have, you've got some advantages there that make life a lot easier. So you can immediately see how well you're doing. you can really work on your techniques and to me that, that allows you to learn much faster so just how you hold your focus, how you keep your subject in frame as you pan. again some cameras these days allow you will loc onto a, subject and help you in that regard. But these are good skills to have anyway. It's good to develop these sorts of skills. So shooting a propeller driven aircraft with a blurry propeller, as in having some part of the propeller disc, adds a level of interest, let's say to the image. I think it makes it more impactful. But where else can you use it? So start thinking about the kind of photography you do and where do you use situations where you push up that shutter speed so you've got a very fast shutter speed. What can you do differently to create a more interesting image? Now my partner is also a photographer and we were talking the other day and she has a particular spot in Sydney that she likes as she's much better at photographing people. And I, but she so we were talking about just portrait photography, but essentially one of the spots she likes has a waterfall behind it. And it just occurred to me that well that would be great, but how about if you did a longer exposure? what about a 1 second exposure on somebody with that waterfall behind? Because in a second it was moving reasonably fast so you'd get that blurred movement. Now it does mean that your subject just has to hold their position for a Second, and the way I suggest doing that is to just run it, run through it with them. So it's just holding that position for 1 1000. Or you could do, even try 21 1000, 2 1000. The thing to do though is to get them nice and comfortable to start with. And I like people to focus on a point. So I will find something in their eye lines. You might want them looking at the camera, which is fine, or you might want them looking out of frame, in which case find something that they can focus on. And you can count out loud with the 1 1000, 2 1000. But having something to focus on allows them to literally focus on it. And then they're not thinking as much about moving. And I think the chance you're more likely to get a good photograph. So having said all of that, the point about it is that you can come up with these portraits that are. The subject is still, it's normal looking as a portrait, but anything around them that has movement. So it might be that you have a bit of a wind going, not massive wind, but some wind moving leaves about in trees or things like that. So you have other things in the background and possibly the foreground that are moving, have some movement to them. And to me, that's a pretty cool photograph. Now, you might want to. You might want to do that for every shot, but it's nice to have these kind of things in there. So that's just one idea to share with you. If you're into, shooting portraits, remember to use the depth of depth of field as well. So I like bokeh shots. So here I've got, my subject in focus, but what's around them in the foreground and in the background can be out of focus. And some of it can be really out of focus. Like you've just got those bokeh, shapes. And both of you don't know. these are, shapes that are created by highlights in the image. And the shape is they look sort of round, but they're actually created by the aperture in the lens. So you might find they're slightly hexagonal or, you know, depends how many elements you've got in the lens. But they are quite artistic. I think they're pretty cool. But if you don't know how to make them, you basically, just use depth field and you deliberately get that part of the image out of focus. And the more out of focus you can get it, the better from a bokeh perspective. So those are just a couple of ideas. And obviously the way you get there is to do the reverse of what I spoke about at the beginning of the podcast. So just to go back, ah, the looking at the first causes of blur, you've got motion blur, which is either caused by the subject moving or the camera moving. So that might be the blur you want. So if you're photographing runners, for example, it might be cool to photograph them at a slower shutter speed. So you've got all that movement and they start to become more abstract. And, particularly, I mean, if you've got good colors, that would work well. But this is just personal taste. But to think about how you can make use of your subject moving, how can you make use of the camera moving? So you could always do a bit of deliberate camera shake and see what you get. Another thing to do is to use a zoom lens and, just zoom in as you press down on the shutter button and just have a long enough exposure that you get that sort of zoom in, movement. So you've probably seen photographs that have been created that way. the focus I've spoken about really, so this comes down to what's in focus, what isn't in focus. So generally I'm going to assume that you'd have your subject in focus, but what you do around the subject can lead to quite an interesting image. If you've got everything around the subject in sharp focus, it's probably good as a documentary photograph. But where do you want the viewer to look? So one of the things that we do by controlling focus and controlling what's in focus in keeping our subject nice and sharp, is we direct the viewer's eye to the subject. So again, think, visual storyteller, think. What is the image? What is the experience you want the viewer to have? Do you want to really capture them, get them to look at that image a second time, then a third? And each time they look at it, they see something new in there that you've. You've introduced. So we can do this by just working on these little creative techniques and creating an image that is more interesting, but also draws the viewer's eye back to the subject and starts to invite them to create the little story that we've created in that image. So if you've heard me talk about visual storyteller, and this is also the importance of good composition, what we will tend to do as viewers is we create our own stories. So people love stories. we're natural storytellers. If there is not a story in front of us, but there could be one. We're likely to make it up. So that's one of the things we can do with composition in photography to make the image more interesting and more engaging to the viewer. the other thing is really camera settings, when I spoke about issues with the lens, really I would say get your lens fixed or replace it. But, with camera settings, again, you can just play with this essentially what I've been talking about. Shutter speed, depth of field, maybe ISO, maybe try shooting with very high ISO so you start getting more grainy effect and then have movement in that situation. How does that element combine, with movement in the image? What's the combined effect? How can you use that to create something that's more interesting? So I'm going to stop there. But I hope you found that interesting. I hope you found it a different way of thinking about blur and, how you can use it. So on the one hand, you definitely need to know what causes blur, because we don't probably, for most of us, we don't want blur in the image. We don't want too much blur anyway, maybe a small amount. So you have to understand where it comes from. But equally knowing where it comes from, it means that you can introduce it deliberately and then that starts to open up different creative avenues. So maybe that's given you some ideas. Drop me a comment. if you want to share something, that would be great. And, thanks very much for listening and I am going to leave you now, so I'll speak to you in the next podcast. Bye now. Well, I hope you enjoyed that. Now, I just want to say thank you for tuning in and joining me in, the Wildlife and Adventure Photography podcast. If you have enjoyed today's episode, please give me a. Like a subscribe, maybe tell your friends, and by all means leave a comment. And if there is a subject you would like me to cover in the future, please let me know and I'll, be very happy to do my best. So thanks again for, joining me and I look forward to seeing you again next podcast. Bye for now.