Blur pictures

[farseer oliver]

I\'ve being trying to take clear pictures all the time but still the result was always blur.

I\'m using a digital camera Sony Cybershot Super Steady 5.1 mega pixel. Most of the time I took the photos during day time so that I can make use of the day time light. I also using white cloth as background. But somehow the result still very bad.

Check out my gallery too and you will understand.

Anybody can help me?

 

[Amazon warrior]

Are you using the macro? The symbol for it is a little tulip, which should show on your screen if it\'s on. It\'s essential for photographing small subjects like mnis.

 

[War Griffon]

Several things could be effecting this, I am not familiar with the make of the camera you have but some things to try/do are as follows:
1. Always use a tripod (or a bean bag if you are just using a table) to set the camera up.
2. Always use a remote release or the timer.
The above two will cut out camera shake no end.
3. As mentioned by Amazon Warrior if the camera has a macro mode then use it
4. Depth of field. If some parts of the photo are blurred/out of focus and not others then you need to see if you can put the camera into Arperture prioity this is usually a setting represented by a letter A in this mode the camera will do everything except set the F stop you do this yourself remembering that the larger the F number the more will be in focus in front and behind the subject (including bit that are part of the subject).

Hope this helps.

 

[Davyboy74]

Try a dark background, like the one used in your Eldar harlequin picture. Also, i assume you have photoshop or a similar program? Have you tried adjusting the levels?

 

[farseer oliver]

Yup, I did switch on the \"macro\" mode.

I don\'t have a tripod but I put the camera on top on something flat and then I set the timer for the clip.

I don\'t have a photoshop. So I use this Microsoft Office Picture Manager to adjust the contrast and I use Window Paint software to join all the pictures. Then I upload to this Image Shack to set the picture size.

I can try use a black cloth for the background.

 

[dougaderly]

No photoshop? try GIMP.

 

[War Griffon]

Originally posted by farseer oliver
I don\'t have a photoshop. So I use this Microsoft Office Picture Manager to adjust the contrast and I use Window Paint software to join all the pictures. Then I upload to this Image Shack to set the picture size.

There in lies your problem I think, places like Imageshack, Photobucket and many websites that shrink images that are larger than what they set as a limit tend to make a hell of a mess doing so.

Have a look at the GIMP article I recently put in the articles on here. It really is quite easy to use and the best part is its free.

As for trying to shoot on a black back ground well not many people have a lot of luck with this unless they have a very good lighting set up and a good camera.

Over the next day or so I will be doing a back grounds article for GIMP so that is another time saver if you tried this program, given what you are using at the moment I think you will save a lot of time and effort giving the GIMP a try.

 

[Legacy Account]

After reading a few reviews of your camera, there are a number of factors that may be causing the slight softness:

The camera seems to produce slightly soft images as a matter of course.
Images get softer when using a smaller aperture (f7.1 and above) with this model due to difraction.
Default contrast is a bit high and it produces overly bright images on standard settings which can exacerbate fringing and blooming. Your white background will enhance this...
It is image stabilised. This should be switched off for static shots.

Try fiddling with the settings - drop the contrast a bit and increase the in-camera sharpening. Shoot below f7. Apply some sharpening to your images in GIMP or P\'Shop and do ALL your image processing and resizing in your image editor. Don\'t let Imageshack resize your pics.

 

[farseer oliver]

I just downloaded the GIMP. Will learn how to use it.

And about the aperture, normal I use 125 F6.3 or F7.1 when I take the pictures using natural day light at my car park.

What you explained about the contrast is that I need to lower the contrast? Normally I set it on \"normal\" mode. For the \"saturation\", I always set it on \"normal\" mode.

 

[redarmy27]

Good post as I was just wondering what\'s going on with my pictures. I\'ve been borrowing my father\'s Nikon D300 and been using everything correctly to capture the image. Then I read about the file hosting sites crushing down the images. Not to highjack the thread, but what would be the best way to present images through a site? Or not do one at all?

I think once you use Gimp, oliver, the images will turn out much nicer. It sounds like you\'re doing all the right things. I\'m in pretty much the same boat as you. Good question

 

[Legacy Account]

Aye, the site I looked at recommended turning down the contrast from the default in-camera setting. I\'d use a more neutral background too - a light grey or blue would improve things.

If you\'re prepping images for the web ALWAYS resize and compress them yourself to fit whatever limit any particular site may impose on file sizes. Make sure you get your pixel dimensions right, and set your resolution to 72dpi. For Coolmini, the biggest size that you can fit on screen at any one time is 600px wide by about 540px high. You can go taller (you\'ll just have to scroll), but DON\'T go wider as your image will get resized. Don\'t go above 200kb.

Your best bet for compression is to use Photoshop\'s \'Save For Web\' feature as you can see in real time the effect your settings are having on your image.

 

[farseer oliver]

I\'ve posted 2 models. Please have a look whether the photos are fine.

http://www.coolminiornot.com/197941

http://www.coolminiornot.com/197940