Out of focus motion shots

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Ladylucy

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Hi everyone, I'm pretty new to the DSLR world-self taught for the last year. Last week I did some wedding photography for a family member. For a first timer I was pretty pleased with some of the results. A common problem I seem to have had are a lot of the motion candid shots are blurred and not focussed on the subject. I shot in manual had my ISO and shutter speed set for the relevant lighting but my aperture was pretty high, approx. f4. The distance between me and the subject was anything between 2 to 4 metres. Can anyone give me advise on why I've ended up with blurry shots - is it because of the aperture or something else. I'm doing another favour this weekend and shooting some kids in the family, who will obviously be moving around, as will I. How do I make sure I don't end up with a batch full of blurry shots! Any advise would be greatly appreciated. As I said I'm new to this and need all the help I can get.
Thanks!
 
Hi Lucy and welcome to TP.

It would be massively helpful if you could show us some examples, preferably with the EXIF data intact so we can see the camera settings you used. There are several different things that could be causing your problems, and some photos will make it a lot easier to work out what is going on.
 
You say you shot in manual and had the correct shutter speed & ISO set, I'd say you haven't got the correct settings. Come out of full manual mode, use Av or Tv and let the camera do some of the work for you. You don't say what body you've got but have you got an auto ISO setting? While you're learning give the camera some work to do, examine the good shots afterward and see what settings were applied.
 
Also make sure you have your af set to subject tracking if your taking action shots. Also a higher shutter speed will freeze the action and hopefully cure the blurry shots. I would try shutter priority setting and adjust the iso as and when you need it with the different shutter speeds.
 
WelshNoob said:
You say you shot in manual and had the correct shutter speed & ISO set, I'd say you haven't got the correct settings. Come out of full manual mode, use Av or Tv and let the camera do some of the work for you. You don't say what body you've got but have you got an auto ISO setting? While you're learning give the camera some work to do, examine the good shots afterward and see what settings were applied.
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Whilst I'm generally an AV shooter I couldn't agree less with this. Whether anyone shoots in AV, TV, P, M, or PASM as its sometimes referred, is fairly inconsequential.

If the OP is happy shooting M and getting great results generally there's no need to change mode. I find wandering around a wedding changing iso a simple task and auto iso can become something else to wrestle with.

The OPs issues are either too slow a shutter speed or an incorrect AF setting. I use BBF and often leave my camera on continuous focus.
 
The other reason could be down to camera shake as well, as others have said shutter speed is what to consider
 
All answers are guesses.. some I would also guess in agreement.. However there are other things.. if your on one shot.. focus on a moving subject and your camera has shutter lag.. then the focus has gone before you take the pic.. a combination of things all of which I would imagine include shutter speed.

However its all guesswork.. we could help more of you gave more information.. camera, lens and example pics...
 
KIPAX said:
All answers are guesses.. some I would also guess in agreement.. However there are other things.. if your on one shot.. focus on a moving subject and your camera has shutter lag.. then the focus has gone before you take the pic.. a combination of things all of which I would imagine include shutter speed.

However its all guesswork.. we could help more of you gave more information.. camera, lens and example pics...
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Agreed.... my initial thought was that at f4 and 2-4 meters, a moving subject could move out of focus pretty quickly and/or a low shutter speed would cause blurring.
 
WelshNoob said:
Sorry Phil, it was the



part that threw me. If the OP's getting great results in M then that's ok.
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I'm possibly naive, I assume that if someone is shooting M at an important event and is generally pleased with the results knows what they are doing?

However I've been wrong before and only the OP knows all the story.
 
I'd agree with shooting in AV or TV, I only think M really needs to be used in is circumstances where you can't get the desired effect with AV or TV, I use M mostly with flash, I keep my ISO on manual and set to as low as I can to get the shot I want.

As for why it's blurry post them up but as has been said it'll either be you missing the focus, or too low as shutter speed.
 
Phil V said:
I assume that if someone is shooting M at an important event and is generally pleased with the results knows what they are doing?
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Me too but the OP said they are new to DSLR, self taught over a year and is having blurry OOF shots whilst shooting in M. My suggestion was to remove one of the 3 things that was being manually set.
 
WelshNoob said:
Me too but the OP said they are new to DSLR, self taught over a year and is having blurry OOF shots whilst shooting in M. My suggestion was to remove one of the 3 things that was being manually set.
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I know where you're coming from, but if she's getting too slow a shutter speed shooting M, she'd almost certainly allow it in AV or TV too, so the exposure mode isn't really relevant.

I'm usually firmly in the 'stop telling people to shoot M' camp, but it works for many and there are times it's the easiest way to go.

There's no hard and fast rules on how long it takes to become 'proficient' I know a guy who went from assisting a wedding with a bridge camera to buying a full set of gear and shooting 20+ weddings in just over a year, he's now one of the few genuinely full time wedding photographers I know.

On the other hand, I've been shooting nearly 30 years and there's still stuff I could be doing better (every time I take out my camera;)).
 
I know the Square Root of *uggar all really. Was just trying to offer my 2p's worth.
 
Only a guess without seeing an example, but my money's on too slow shutter speed, causing subject movement blur and/or camera shake.

Solutions: use lower f/number, raise ISO, or use flash.
 
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