The secrets to sharper photos

Wildlife and adventure photography

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It can be very frustrating to go away on a trip and, when you look at your photographs on a pc screen, find they're not sharp. I've put together a list of seven things you can do, to avoid blurry photos:

1. Check your settings. Do you have the correct shutter speed set? Is your AF point in the right place? Have you got an unintended exposure compensation set? Make it a habit to check your settings and take test shots.
2. You are using the wrong shutter speed. While shooting at 1,000th of a second will freeze a lot of the action, shooting faster is likely to give more reliable results. If I'm photographing a breaching whale, I'll typically use 1/4000th of a second to freeze everything.
3. Pre-focus on your subject where you can and use long bursts. The number of useable photos you get becomes an exercise in statistics. If you're getting one good shot in 10, you won't have much to show from a burst of 6. A burst of 20 though, should give you at least 2 useable photos.
4. Look out for foreground objects that might completely blur out through the viewfinder, but will make their presence felt by leaving a 'fog' over the subject. Look directly at your subject (not through the viewfinder) and look for leaves, twigs or anything else close to you that might become a problem in the final image.
5. Use the lowest possible ISO. High ISO will introduce noise and this diminishes the sharpness of your subject. This is particularly true in low light. Take a 'safe' shot first (to make sure you get a photo of your subject) and then progressively reduce the ISO. Use a tripod (or other support), 'silent' mode, the 3-second self-timer, or a remote control to minimise any movement you might introduce when taking the shot.
6. Set up a 'focus box'. Use this where you can't focus directly on your subject (e.g. porpoising dolphins). Set the focal distance and a suitable DoF to have a safe focus area.
7. Make sure you understand the AF system on your camera. Use the appropriate mode and AF point(s).

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