How to Prevent Taking Blurry Pictures

Blurry pictures can be caused by several factors:

• Your camera may not have been focused properly when you shot the picture.

• You may have shot under low-light conditions, and your subject was moving too fast to be captured clearly.

• You may have accidentally shaken the camera when you took the picture.

To keep from taking blurry pictures, you should:

• Make sure the camera is properly focused on the subject, not the background. That might mean turning off your camera's auto-focus feature and adjusting the focus manually.

• Use adequate lighting (including your camera's built-in flash) so that if your subject moves slightly, it is still captured clearly.

• Stabilize your camera by holding your shooting arm firmly at your site. Alternately, consider using a camera tripod to hold the camera steady, or setting your camera on a solid surface instead of in your hands.

It isn't always possible to fix blurry pictures, but you can try. Many photo editing programs, such as Adobe Photoshop Elements, have a "sharpen" feature – just adjust the sharpening control (or press the "auto sharp" button). Note, however, that sharpening a picture can add noise to the photo, and that you may not be able to adequately sharpen a really blurry picture.

Michael Miller is a writer and commentator on technology and digital lifestyle topics.