DiscussMormonism.com

A while ago, I purchased a DSLR camera and several lenses hoping I'd become a great photographer if I had a great camera. Well, it apparently doesn't work that way. ;)

Still, with an outfit that set me back about $1500., I think I should be able to take a shot that isn't blurry. The lens I use most has an image stabilizer built into it, but even with that, I still have blurry spots in many of my shots. It's something I'm doing wrong, but after taking about a thousand pictures the last few days, I still can't figure it out. Where's PP when I need him???

Here are some examples of my problem:

I love this picture of Courtney jumping on the trampoline, but see her blurry feet and right arm? I set the camera on sports mode, where it takes rapid-fire shots, but this was the cleanest of them all, and it's not very good:



And this shot of Tarzan--it's blurry, too. The grass in front of him is so hazy and his fur looks muted somehow.



Still shots are much better:



But again, even the slightest movement causes a blur--note Maddie's blurry hand touching the honeysuckle:



Does anyone know enough about photography to tell me why even the smallest movement of my subject causes a blur? My camera is very quick. It can take shot after shot. My friend's camera, which is similar to mine, takes great action shots with no blur. I think the problem lies with me. I use the camera's pre-set options, but should I manually set the aperture? The ISO?

I should probably take a photography class, but I really don't want to. I thought I'd learn through doing, but so far, no luck.

KA

Okay...it's been a LOOOOOOONG time since I used my SLR (not to be confused with DSLR) but...(I could be about to make a complete and utter fool of myself, but I'll risk it) I think you need to manually set both the aperture and the shutter speed in order to remove the blur. I NEVER shot with my SLR on an automatic setting.

Omg...don't go by me, but I'm pretty sure that's what you need to do. Look in your manual and yes, if you're going to invest in a 1500$ collection of photographic equipment, it couldn't hurt to take a class.

With the DSLR, are you able to exchange the lenses and can you use filters? Or are the filters a part of the camera? (Filters such as amber, starburst effects is what I'm talking about)

I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED using a variety of filters. Totally cool effects!

p.s. I think you need to take a thousand more shots, KA, and keep track of what settings you're using until you figure out what you want to achieve. I'm going to send you a website via PM's to use, KA.

Thinking I need to dust off the SLR now.....

Great kids, KA. Which one is your favorite?

Probably need to set your camera to a faster shutter speed and also to set it to action (for those moving shots) setting.