Why Are My Indoor Photos Blurry in Auto Mode?
You take your camera indoors and suddenly it seems to have forgotten how to take a decent photograph. "So why are my indoor photos blurry?
All of a sudden, your photos look blurry, but you are sure they were in focus when you took them.
The good news is that there’s probably nothing wrong with your camera. Indoor photography is simply more challenging than it looks.
You’ve probably seen this: things look a bit like they are out of focus or a bit smeary. The chances are, they aren’t actually out of focus. What you are looking at is motion blur.
So, why are your indoor photos blurry?
When you take a photograph, your camera needs light to record the picture.
If there isn’t much light available, your camera may need to keep the shutter open for longer to let enough light in.
You might hear a quick click when you take a photograph. But if the shutter speed is slow, you might hear something more like:
click (pause) click – or even something a bit like “cuuurrrrlick”.
That’s your camera keeping the shutter open for longer.
And here’s the problem.
Anything that moves while the shutter is open will be recorded as movement in the photograph.
That could be you moving the camera slightly. Or it could be your subject moving. Or, if you're really unlucky, both.
So, is it out of focus or motion blur?
There is a difference.
If the whole photograph looks smeary or you can see movement around the edges of your subject, it is likely to be motion blur.
If your subject is still but the wrong part of the photograph is sharp, that could be a focusing issue.
And if you're indoors and your camera is making that long cuuurrrrlick sound, motion blur is a very good place to start looking.
The important thing to remember is that your camera probably isn't broken.
It is simply trying to deal with a room that looks perfectly bright to your eyes but isn't actually providing very much light for your camera.
But how do you fix it?
This is where things can get frustrating.
In Auto mode, your camera is choosing the settings for you. It’s trying to work out how much light there is and what settings will give you a reasonably exposed photograph.
But it doesn’t know that you’re trying to photograph your dog who refuses to sit still. Or your grandchildren who have suddenly discovered running. Or your partner who apparently cannot stand still for three seconds.
First, listen for the cuuurrrrlick
If you can hear that cuuurrrrlick, chances are your shutter speed is too slow to comfortably hold the camera in your hands.
There’s a simple solution if your subject is something that isn’t moving.
Put your camera on something steady.
A table, shelf or anything else that will keep it still can help. Then use your camera’s self-timer.
Why?
Because even pressing the shutter button can move the camera slightly, particularly if the shutter speed is very slow.
So, camera still + self-timer = much less chance of camera shake. But that only solves one half of the problem.
What if your subject is moving?
Unfortunately, putting your camera on a table isn't going to help much if the person, child, dog or cat you're photographing is moving.
In Auto mode, you don't have much control over what your camera does. But there are a couple of things you can try.
Move somewhere brighter
This is the easiest option.
If you can, move yourself and your subject closer to a window or into a brighter part of the room.
More light means your camera doesn't need to keep the shutter open for quite as long.
And that means less opportunity for movement to be recorded as blur.
Try Program mode
If moving somewhere brighter isn't enough, you could move out of Auto and try Program mode.
Program mode still does a lot of the work for you, but it gives you a little more control over what your camera is doing.
You'll have a big dial on the top of your camera with letters on it. Look for the P.
In Program mode, you'll be able to change something called ISO. I'm not going to go into depth about this right now (I'll save that for another blog post), but, simply put, a higher ISO setting makes your camera more sensitive to the available light. This means it can often use a faster shutter speed, which can help reduce motion blur.
You should also see a button or a dial with +/- on it. This setting allows you to make your pictures a bit brighter or darker. Move towards + to make your images brighter.
You don't need to understand everything your camera can do to start getting better results. You just need to understand a few of the things it is doing behind the scenes.
Want to understand what your camera is doing?
There are lots of little things like this that make much more sense once someone explains them in plain English.
If you'd like to understand why your camera does this and what to do about it, The Camera Kickstart takes you through the basics in simple, practical steps, without making you wade through a camera manual or learn a load of jargon.
It takes a couple of hours to work through and is designed to help you feel more confident using your camera beyond Auto.
Sarah Lester is a professional photographer with more than 20 years of experience behind the camera. She’s been teaching beginners since 2008, helping people feel more confident using their cameras in a clear, simple and jargon-free way.
Her online courses have already helped thousands of students get to grips with their cameras and start taking photos they’re proud of.
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