One of the major problems photofinishers see when they process amateur film is camera movement. It always has been a serious problem and despite attempts to educate the public, some people just cannot hold their camera still when making a picture.

Now that more and more people are moving to digital photography the photofinishers won't be seeing their film and the personal advice at the camera store won't be forthcoming when a helpful clerk would assist the customer by pointing out that the bluriness in their pictures is a result of not holding the camera still. We need to get back to basics so that everyone will understand just what causes camera movement. You must hold your camera perfectly still in nearly all situations. (There are some exceptions and we'll touch on that later).

If you do not hold the camera perfectly still you will probably get a fuzzy image caused by the camera actually recording the original image and then a bit of a second image that has moved slightly in one direction or another. This can be even more pronounced at slower shutter speeds ie: 1/60th, 1/30th or even longer. I used to suggest to my students that you put the viewfinder of the camera up to your eye, then grasp the camera firmly with both hands, hold it tightly to your face, pull your elbows down to your sides, take a deep breath, let half of it out and then slowly squeeze the shutter release button. You'll notice I said slowly "squeeze" the shutter release button. That means do not "punch" the shutter release. If you quickly push the button down (I call this "punching") then there is a tendency for the camera to move down because there is a sudden jerk - the action, not the person with the camera! Squeezing the shutter is the same action a marksman takes when firing a rifle. It is a smooth action that given them accuracy. In addition, most automatic cameras these days have a two step function on the shutter release button.

When you push the button down halfway, the camera sets the focus and in many case the exposure as well. Then when you push the button down the rest of the way, the shutter is released, capturing the image.
If a person "punches" the shutter, the camera might not have enough time to make those focus and exposure settings and that creates even more problems with your pictures.

If you are using a digital camera and wish to use the screen on the back of the camera instead of the viewfinder on the top, then you can extend your arms out fully and that will give you some degree of steadiness. When professional photographers moved from 2 1/4" square negatives to 35mm negatives they learned that they probably had become a little lax in their technique because many news photographers noticed a bit of camera movement right after they changed to the smaller 35mm negative size. I remember that I had to pull my socks up a bit at that time because I had become used to the ease of the larger size negatives. The use of 35mm or small digital cameras means that camera movement is going to be something one has to consider carefully when making pictures because you are creating pictures on a very small format.

The first generation of digital imaging sensors was considerably smaller than a 35mm negative so it could be an even bigger problem for those who moved from 35mm to digital. The second generation of digital imaging sensors has now hit the market and the CCD (charge coupled device) that records the image is much larger so movement won't be quite as big a problem if you opt for the newer system.
However you will have to pay considerably more for cameras with the new system.

Shooting at slow shutter speeds ie: 1/30th second or longer (than means 1/15 etc. because you have to remember that this is a fraction of a second and 1/15th is longer than 1/30th) means you have to think about both camera movement and subject movement and find the best way to make the picture. Remember that subjects can move too!.

If you have a child skipping rope then 1/30th of a second will not stop the action. To stop the action you have to get into much shorter exposures ie: 1/500th or 1/1000th. Sometimes however, a bit of a blur can add to the picture (see the picture reproduced with this column). Only experience will show you what you can do in this area.

The nice thing about digital photography is you can try shooting in various ways without it costing you anything more. With conventional film, experimenting like this means you were using up film and paying for prints of the extra shots. With digital photography you can shoot all you want and then make your selections either on the camera screen or on your computer later.

When you want to shoot at a slower shutter speed you have to consider other ways to hold your camera still. This could be a much as carrying a tripod with you but most people don't want to go to that extreme. Think about putting your camera on a ledge, a counter or even holding it against a tree or wall.

Camera stores now sell little mini tripods that fold up and fit into your pocket or camera bag. Taking an action like this will allow you to keep your camera much stiller than if you just hand held it against your face. With some automatic cameras you don't know what your shutter speed will be when you are in a low light situation. You must assume that it will be a longer exposure and that means that you will have to take care to have the camera firmly situated when you push the shutter release button.

During our recent trip to Florida that is covered in this issue, we attended a number of indoor shows. In some cases they ask that you not make "flash pictures". Note they didn't say "pictures" they said "flash pictures". In these cases I shut the flash off on my camera and make available light pictures which means that they are going to be long shutter speeds.

Certainly every picture you make is not a great one because the movement of the subject can create problems. However when I look through my pictures I find that there are some very good ones with a little bit of movement on arms etc. I feel this adds to the feeling of the picture. Of course it is a matter of individual preference.

Many of the pictures of mine that are reproduced in Scope are long exposure shots. It is just a matter of getting used to making pictures this way and practice, practice, practice! Earlier I mentioned that there was an exception to holding the camera still and that is something called panning.

Many photographers have developed a good system of making pictures of action by panning the camera along with the action. If you are making a picture of a child riding a bicycle past your camera then you can follow the subject with your camera, firing the shutter part way through the action. If done properly the result will be a relatively sharp image of the subject with the background blurred. This is something you have to work at to get it right and again digital offers you the opportunity to make lots of pictures without any additional cost.

Movement is something that has always been a problem in photography. If you look at very old group pictures you will see that in many pictures someone in the picture that is a blur. That meant that they moved during the few second exposure that the old cameras needed to record the image. You can see that movement has always been a problem in photography. Remember there are two types, camera movement and subject movement. If you look at your pictures and everything is blurry then you can be pretty sure it is camera movement. If on the other hand some things in your picture are sharp and some are blurry then the problem is either subject movement or incorrect focusing. We'll consider the focusing problem in another column in the future.
Hold your camera still when you are making pictures and you will indeed
end up with better photographs.