My most asked question of all time: can I fix a blurry photo? No. There is no Photoshop or Lightroom trick to fix a blurred image. It’s seriously just trash. If you are tired of getting blurry photos, stick around! In today’s post, Fixing Blurry Photos | Shutter Speed Explained,  I am going to be explaining Shutter Speed and how you can avoid blurry photos. Click here to get my free shutter speed cheat sheet.

Full disclosure: learning to use a camera isn’t hard. Teaching it is hard. However, I’ve cracked the code and have taught countless students to use a camera in full manual mode. It takes serious time. Which we don’t have here but I do offer in Mom Photography School. Click here to read more about MPS.

Shutter speed is one of the 3 elements of the exposure triangle.

If you don’t know what the exposure triangle is- no worries I have a post all about it here. But for now, just know it is one of the elements that affect how bright or dark an image is. But the Shutter speed is special because it can royally ruin your image faster than any other element. Not only can it make it too dark or too light, but it can also blur it- making your image garbage (unless you wanted to make all or apart of your image “show motion.” Which in that case is totally fine.)

 

To see me explain this cart above, hop over to my YouTube channel.

What sound does a camera make?

Fixing blurry photos isn’t possible but we can avoid them. We avoid them to understand and using Shutter Speed. Shutter speed is the time the shutter is open at a given setting and it is measured in fractions.  What sound does a camera make? “Click-click” That is sound the of the shutter opening and closing. You get to pick how fast the shutter speed is going. So, if the shutter is set to 1/10 it opened 10ox longer than if it is opened at 1/1000. So, 1/1000 is a much faster shutter speed than 1/10. Being a little dramatic here, but the shutter at 1/10 sounds like “click…………….click.” While 1/1000 sound like “click… click.” The faster the shutter speed, the shorter amount of time the shutter is open and it FREEZES motion. The slower the shutter speed, the longer amount of time the shutter is open- this can show or blur motion.

 

The FASTER the subject is moving- the FASTER your shutter speed needs to be.

You can never go below 1/60 of a second without using a tripod. Your image will be blurred simply by the shack of your hand. I stay far away from 1/60 shutter speed if at all possible.

Pro Tip: I try to stay above 1/250 when photographing kids because they move so much. This keeps my images sharp (aka: not blurred.) In some cases, you may want to show blur. For example, you may want to show the blur of the baseball bat your child swings it but want the overall image to be sharp. I call this “showing motion” in photos.

If you are new to photography, here is a little guide I’ve made to help you get started. Now, these are not HARD rules but it’s a good starting place.

 

 

 

 

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So there you have it, Fixing Blurry Photos – Shutter Speed Explained. Granted, there is much more to shutter speed than blur. To fully understand shutter speed (and get a good image), you need to understand aperture and ISO as well. Interested in FINALLY learning to use your camera? Come joining me in Mom Photography School for only $35! Click here to read all about how much moms all over the country have gotten amazing results with MPS.