How to avoid camera shake and blurry shots?

[tweak and plaything]

I am new in DPS and I need advice or help. I am using SIGMA 70-300mm f4-5.6 APO macro DG and I am having a hard time focusing on the shots. I tend to get blurry images. Do I need a tripod? I am planning to shoot a street parade so subjects will moving. Help. I would really appreciate the tips.

[teaking]

It is usually recommended to try to use a shutter of 1/focal length when hand held so at 50mm it would be 1/50th although this is only a rough guide as people tend to have different holding capacities i will label it lol. And a tripod always helps as long as the subject remains relatively still.

For moving subjects you are going to need a shutter speed in the hundreds you could also try panning this will blue the back ground but means you can freeze images at slower speeds. You can generally achieve this by using a higher ISO and lower aperture. Although on your lens full zoomed it looks like your lowest is F5.6 as long as there is sufficient light you should be aright. If possible maybe you could use flash to freeze the action it may not have to be full flash maybe just minimal it can help.

[OsmosisStudios]

Sounds like camera shake. That lens is an f/5.6 max aperture at the long end. That's not big. You also don't have stabilization of some kind, be it in-lens or external. That means that you need 1/250s shutter speed or better to almost guarantee no camera shake.

[wulf]

My 70-300mm produces notably better pictures at 200mm than 300mm - sharper and less purple fringing. If you are always zoomed all the way out, then try pulling back a bit. You're still getting a lot closer than you would with, say, an 18-55mm lens and the results should be better (slightly improving the camera shake problem as well).

I'm not suggesting that you never go to 300mm but it is worth getting a feel for what sort of effect you get at points across the range.

Wulf

[gnownad]

If you're shooting street parade stuff, it's probably gonna be crowded, so tripods are probably not the best option. Doing what wulf said, pull back on the zoom and shoot in your highest quality, because then you can crop if you need to, but have sharp images at least! A good tip is to try panning with their movement if you want to create an action-sort of shot, with your subject sharp and everything else blurry- in such cases hold your camera with arms as stiff and close to your torso as possible, and rotate using your waist/midriff!

Using this little technique has gotten be some decent results while shooting moving stuff on the streets!

An example:

[RichardTaylor]

@tweak and plaything

You don't say what camera you are using, or weather the parade is at night.

This is for a daytime parade.

If the blur is caused by camera shake then;
If it is a full frame camera I would not shoot below 1/100 at 70mm, 1/200 at 200mm and 1/300 at 300mm
If you are using a 1.5 crop camera I would not shoot below 1/125 @ 70mm, 1/300 at 200mm & 1/500 @ 300mm.

Those shutter speeds, especially the higher ones, should also freeze most subject movement.

If the blur is caused by focussing problems the I suggest you set your camera up;
(1) Centre focus point only active.
(2) Focus tracking active.
If your lens has a focus limiter then use it.
As the subject approaches partially depress the shutter button whilst keeping the centre focus point over the subject. This will give the camera/lens time to lock on. As the subject fills the frame gently fully depress the shutter button to take the picture.

If the light is poor then do not be afraid to bump up the ISO.

I agree with the statement no tripod.

Here are some examples from a local parade.

(1) This guy was walking.


Camera: Canon EOS 40D + Caonon 70-200 F4 L lens
Exposure: 1/2500 sec
Aperture: f/4.5
Focal Length: 140 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: -2/3 EV
Flash: Off

(2)


Camera: Canon EOS 5D + Canon 24-105 F4 L IS lens
Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/400)
Aperture: f/7.1
Focal Length: 99 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: -2/3 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire

(3) This person was riding a horse.


Camera: Canon EOS 40D + Canon 70-200 F4 L lens
Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/2000)
Aperture: f/4.0
Focal Length: 188 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: -1 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire

(4) These people were marching.


Camera: Canon EOS 40D + Canon 70-200 F4 L lens
Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/2000)
Aperture: f/4.5
Focal Length: 172 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: -2/3 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire

For head shots I tend to shoot at fairly wide apertures to isolate the subject from the background.
Shooting conditions varied from bright sunshine to a bit of hazy cloud (I think) which makes shooting a lot easier. All pics were hand held and have processed from the original RAW files.

Hope this helps.
Richard