4 Best Ways to Understand Poor Focus and Camera Shake to use the Terms in the Right Places

There are times when the beginner photographers might make mistakes in understanding the concepts of photography. That’s the reason; I would like to cover even the minutest detail on the blog so that there’s no room for confusion.

There are two terms which a beginner photographer might use in place of the other, when revealing about the distortion in the picture. Often, the word poor focus is used for camera shake and vice versa.

Technically, if you start understanding every concept well, you will use right word for the right thing. In photography, making your foundation stronger will make a good amount of difference. So, don’t take me wrong when I prove you wrong that the distortion in the image is not because of the camera shake, it is because of the poor focus.

We all intend to take sharp photos and hence if you can figure out what you don’t have to do, it will also become simple to understand that rather what you should do.

Here are the best 5 ways to understand poor focus so that you don’t confuse the same with the camera shake.

4 Best Ways to Understand Poor Focus and Camera Shake

1. What is the level of sharpness in the image?

If the picture that you have taken is fully blur and there are no sharp points either then, more than poor focus, this would be the case of camera shake.

2. Can you see double image?

If there’s an unintentional double image then this clearly indicates that the camera had shaken while you were taking an image. Had it been poor focus then the image would not have been double. This clearly shows that there are perhaps two exposures and this image would be corrected only if the camera doesn’t shake the next time you take the image.

3. What kind of blur is this?

If you are having a smooth blur then it means that this is mainly because of poor focus and not the camera shake. When it comes to the blur due to camera shake, there will be streaks and lines, if you see from the close. These things can give you an idea that what kind of image blur is this?

4. Check the foreground and background

If you check the foreground, subject and the background, you will realize that in the entire image there is no sharpness at all. So, this would be the case of camera shake. On the other hand there will be slight distortion when the focus is poor.

Conclusion

With the above differentiation in the concepts like camera shake and poor focus, I am sure you will be able to understand poor focus pretty well.

So, the next time, you have some distortions in the image, you should be able to find out the exact reason. If you understand poor focus as well as camera shake you will at least know how to remain careful.

With the concepts like focus in light, I am sure you will also like to know about depth of field. So, in our coming blogs, we will clear the concepts like depth of the field.  Focus is nothing but intensity of the sharpness that you can see in the pictures. Changing the factors like aperture can help in enhancing the sharpness in an image!

So, do you agree with what I shared above? If you feel there’s something I missed out then you can comment here in the comments section. We would love to get your feedback.