Have You Ever Struggled with Blurry Photos? Try These Photography Tips and Techniques!
You’re not alone. Many photographers seek photography tips and photography techniques to overcome issues like chromatic aberration, diffraction, and rolling shutter—key factors that significantly impact image quality and sharpness.
At first, these might sound like technical jargon. However, mastering these essential photography tips is the key to transforming your work from good to extraordinary. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to refine your skills, these photography tips for beginners will help you take sharper, cleaner, and more professional photos.
Let’s dive into the three most common photography challenges—and how to solve them!
The Problem:
Imagine this: You take a stunning landscape shot, only to notice soft edges from diffraction or weird colour fringes from chromatic aberration. Frustrating, right? But the good news is that these common photography mistakes are entirely fixable—if you know how.
The Solution:
By the end of this guide, you’ll understand these issues and know exactly how to fix them—so you can take sharper, cleaner, and more professional photos. Whether you’re struggling with focus, exposure, or lens imperfections, these photography tips will empower you to take complete control of your shots.
Table of Contents
1. Chromatic Aberration: Essential Photography Tips to Fix Color Fringing
What is Chromatic Aberration?
Imagine photographing a bird on a tree. You zoom in to admire your work, only to notice ugly purple and green fringes outlining the edges. This frustrating phenomenon is known as chromatic aberration (CA). It occurs when your lens struggles to align all wavelengths (colours) of light into a single sharp focal point, leaving unsightly fringes that can ruin an otherwise beautiful photo.
Why Does Chromatic Aberration Happen?
Lenses bend (refract) light to focus it onto your camera’s sensor. However, different colours of light have different wavelengths, which causes them to refract at slightly different angles. Shorter wavelengths like blue and violet bend more than longer wavelengths like red and orange. This misalignment creates a separation of colours at high-contrast edges, resulting in those distracting fringes. Understanding this key photography tip can help you avoid common pitfalls when capturing high-contrast subjects.
Types of Chromatic Aberration
Lateral Chromatic Aberration
Found at the edges of your image, this type creates coloured fringes around objects near the frame’s periphery.
Longitudinal Chromatic Aberration
Occurring throughout the image, this type produces colour halos around out-of-focus areas, often noticeable in macro or portrait photography.
When Does Chromatic Aberration Occur?
You’re more likely to encounter chromatic aberration in the following scenarios:
- Shooting at wide apertures (e.g., f/1.8 or f/2.8), especially in bright conditions.
- Capturing high-contrast scenes, such as tree branches against the sky, where colour fringing is more pronounced.
- Photographing backlit subjects, which often increases the visibility of aberration.
- Using older or lower-quality lenses that lack ED (Extra-Low Dispersion) glass, making them more susceptible to chromatic aberration.
Photography Tips To Fix Chromatic Aberration
If chromatic aberration has ever ruined your shot, don’t worry – there are several effective ways to minimise or even eliminate it.
Here’s how you can tackle this issue:
1. Stop Down Your Aperture
Since chromatic aberration is most noticeable at wide apertures (f/1.8, f/2.8), narrowing your aperture to f/5.6 or f/8 significantly reduces the angle at which light enters the lens. As a result, this improves both sharpness and colour accuracy.
2. Use Post-Processing Tools
Fortunately, editing software makes it easy to fix chromatic aberration in post-production.
In Lightroom:
- Navigate to the Lens Corrections panel.
- Check the box for “Remove Chromatic Aberration.”
- Use the Defringe sliders in the manual section for more precise adjustments.
In Photoshop
- Open the Camera Raw Filter.
- Use the chromatic aberration correction tools for targeted fixes.
3. Upgrade Your Lens
If chromatic aberration is a recurring problem, then consider upgrading to a lens with advanced optics. In particular, modern lenses equipped with ED (Extra-Low Dispersion) glass or aspherical elements are specifically designed to minimise this issue. Although this requires an investment, ultimately it pays off in improved sharpness and clarity.
Practical Photography Techniques
To fully grasp how chromatic aberration affects your images, test these techniques yourself:
- First, find a high-contrast scene, such as tree branches against a bright sky or black text on white paper.
- Next, take photos at different apertures, ranging from f/2.8 to f/8.
- Then, zoom in to 100% and carefully observe where chromatic aberration is most noticeable.
- Finally, use Lightroom or Photoshop to correct the fringing and compare the results.
Chromatic Aberration: Key Takeaways
What is Chromatic Aberration?
Chromatic aberration occurs when your lens struggles to focus all wavelengths (colours) of light onto the same point. As a result, this leads to purple, green, or other colour fringes around high-contrast edges.
Types of Chromatic Aberration
- Lateral Chromatic Aberration: Found at the edges of your image, often causing coloured fringes near the frame’s periphery.
- Longitudinal Chromatic Aberration: Appears throughout the image as colour halos around out-of-focus areas, which is commonly seen in macro and portrait photography.
When It Happens:
- Shooting with wide apertures (e.g., f/1.8 or f/2.8), especially in bright conditions.
- Capturing high-contrast scenes, such as tree branches against the sky, where fringing is more noticeable.
- Photographing backlit subjects or using older/low-quality lenses without ED (Extra-Low Dispersion) glass, both of which increase the chances of chromatic aberration.
Photography Tips To Fix It
- Stop Down Your Aperture: Narrowing your aperture to f/5.6 or f/8 can significantly reduce chromatic aberration.
- Use Post-Processing: Tools in Lightroom or Photoshop, such as the Remove Chromatic Aberration option, can effectively eliminate most fringes.
- Upgrade Your Lens: Modern lenses with ED or aspherical elements are specifically designed to handle chromatic aberration more efficiently.
Practical Photography Techniques
To better understand how chromatic aberration affects your images, try these steps:
- First, test your lens by photographing high-contrast scenes.
- Then, experiment with different aperture settings to observe the changes.
- Finally, use software tools for precise corrections in post-processing.
2. Rolling Shutter Effect: Essential Photography Tips to Avoid Distortion
What is Rolling Shutter?
Imagine capturing a fast-moving subject, only to notice strange distortions in your image—straight lines suddenly appearing skewed, rotating objects unexpectedly looking bent, or video footage wobbling unnaturally. This phenomenon is known as a rolling shutter, and unfortunately, it can significantly impact your photography and videography results.
Why Does Rolling Shutter Happen?
Most DSLR and mirrorless cameras use CMOS sensors, which means they don’t capture the entire image at once. Instead, they scan the scene line by line from top to bottom. As a result, this delay between scanning each row leads to rolling shutter distortions in fast-moving scenarios.
You’ll notice rolling shutter particularly in situations like:
- Sports Photography: Athletes in motion sometimes appearing stretched or warped.
- Drone/Aerial Photography: Rotating propellers often looking bent.
- Fast Panning Video Footage: Scenes frequently appearing wobbly or unstable.
Types of Rolling Shutter
- Skewing: Vertical lines tend to appear slanted when moving the camera rapidly.
- Jello Effect: Handheld video footage often appears to wobble unnaturally.
- Bent Motion: Rotating objects, like propellers or wheels, may appear curved rather than circular.
Photography Tips To Fix It
If a rolling shutter has ever ruined your footage, don’t worry—there are ways to minimise or eliminate it.
1. Use a Global Shutter Camera
Unlike CMOS sensors, global shutters capture the entire image at once, thereby eliminating rolling shutter distortion. Although these cameras are expensive, they remain the best solution for action-heavy photography and videography.
2. Increase Your Shutter Speed
A faster shutter speed significantly reduces the delay between sensor readouts, thus minimising the warping effect. For best results, try settings like 1/1000s or higher when capturing fast-moving subjects.
3. Shoot At Higher Frame Rates
Higher frame rates (e.g., 60fps or 120fps) help reduce the visual impact of the rolling shutter by providing more frames per second, which ultimately improves motion fluidity.
4. Stabilise Your Camera
Using a tripod or gimbal effectively reduces unintended movement, making rolling shutter effects less noticeable. If you prefer shooting handheld, then try using image stabilisation modes in your camera.
5. Avoid Fast Panning
If you’re filming, it’s best to keep panning motions slow and controlled. Otherwise, rapid movements tend to exaggerate rolling shutter distortions.
Practical Photography Techniques
- First, photograph a fast-moving subject using different shutter speeds (1/250s, 1/500s, and 1/1000s). Then, compare how motion appears in each shot.
- Next, record a panning video at normal and high frame rates. Observe how frame rate affects rolling shutter distortion.
- After that, stabilise your camera with a tripod and compare footage taken handheld vs. stabilised.
- Finally, use software correction tools in post-processing and compare the corrected footage to the original.
Rolling Shutter Key Takeaways
What is Rolling Shutter?
A rolling shutter is a distortion caused by CMOS sensors scanning an image line by line instead of capturing the entire frame at once. Consequently, it produces skewed lines, warped motion, and wobbling effects in fast-moving scenes.
When Rolling Shutter Happens
Rolling shutter typically occurs when capturing fast motion, especially in sports, drone footage, or handheld video. Since the sensor’s readout speed is too slow to keep up with motion, this results in visual distortions.
Photography Techniques To Fix Rolling Shutter
- Use a Global Shutter Camera: Eliminates rolling shutter completely.
- Increase Shutter Speed: Reduces distortion when photographing motion.
- Shoot at High Frame Rates: Helps smooth out movement in video.
- Stabilise Your Camera: A gimbal or tripod effectively minimises unintended motion effects.
- Avoid Quick Panning: Slow, deliberate movements significantly reduce visible distortion.
- Apply Software Corrections: Adobe Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve can effectively reduce rolling shutter issues in post-production.
Practical Photography Tips
To fully understand rolling shutter, experiment with different shutter speeds and stabilisation techniques. In general, slower panning and faster shutter speeds will always yield better results when capturing action-heavy scenes.
3. Diffraction: Essential Photography Tips to Maintain Sharpness
What is Diffraction?
Diffraction occurs because light behaves like a wave. When it passes through a small opening – such as a tiny aperture – it bends and scatters. The smaller the aperture, the more pronounced this bending becomes, causing light waves to overlap. This overlapping creates blur, which affects the sharpness of your image.
How it Affects Your Photos
Diffraction can subtly reduce image sharpness, especially when shooting at smaller apertures like f/22. However, you can mitigate its impact by understanding your lens’s performance and adopting alternative techniques.
Real Life Example
Imagine you’re capturing a breathtaking mountain landscape, where every element—from the vibrant foreground flowers to the distant, towering peaks—needs to be razor-sharp. Rather than stopping down to f/22 and compromising image quality due to diffraction, you take three images at f/8: one focused on the foreground, another on the middle ground, and the last on the background. By blending them seamlessly in Photoshop using the focus-stacking feature, you create an image that is not only tack-sharp but also rich in depth and natural clarity, ensuring that every detail is preserved flawlessly.
Photography Techniques To Minimise Diffraction
Find Your Len’s Sweet Spot:
Every lens has an aperture range that delivers the sharpest results – usually between f/8 and f/11. Test your lens to determine this sweet spot and use it whenever possible for the best balance between depth of field and sharpness.
Use Focus Stacking
Instead of stopping down to f/22 to maximise depth of field, take multiple images at f/8, each focused on a different part of the scene (foreground, middle ground, background). After capturing these shots, combine them in Photoshop using the focus-stacking feature. As a result, you’ll create a sharp, detailed image with an expansive depth of field, ensuring every element remains crisp and well-defined.
Test Your Lens
Try this exercise to see how diffraction affects your images and practice focus stacking:
1. Find a textured subject, such as a brick wall or tree bark.
2. Take three photos of the subject at different apertures: f/8, f/16, and f/22.
3. Zoom in to 100% on each photo and compare the sharpness to identify when diffraction begins to degrade image quality.
4. To enhance your sharpness across the entire image, practice focus stacking by capturing the same scene at f/8 while shifting your focus between the foreground, middle ground, and background. Then, after capturing the shots, combine them in Photoshop. As a result, you’ll achieve a final image with exceptional clarity and depth.
Diffraction Key Takeaways
What is Diffraction?
Diffraction is a phenomenon that reduces image sharpness when light waves bend and scatter as they pass through small apertures (e.g., f/22), causing overlapping light waves and blurred details.
Why Does Diffraction Happen?
Since light behaves like a wave, it bends as it passes through small openings, such as tiny apertures. Consequently, the smaller the aperture, the more pronounced the bending and scattering of light. As a result, this diffraction leads to a noticeable loss of fine detail in your images.
When Diffraction Becomes Noticeable
- At very small apertures (e.g., f/16, f/22, or smaller).
- On high-resolution cameras (e.g., 45MP full-frame sensors), smaller pixels are more sensitive to scattered light.
- In scenes requiring extreme depth of field, such as landscapes or macro photography.
Photography Techniques To Minimise Diffraction:
- Use the Lens Sweet Spot: Most lenses are sharpest between f/8 and f/11.
- Embrace Focus Stacking: Instead of using a small aperture for deep focus, take multiple shots at f/8, each focused on different parts of the scene, and combine them in post-processing.
- Avoid Over-Stopping Down: Use smaller apertures (e.g., f/16 or f/22) only when necessary.
Final Thoughts & Your Next Steps
Mastering chromatic aberration, diffraction, and rolling shutter will help you achieve sharper, more professional-looking photos. But photography is a continuous learning process—every small improvement adds up to better results over time.
Now that you understand these critical concepts, put them into practice! Test different aperture settings, experiment with lens corrections, and refine your shutter speeds to see how they impact your images. Check out our tours where you can put these new skills into practice.
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If you’re truly serious about improving your photography, then don’t miss out—download the full ‘10 Photography Tips Every Beginner Should Know’ eBook today! Not only is it packed with 50 pages of practical advice, but it also provides the essential techniques you need to take your skills to the next level. Our affiliate company, Tog Pro, which provides all our guests with photography tuition, also has a dedicated Facebook group. As a result, you can join for even more photography training and valuable information, ensuring you continue to develop your skills beyond the trip.
