How to Avoid Blurry Product Still Photographs

On a still object photo, a blur can be the consequence of various problems of settings on your device, and it's very difficult to improve a blurry photo afterwards, even with artificial intelligence tools. It may be due to a stabilization problem or to rough tuning. How to remedy this and what are the macro photography solutions to obtain a completely clear and perfect visual sharpness without using photo editing applications (Adobe Express or other) or an AI tool? It is indeed not something that can be solved with a click, so prevention is always better than cure by making sure that our photographs are clear from the start.

The blur of motion

All it takes is a slight shake of the photographer while shooting for the subject to be out of focus, even in the case of flat photography. No area of the product photograph is then clear. In some cases, we observe a “duplication” of the contours of the image. How do you fix it?

Use camera stabilization tools

With the technological evolution of digital shooting equipment, more and more devices and objectives are equipped with a stabilizer to ensure the sharpness of all your images. For example, on the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens, an IS button is located next to the barrel. It's a built-in image stabilizer that automatically detects and fixes motion blur. Thus, when the camera is held in a free hand, the photographer's micromovements are compensated thanks to this high-performance electronic system. Some latest-generation devices are even equipped with five-axis stabilization that allows handheld photography at a very slow speed your topics (see sample video below).

5-axis stabilization video examples:

Avoid blur without changing your camera settings

Before changing your camera settings, reduce camera shake by improving your camera grip. If you Shoot at arm's length, you will be more likely to have a blur of motion. This is because your device is not stable. Try to bring the camera closer to your face. You will then gain stability. So choose the optical viewfinder on the screen for more precision.. For example, in the case ofa shooting of your products without monitor. To optimize grip, it is important to hold your arms and elbows alongside your body to stabilize the device.

Bringing the camera closer to your face, keeping your arms and elbows along your body, and using the optical viewfinder help avoid blur when shooting without an optimized light environment.

Increase shutter speed: the rule of the inverse of the focal length

In general, to find out what shutter speed you shouldn't go below, there's a simple rule of thumb. It is The rule of the inverse of the focal length. For example, if the focal length is set to 18mm, you should not Do not go below 1/18s (the opposite of the focal length) in shutter speed. This is in order to increase The sharpness of the image and of each line. Attention, this rule only applies if you yourself are not moving. If this is the case, the speed will have to be increased further. Since the appearance of integrated stabilization on a good number of cameras, this rule of the opposite of the focal length is now a bit outdated. With stabilization activated, it is possible to go a little or even much lower than this limit. To be tested according to the type of stabilization and camera used.

The automation of certain features, such as stabilization, facilitates manual adjustments.

Use a tripod or a stable stand

If it is possible to increase the shutter speed, after a while, you will have to make a choice. That of increasing the ISO sensitivity or getting an underexposed photo. In fact, the more you increase the shutter speed, the less light that reaches the sensor. Your visual will then be darker. To make up for that, You will have to increase the ISO. Which involves digital noise (the grain). To avoid it, you can reduce the shutter speed while still having a blurry photo. But only if you use a tripod.

Use a homogeneous light environment

The tripod will stabilize your camera. It will allow poses of 1/4s up to several tens of seconds. The whole thing without generating motion blur. In this case, do not use the camera stabilizer. Some photo studios dedicated to product shooting offer a homogeneous and adjustable light environment. This environment, whose light intensity is comparable to daylight, allows optimal camera settings to be adjusted to Photographing complex products (reflective or transparent), while removing the concept of background.

The bright environment of a photo studio also helps to avoid blurs

Focus blur

When an image or one of its parts is out of focus, it is due to a focus. It is performed on the wrong spot on the subject. How do you identify focus blur?

A photo with a sharpness problem is very quickly identifiable with the naked eye. On the other hand, In some cases, the focus may not be in exactly the right place. But it is slightly in front of or behind the subject you want to photograph. You will have to zoom in on the image to understand that the point is not good. To correct this problem, there are several solutions. That of choosing the good focus point, choose the good autofocus mode or use a smaller opening.

Choosing the right focus point

If you are starting out in product photography, you'll tend to use autofocus mode. In this mode, the device itself defines which area or element should be in focus. It does this based on calculations and analyses of the scene. In some cases this works, but it's often more accurate and faster to use a single collimator, the central collimator (AF area, selective point). When you take Photo of small objects in the studio, the depth of field is short.

Choosing the right autofocus mode

Depending on the scene to be photographed, it is necessary to Choosing the right autofocus mode so as not to end up with a Blurred subject. In the case of photographing static objects, spot focusing is sufficient. On Canon cameras, this feature is called “One Shot” and AF-S on other cameras. As long as you keep your finger halfway on the shutter button, the shutter button focuses until you fully release it.

Use a smaller opening

At full opening, some lenses offer a very shallow depth of field. For example, a lens opening at f/1.8 only offers a few centimeters of depth of field. So the net area is very limited. In portrait photography, focusing on the nose will cause the ears and eyes to blur. To correct this, it is advisable to focus on your subject's eye, or to use a smaller aperture. By going from f/1.8 to f/2.8, you will thus gain sharpness in your image, but will lose a bit of that blur effect that some people are looking for. Also note that by using a smaller aperture, your photo will have more detail. This is what we call the sharpness of an image. For the majority of lenses, the optimal angle is never at full aperture, but rather closed by a few notches.

Maintain optimal sharpness for your product photos without any areas of blur

[embed] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnUOCiq7i2c&t=3s[/embed]

A technique that allows perfect focus on the entire subject in macro photography.

When you want to keep the focus of an image for jewellery, goldsmithing, jewellery or watchmaking products, there is a solution. Use the Hyperfocus or Focus Stacking. Macro photography of precious stones, diamonds or even clock mechanisms is made with a depth of field reduced to a few millimeters. A single shot is not enough to reveal a net object in its entirety. The technique consists in taking a large quantity of shots of your subject. The whole thing by slightly shifting the focus without changing the position of the camera. To use this method, you should definitely use a tripod. This is so that your device does not move, otherwise the result will be unclear! Software then makes it possible to extract the sharp areas of these shots and to assemble them to make only one perfectly clear one (you can also do it). manually, but it takes a lot longer).

Discover How to manage reflections and transparency when shooting products