Hi and welcome to Episode 94 of the Photography Explained podcast.
I’m your host Rick, and in each episode I will try to explain one photographic thing to you in plain English in less than 10 minutes (ish) without the irrelevant details. What I tell you is based on my lifetime of photographic experience. And not Google.
Before I go on if you have a question you would like me to answer just go to photographyexplainedpodcast.com/start
Here is the answery bit
When taking photos handheld you need to hold your camera correctly, have a fast enough shutter speed, and carefully press the shutter release button. You need to use a combination of aperture, shutter and ISO that work for the selected focal length. Once you have a blurry photo that is that – a blurry photo will always be a blurry photo. And we don’t want that, do we?
Let me explain.
You can listen to the episode here
Or keep on reading. Or do both. Entirely up to you!
Blurry photos
Blurry photos are a no. We do not want them. So, we need to use the correct camera settings to get tack-sharp photos. Your aim with every photo that you take should be to get as sharp an image as you can. This is a fundamental starting point in photography.
Holding the camera
In the last episode, I told you how to hold your camera properly. If you missed this I suggest you go back to episode 93 as this is absolutely related to what I am talking about here.
Camera settings
Shutter speed
Now the shutter speed is our primary concern. The shutter speed determines how long the shutter is open, and how long the sensor is exposed to light.
You need a shutter speed that is fast enough to get a sharp photo. If you select a 1-second shutter speed you are going to get a blurry photo handheld.
What shutter speed should I use?
Well, the old rule of thumb was that the shutter speed needed to take sharp photos handheld was a minimum of 1/60th second. But it is, of course, not that simple.
Focal length
The focal length that you select has an influence on this. This is because with longer focal lengths you are zooming in, so you are in effect magnifying any movement.
Starting with 1/60th second that is fine for all focal lengths up to 60mm. Beyond that, the shutter speed should be a larger number than that of the focal length.
If you are shooting at a 200mm focal length, then your shutter speed should be faster than 1/200th second, which would be 1/250th second or faster.
Aperture
You can change the aperture to let more light in which will allow you to select a faster shutter speed. Other than that aperture has no influence on handheld shooting.
Say your camera meter said 1/30th second at F8. Change the aperture to F5.6, doubling the amount of light, and you can change the shutter speed to 1/60th second – halving the amount of light – one balances out the other.
ISO
You can use a higher ISO number, which (in theory) increases the sensitivity of the camera sensor to light, which will allow you to select a faster shutter speed.
If the camera is saying that the shutter speed at an ISO of 100 is 1/15th second we have a problem. Change the ISO to 200 and you can change the shutter speed to 1/30th second. And change the ISO to 400 and you can use a shutter speed of 1/60th second.
An ISO of 400 should be just fine quality-wise, and you should have a nice, sharp photo.
Sorted!
This is the exposure triangle in practice – aperture, shutter and ISO all working together.
Blurry v noisy
Now there is a word of caution here – the higher the ISO the higher the chance of noise and other bad stuff. Not sure what I mean? Just select the highest ISO number and take a photo. Take another one at ISO100 and compare the results.
But if you have to choose between noisy or blurry you choose noisy. A blurry photo is a blurry photo. Everyone knows that. Noise, to a point, can be dealt with.
Image stabilisation
Some lenses have image stabilisation. My Canon 70-200mm IS lens has 4 stops of image stabilisation – remarkable. What does this mean? Well, I can, in theory, take a photo at 200mm using a shutter speed of, well let’s work it out. If I were to use the right shutter speed that would be 1/250th second ok? 1 stop slower gives me 1/125th second, another stop 1/60th second, and the fourth gets me down to 1/30th second.
OK, I messed this up but corrected myself while recording – 4 stops of course takes us to 1/15th second!
So I could take a photo handheld with a focal length of 200mm using a shutter speed of 1/15th second.
And you can get image stabilisation in camera bodies these days.
Sure there is more to this, which is why I have added this to my list for a future episode.
Let’s move on.
Taking the photo smoothly
This can have a massive influence. Rolling your finger gently over the shutter whilst holding the camera like I told you in the last episode is a lot different to grabbing your camera and roughly stabbing the shutter release button!
Self-timer
This is an option when shooting handheld. On my Canon 6D, I can select a 2-second or 10-second self-timer. I have to basically stand there and wait for the timer which takes the photo.
This takes a bit of practice but can work well.
Lean on something
As well as holding your camera properly, you can of course lean on something, like a wall. This will give you additional stability which will help.
What do I do?
I use a tripod wherever possible, which I will explain in the next episode – see there is some thought behind how I throw this lot together!
I have eliminated this problem by using a tripod, but this stuff is important to know as there are times when I cannot physically use a tripod.
The talky bit
Tack sharp photos are the aim. Blurry photos are no good.
Everything that I have said above relies on one thing – practice. You need to practise with whatever your camera and lens combo is and see what you need to do to get tack-sharp photos handheld.
And push the ISO and see what happens – cameras are improving year on year and you might find that you can go to ISO3200 and have acceptable levels of noise that you can deal with.
I don’t ever go beyond ISO1600 on my Canon 6D, and only sometimes have problems with noise in the shadows at that ISO. And I can deal with these in Lightroom.
And regarding the shutter speed if I am shooting handheld at say 100mm I will use a shutter speed of not 1/125th second, but one stop faster, 1/250th second. This gives me a better chance of getting a sharp photo, and the increase in ISO I can probably deal with.
But this also depends on what you are taking photos of. This is why these rules of thumb are so helpful, they are parameters (big word alert) that we can apply to whatever we are doing.
One line summary
To get sharp photos handheld you need the correct camera settings and the correct image capture technique.
Related episodes
Episode 24 – What Does Shutter Mean In Photography?
Episode 89 – Camera Shake – What Is It And How Do I Stop It Happening?
And of course episode 93 – How Do You Hold A Camera Properly? This Is Very Important!
And lots of others related to the exposure triangle – just check out the episodes page on the website.
Next episode
Like I say, another logical next episode.
Shout out
Shout out to me and my new course – find out more at rickmcevoyphotography.com/courses.
I’m done
Thanks for listening to my small but perfectly formed podcast. To find out more about my podcast and do stuff to help me check out Photographyexplainedpodcast.com/start.
Brought to you by
This episode was brought to you by Yorkshire Tea.
I’ve been Rick McEvoy, thanks again very much for listening to me and for giving me 11(ish) minutes of your valuable time, and I will see you on the next episode.
Cheers from me Rick
OK – that was the podcast episode.
Want to know more?
Head over to the Start page on the Photography Explained Podcast website to find out more.
And here is the list of episodes published to date – you can listen to any episode straight from this page which is nice.
Let me know if there is a photography thing that you want me to explain and I will add it to my list. Just head over to the This is my list of things to explain page of this website to see what is on there already.
Let me send you stuff
I send out a weekly email to my subscribers. It is my take on one photography thing, plus what I have been writing and talking about. Just fill in the box and you can get my weekly photographic musings straight to your inbox. Which is nice.
And finally a little bit about me
Finally, yes this paragraph is all about me – check out my Rick McEvoy Photography website to find out more about me and my architectural, construction, real estate and travel photography work. I also write about general photography stuff, all in plain English without the irrelevant detail.
Thank you
Thanks for listening to my podcast (if you did) and reading this blog post (which I assume you have done as you are reading this).
Cheers from me Rick
