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A tripod is undoubtedly one of the most important accessories that a travel or landscape photographer has. For most, it is their favourite tool in capturing great shots. A tripod can offer so much and really make a difference to the quality of your photos. But sometimes you may find that your photos are not sharp even when you have used a tripod. This can be incredibly frustrating, so here are 7 reasons that your photos might not be sharp even when using a tripod.

Not on stable ground

The first part of ensuring that your images will be sharp is to make sure your tripod is set up securely so that there isn’t any movement. This might sound obvious, but I have seen so many instances where photographers set up their tripod wrong.

You also need to be aware of where you and your tripod are. For example, if your tripod is placed on a bridge there may movement when people or cars go past. You can’t stop this happening so you need to try and time your shot to take photos to coincide with a gap in the traffic. Or you need to use a faster shutter speed.

So the first step in capturing sharp photos with a tripod is to make sure your tripod is stable.

Too windy

There are times that no matter what you try the conditions will be against you and even the heaviest and sturdiest tripod won’t be able to handle the wind. The thing to remember is that when you are shooting with slow exposure even the faintest of movements will cause your shots to be blurred. So what do you do?

In a strong wind, even with a tripod, an image won’t be sharp at slow shutter speeds.

In these scenarios, your only option is to use a faster shutter speed to minimise the potential of camera movement during exposure. For example, even though you may want to capture the beautiful silky water, it may not be possible.

One thing you could try is to get your tripod as low to the ground as possible and spread the legs out. This might buy you a couple more stops in strong wind.

You didn’t lock up the mirror

This is one of the most common mistakes that newbie photographers make when using a tripod and shooting slow exposure shots. In DSLR cameras, there is a mirror that reflects the scene into the viewfinder. That is how you see a live image rather than a digital one (like you get in mirrorless cameras).

When you press the shutter button to take a photo, this mirror flips up to expose the sensor to light to create the image. Incidentally, this is why your viewfinder goes dark. Because the mirror has flipped up. At fast shutter speeds, this doesn’t cause any issues. However, when you are shooting long exposures the mechanical movement of the mirror flipping up and down can cause vibrations which make your image look slightly blurred.

The solution is to go into your camera’s menu and select “lock up mirror”. This ensures that the mirror is flipped up before the sensor is exposed. Another easier solution is to set your camera to “Live view mode” which also does the same thing in flipping the mirror up.

Image stabilization in on

One of the best innovations in photography has been image stabilization. This can be really useful in allowing photographers to shoot at slower shutter speeds than was possible before. While this works great when you are shooting handheld, when your camera is on a tripod, the lack of movement can confuse the image stabilization system. This can cause your images to appear soft. So remember to turn off the IS when your camera is on a tripod.

You touched the camera

The most important thing to remember when your camera is on a tripod is that any movement can cause your photos to appear blurred (when you are not using fast shutter speeds). So even pressing the shutter button can cause this movement.

Rather than pressing the button to take a photo, set your camera on a timer. So that when you press the shutter button it takes a few seconds for the camera to take the photo. Or alternatively, you can use a shutter release cable.

Aperture too small

You probably already know that the smaller your aperture is, the greater your depth of field will be. So in landscape photography, for example, you will want to utilise this long depth of field. Most lenses have a sweet spot for sharpness which is around f/8 to f/11. That doesn’t mean that other apertures will give you a blurred photo.

But where it does start to cause problems is when you use extremely narrow apertures of f/18 and smaller due to something called “diffraction”. There’s plenty online about the science of this occurrence. But in short, this is an optical issue that is caused by small apertures. So always aim to keep your aperture at no more than f/16.

This shot was taken at f/18. You can see that when zoomed in, the image isn’t 100% sharp.

Not a good tripod

Like anything in life, sometimes the quality of a product makes a difference. A cheap and flimsy tripod might be more susceptible to vibrations and movements. So try to invest in a good quality carbon fibre tripod. I have had my Manfrotto tripod for almost 15 years and in that time I have dropped it, knocked it around and it even got hit by a car and it’s still standing strong.

Capturing sharp photos when using a tripod isn’t a given but if you follow the advice above you should end up with sharp photos when using a tripod every time.

Photographing in low light conditions can be one of the most challenging scenarios for a photographer. Some low light situations like cityscapes are not hugely challenging as long as you are using a tripod. But for example, any type of photography with movement can be very difficult to master. Over the years I often get asked the same questions about low light photography, so here are 5 of the most common questions answered.

What settings should I use for low light photography?

This is by far the most common question I get asked. Unfortunately, there is no right answer here as all types of scenarios are different and require different settings. So rather than trying to give ideal settings, here are some tips to help you decide for yourself:

Think about what you are photographing – your shutter speed will need to be set depending on what you are photographing. The faster something is moving, the faster your shutter speed needs to be. For example, trying to freeze a moving car in your shots will require a much faster shutter speed than photographing a statue. As a general guide, a fairly fast-moving subject will usually need a shutter speed of at least 1/250 sec. This would still be the case for moving subjects even if you are using a tripod.
The depth of field is important – in addition to your shutter speed, your depth of field will also be an important consideration. More so in low light photography because it will impact your shutter speed. The smaller your aperture is the slower your shutter speed will need to be. So think about what you are photographing and set your aperture accordingly. For example, if you are taking a portrait, you don’t need a deep depth of field. By selecting a wide aperture you will naturally allow more light into the camera and so can achieve a faster shutter speed. This is really important in low light photography.
Set your ISO accordingly – once you have the above two settings sorted, your ISO will be the setting to allow you to achieve these. So increase your ISO as much as you need to so that you can achieve the shutter speed and aperture that you need.

Why do my photos look blurred even with a fast shutter speed?

If your shutter speed is fast enough for the subject you are photographing and yet your photos still look blurred, there could be two reasons why:

You have focused on the wrong place – if you are using a wide aperture or in other words a shallow depth of field, then your focus point becomes much more important. For example, if you accidentally focus on the background of your subject you’ll find that they won’t be in focus. This will make the overall image seem soft or blurred.
Your ISO is too high – a high ISO can help you achieve the shutter speed and aperture that you desire. But that comes at a price. The higher your ISO is the more noise will appear in your image. More noise means the image will appear softer. So even if your shutter speed is 1/1000 sec, at 6400 your photo will look soft. The lesson here is to only raise your ISO as much as you need to. If for example, you can still capture the shot at 1/250 sec instead of 1/1000, then that will mean you can have a lower ISO.

I used a tripod but my image is still blurry, why is that?

This can be incredibly frustrating but usually, there are reasons why even if you used a tripod your image is still not completely sharp. Check if it could be because of any of the reasons below:

Not stable enough – it could be that your tripod isn’t sturdy enough for your camera. Cheap and flimsy tripods can also suffer from vibration which has a detrimental effect on image sharpness at long exposures
The tripod moved – did you accidentally knock the tripod after your pressed the shutter button? That might even be because you actually pressed the shutter button instead of using a remote or timer. It also could be that you are standing somewhere that vibrates when people move on it (i.e. a bridge). Even a strong gust of wind can make a camera vibrate and cause camera shake.
You didn’t lockup your mirror – DSLR cameras have a mirror inside that flicks up when you press to take a photo. This mechanical action causes small vibrations in the camera that can have an impact on image sharpness at slow shutter speeds. You can either “lockup mirror” in your camera settings or use “Live view mode” to avoid this issue.
Turn off image stabilization – modern lenses benefit from image stabilization which does a great job when you are handholding a camera. But when your camera is on a tripod, the image stabilization actually gets confused and can cause camera vibrations. So as a rule if your camera is mounted on a tripod, for slow exposures, turn off your image stabilization.

How can I freeze the action in low light?

This is one of the toughest photography scenarios and will take time and practice to perfect. The simple answer is that you will need a fast shutter speed. Earlier I talked about being able to achieve this while keeping your ISO as low as possible. The other solution is to use artificial lighting such as a flash or LED light to brighten your subject so that you can have a fast shutter speed and a lower ISO than you would be able to select otherwise. Using a flash or LED will also have its challenges as sometimes it’s not allowed or even possible. But if you use some lighting in low light conditions, it will allow you to take photos with a faster shutter speed and lower ISO.

How can I maximise my chances of capturing sharp photos handheld?

There are of course times when it isn’t possible to use a tripod and so you have to do your best to capture photos handheld. There are a few things you can do to maximise your chances of capturing sharp photos handheld:

Shoot in burst mode – you will often find that shooting in high-speed burst mode will mean your middle images are sharper than your first and last ones.
Set yourself – before you take photos, get yourself and your stance properly set up. Tuck your elbows in and if there is a wall or somewhere you can lean on, then do so. Keep your breathing steady and take your time.
Underexpose a little – if you find that your shutter speed is on the borderline of being fast enough to handhold, then underexpose your image slightly so that your shutter speed will be fast enough. You can then brighten the image up a little when you are editing.

These are the most common questions that I get asked when it comes to low light photography. Like any other genre of photography, you will improve the more times you take photos in these scenarios and you will learn techniques you can use (and things not to do) to increase your chances of capturing better photos in low light conditions.

Why Your Photos Are Not Sharp When Using A Tripod?