Trouble with taking sharp pics

[jzou000]

hi all, i'm new to this forum! i've recently bought a canon powershot s60 and i'm finding it really hard to take sharp pictures. some pics i took are really clear, but most of them are just blurry (like the one below). it's pretty random whether i end up with a clear or blurry picture so now i'm not sure which setting i should use or how i should use the focus. i'm really confused...can anybody help? thanks!

[dougj]

Some/most of the problem might be caused by camera shake. In the photo you posted, the light appears to be ambient room light and somewhat dim, no flash. The shutter speed is only 1/20 second, this is very slow. Did you use a tripod or brace the camera against a stable surface (wall, etc.) for this photo? The slower the shutter, the more you will introduce camera motion, and blur, unless you stabilize the camera.

Even with a flash, and 1/60 second shutter speed, the camera will be very susceptible to movement and introduce blur.

Doug
http://pbase.com/dougj

[atindra]

It looks two of the problems, one case may the hand-shake as you are taking photo in room light and with most probably an auto mode the shutter speed will be slow. Or the dim-light focus problem. Try to focus better with couple of efforts.

[steveandbecky]

I always use P mode with my S30 (unless I want AV mode) and that way I have one focus "box" to to be concerned with. I think that is easiest for me. I also use only iso 50 so I have that constraint.

Also, I know that I move the camera when I press the shutter button so some pics are blurred because I have a problem with that.

Sometimes, I don't think the camera is focusing where I think it is focusing. Like with your example, maybe the camera focused on the wall. I should do a test with some cards placed close together to see if the camera focuses the way that I think it does, maybe it works a little differently than I imagine. Maybe a corner of the focus box is where it is happening and not in the center of the box.

When I turn off the flash and use available light only, I expect to have some blur but I have practiced doing that and think that my pictures with the flash disabled are getting better. Of course, I usually adjust white balance with indoor shots.

I shot some flowers recently with no flash and only the available indoor lighting and a lot of the pics were fairly well focused. Here is the link to that gallery if you would like something to compare with. Bear in mind that they did require post processing, the indoor shots didn't come out of the camera like that but they are true to life.
http://www.pbase.com/steveandbecky/dahlia_show

I understand what you mean by random.
Just my thoughts on focusing.
-Steve

[jzou000]

guys..thank you so much for your help. i've taken your advice and shot the following pics using the auto mode, they were taken outdoors on a relatively sunny day. they are a lot better don't you think?

[atindra]

Hi Jzou000 these are really nice shots but what happened to night shot where you had problems?