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Preventing Those Blurry Indoor Shots

Do you have a problem with blurry indoor photos? I sometimes do, so I did some research to see what's up and how I can fix it.

Getting the Proper Exposure

Properly exposed photos involve getting the right combination of shutter speed and lens opening (aperture). The longer the shutter stays open, the more light gets in, but also the more blur that can result. When the available light is lower, the camera on auto mode sometimes uses a slower shutter speed to capture more light and that can cause blur.

Using Your Camera's Manual Mode

My cameras, a Canon and a Panasonic Lumix point-and-shoot, both have a lot of auto features, but they also have the capability of using manual settings. Most decent cameras do. To minimize blur on indoor shots, take your camera off the Auto Mode and get into Manual Mode to set the following:

Set the ISO to a higher value, typically 400 ISO for indoor shots.
You will need to adjust the exposure priority. This means either setting the shutter priority (typically labeled "TV")to a faster shutter speed or set the aperture priority (AV) to the widest aperture (widest lens opening lets in more light). If you increase the shutter speed it should reduce the blur, but be careful not to set it too high or you may see some degradation in the image quality, such as "noise."
Set the exposure compensation. Use flat lighting for dim indoor lighting or high contrast for bright indoor light.
Try NOT to use the digital zoom because it lowers the quality of the image, i.e. it won't be as sharp.
I also like to set my camera for continuous shooting, which is helpful especially when photographing pets or kids.


I tried and tried taking an indoor photo of a boot I wanted to sell on eBay.	Finally, after adjusting the settings manually I got the shot I needed.

This may involve a bit of playing around with the settings until you are happy with your shots, but fortunately all you have to do is delete the bad ones. It will help you in the long run so you don't have to spend so much time in your editing software trying to fix your images.