Why is only the right side of my photo blurred?
Asked 8/23/2023
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2 answers
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I’m getting photos where the right side—especially the lower-right area—looks blurred, even though I was standing still on a platform ladder and shooting posed subjects. I first suspected a camera or lens problem, but I’ve seen the same issue across three Nikon bodies (D5000, D500, D750) and four Tamron zoom lenses (two 18-270s, 18-400, and 150-600). Since it happens with multiple cameras and lenses, is this most likely user error, and what shooting technique could cause blur on only one side of the frame?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
2y ago
2 Answers
3
If it's happening with three different cameras and four different lenses, then it's almost certainly attributable to shooting technique. My guess is that the way you are pressing the shutter button tends to cause the camera to rotate slightly around an axis to the upper left of the camera, thus blurring the lower right portion of photos. (Think of a picture frame nailed to the wall at the upper left corner. When the picture is rotated around the nail, the lower right corner will move further for each degree of movement than any other part of the picture, with the upper left moving the least.)
The only other remote possibilities are that all of your lenses, which are wide-range zooms of less than stellar quality, have slightly misaligned lens elements that affect the same area of the image or that all of your cameras have sensor-lens flange alignment issues in the same direction. I guess the latter might be attributable to some way in which all of your cameras with relatively long lenses may have been stressed in such a way that all of the flange rings have been tweaked in the same direction. But the possibilities of either of these seem highly unlikely to me.
Try putting your camera on a sturdy tripod and releasing the shutter with a wired or cable remote or by using the 10-second timer. If outdoors, do the testing when there is little or no wind. This should reveal if there are mechanical issues with your gear.
Try putting the camera in burst mode and take several series of 3-4 frames holding the shutter button down. If the problem is in the way you're holding the camera and pressing the shutter, the first frame will tend to be the blurriest. You can also compare the composition of each successive frame to see if the camera is being held stead or moving in any way, whether rotating or panning.
Originally by user15871. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user15871
2y ago
0
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Given that you see the same pattern with three cameras and four different lenses, the most likely cause is camera movement during the exposure, not a defect.
A common way this happens is from pressing the shutter in a way that slightly twists the camera. That rotation can make one corner—often the lower-right or right side—move more than the rest of the frame, so blur appears strongest there while the opposite side looks sharper.
Why it shows up on one side: if the camera rotates instead of just shifting straight sideways, different parts of the image move by different amounts. The corner farthest from the pivot point blurs the most.
A much less likely possibility is that multiple lenses have similar optical misalignment, but that’s far less probable than a handling issue.
To reduce it, use a gentler shutter press, stabilize your stance and grip, and use a faster shutter speed when possible. If practical, test with a tripod or remote/self-timer; if the blur disappears, that strongly points to shutter-press movement.
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