help with blurred photo: I need some help please. I have a Canon t2i camera. I have this photo of a female lion, which I took at Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, I believe I had it on...

Dgusty3 Loc: Illinois

I need some help please. I have a Canon t2i camera. I have this photo of a female lion, which I took at Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, I believe I had it on automatic. The lens I used is a 55mm-250mm zoomed into 250mm. I also had it on automatic focus. I had the "red dot" focused right in the middle of the lions face, snapped the pic and its blurry. Please help explain why this happens or what I should do differently. The auto settings are:
f/6.3 1/400 sec 250mm ISO-800 I took several photos like this and they are all the same, would love to know what I'm doing wrong and what I need to do to correct it. Is it camera shake? I also tried resting the camera on a pole so I wasn't holding it.

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nakkh Loc: San Mateo, Ca

At 1/400 I doubt it's camera shake. Have you ever been able to get a clear shot with that lens? At any rate, unless you're planning on enlarging the pic to full size it looks perfectly fine.

Bill Houghton Loc: New York area

Hope this works.

(Download)

LaurenT Loc: Northern California

Dgusty3 wrote:

I need some help please. I have a Canon t2i camera... (show quote)

Does your lens have IS (image stabilization) for hand held? I would bet that you need a tripod, and use either your 2 second delay shutter release, or a remote shutter release. (If you do have IS, be sure to turn it off while on a tripod.) This should eliminate camera shake.

It is a beautiful picture otherwise. Lovely colors, and she looks very majestic.

Dgusty3 Loc: Illinois

nakkh wrote:

At 1/400 I doubt it's camera shake. Have you ever been able to get a clear shot with that lens? At any rate, unless you're planning on enlarging the pic to full size it looks perfectly fine.

I did get some shots using the same lens on other animals and they are focused nicely. More often than not, it seems they are out of focus to me. I think if I printed an 8x10 of this I think it will be blurry. This is one of the better ones of the lion, some of the others the face is more blurry, yet I used the exact same settings.

St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet

Date Time Original: 2014:06:24 15:26:57
Exposure Time: 1/400
F Number: f / 6.30
Exposure Program: Not defined
ISO Speed Ratings: 800
Metering Mode: Pattern
Flash: Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode
White Balance: Auto white balance
Scene Capture Type: Standard
Saturation: Normal
Make: Canon
Model: Canon EOS REBEL T2i
Lens: EF-S55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS
Focal Length: 250mm
Software: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4.4 (Windows)

Dgusty3 Loc: Illinois

LaurenT wrote:

Does your lens have IS (image stabilization) for hand held? I would bet that you need a tripod, and use either your 2 second delay shutter release, or a remote shutter release. (If you do have IS, be sure to turn it off while on a tripod.) This should eliminate camera shake.

It is a beautiful picture otherwise. Lovely colors, and she looks very majestic.

Yes it does have the image stabilization, which I would think the slight blurring I have in the pic, should make it really clear without using a tripod, thanks for your comments,

Dgusty3 Loc: Illinois

St3v3M wrote:

Date Time Original: 2014:06:24 15:26:57
Exposure Time: 1/400
F Number: f / 6.30
Exposure Program: Not defined
ISO Speed Ratings: 800
Metering Mode: Pattern
Flash: Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode
White Balance: Auto white balance
Scene Capture Type: Standard
Saturation: Normal
Make: Canon
Model: Canon EOS REBEL T2i
Lens: EF-S55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS
Focal Length: 250mm
Software: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4.4 (Windows)

thanks! didn't know how to do that!

Dgusty3 Loc: Illinois

Bill Houghton wrote:

Hope this works.

Bill what did you do?

St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet

Dgusty3 wrote:

thanks! didn't know how to do that!

I added the Extension EXIF Viewer to Google Chrome to allow me to view the EXIF Data of photos I can download.
- I use it for the Weekly Photo Challenges.

http://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/exif-viewer/mmbhfeiddhndihdjeganjggkmjapkffm
- I am sure there are similar for the other browsers

How to view exif data in lightroom 4 http://www.google.com/#q=view+exif+data+lightroom+4

Bill Houghton Loc: New York area

Just used Smart Sharpen, then Topas Clear Lens.

Dgusty3 Loc: Illinois

Bill Houghton wrote:

Just used Smart Sharpen, then Topas Clear Lens.

awesome! thanks!

Beercat Loc: Central Coast of California

I'm going to speculate here .... your metering was programed for "pattern", often this matches the focus, are you sure you were not programed for pattern focus? This could of caused the camera to compromise the focus and as your DOF was shallow for that lens at 250mm the outcome is a blurred picture of the entire lion.

Dgusty3 Loc: Illinois

Beercat wrote:

I'm going to speculate here .... your focus was programed for "pattern" which could of caused the camera to compromise the focus and as your DOF was shallow for that lens at 250mm the outcome is a blurred picture of the entire lion.

I'm not sure what you mean here, could you explain more to me please, not sure what the "pattern" means, I'm still learning all this stuff, lol

Dgusty3 Loc: Illinois

Beercat wrote:

I'm going to speculate here .... your metering was programed for "pattern", often this matches the focus, are you sure you were not programed for pattern focus? This could of caused the camera to compromise the focus and as your DOF was shallow for that lens at 250mm the outcome is a blurred picture of the entire lion.

Beercat, I was researching this online, I believe you are talking about the spot-metering, particial metering, etc. I had this set to spot-metering, do you think I should have had it set to maybe partial, center weighted-average or evaluative? I'm never quite sure what and when to set it at.