How Do You Make a Picture Less Blurry?

Blurry pictures can be disheartening to look at, especially when they’re otherwise good photos that have the potential to be great. It’s even more troublesome when it’s your only photo of an important moment, and you can’t even enjoy it because it’s blurred. Perhaps it’s a scanned picture of your late grandmother, or maybe it’s a blurred picture you took with your favorite celebrity.

These images deserve to be saved, but how do you make a picture less blurry? Is there anything you can do to fix the original image? Luckily, advancements in software development and the expertise of skilled photo restorers have made it possible to restore an image, bringing a once-faded photo back to a clearer and better state.

In this article, you will learn more about how you can fix fuzzy pictures so that your memories can be cherished once more.

What Causes a Blurry Photo?

Blurry photos can happen for numerous reasons, and understanding the cause can help protect image clarity in the future. Below are the main culprits that make a blurry picture.

Out of Focus Blur

Some cameras are smart and can instantly focus the image without you having to make a move. Other times, you’ll need to manually adjust the focus, tapping on the part that you want as the focal point. If you fail to do so or set the focus incorrectly, you could end up with soft lines across the entire image, making everything look blurred. After selecting the area, wait a couple of seconds to ensure proper focus.

Movement Blur

Shaky hands can happen to anyone, and even that last cup of coffee you had can cause some tremors. These are usually harmless and pass fast, but can be annoying when you have a picture to take. A shaky camera or subject movement can mess up the picture, as the shutter speed cannot keep up. You should consider activating the shake reduction feature to prevent blurry photos.

Poor Digitization of The Physical Photo

Nowadays, most of the pictures we take are digital thanks to smartphones. However, old photos are only available in physical format and if you try to digitize incorrectly, blur can happen. Perhaps the image wasn’t sharp to begin with because it was taken with improper settings or dirty lenses. Or maybe the scanner glass wasn’t cleaned, which led to a blurry image. Unless you fix the digitization method, these blurry pictures will keep haunting you.

Prevention - Tips to Avoid Blurry Images

It’s not easy to fix blurry image issues, but it’s much easier to prevent them from happening in the first place. Ideally, you should focus correctly to unblur images before you even press the shutter. Here are some tips to get your pictures looking nice and sharp from the first go.

Stabilize Your Camera

Stabilizing the device keeps the camera shake from ruining your pictures. Here are a few ways to do so:

• Use a Tripod: This tool can keep the camera fixed at a certain height, supporting it on a stable structure. This way, you can be certain that the camera doesn’t move an inch. It can be very useful, especially when there is little light.
• Hold the Camera Correctly: Try to use both of your hands to take the picture. For extra support and a steadier shot, try tucking your elbows into your body.
• Use the Stabilization Mode: Your camera might not have the stabilization mode active when you take the picture. Go into the settings and get it running. It’s usually done in just a few clicks, and your camera will remember it for that round of photos.

It can take some practice at first, but you should eventually learn to stabilize the camera enough to prevent fuzzy photos.

Use Fast Shutter Speed

If your camera offers the option to adjust the shutter speed, try putting it on fast mode. This can help make the image clearer and prevent motion blur. If you are taking pictures of moving objects, a good idea is to set it at 1/250s (or even faster, if possible) to ensure precise focusing.

Have the Subject in Focus

As mentioned, blurred pictures often happen because the subject has not been placed in focus. If you are shooting stationary subjects, you can go for manual focus to get a sharp image. Auto-focus can also keep motion blur at a distance as long as you select the focus area and not let the camera decide. Where possible, try to minimize subject movement, as this can help you obtain clear images.

Avoid Long Exposure - Use Natural or Professional Lighting

Natural lighting is your best friend, as a poorly lit area leads to long exposure times. Photos taken during the day, outside or near the window, have the best image quality. Still, if natural light is not an option, try using artificial lighting like studio lights or external flashes. The stronger the light, the better your pictures will turn out.

Adjust ISO and Aperture

The ISO setting can adjust how sensitive to light your camera might be. If you are taking a picture in low light, you should increase the ISO, as this allows for a faster shutter speed. Remember that you don’t want to go too high, as you can indeed sharpen images, but end up with noise. Also, by selecting a wide aperture, (e.g., going to F/2.8), you can capture more light and stabilize the image. The setting should be available on both iOS and Android if you prefer smartphone cameras. 

Avoid Digital Zoom

Digital zoom is the enemy of image quality. While fancy high-tech cameras can capture clear images from a distance, you still get the clearest pictures by shooting them up close or by using optical zoom. Instead of using digital zoom, you might want to invest in optical zoom cameras or a wide-angle lens to prevent lens blur.

Clean Your Lens

More often than not, a smudge on your lens can cause all pictures from a photoshoot to look fuzzy. To get a clear photo with finer details every time, you should make sure to clean those lenses regularly. If possible, don’t touch them either to prevent fingerprints. Clean them whenever you start a photo session to remove blurring risks.

Can Blur Be Removed from Photos?

Yes, image deblurring is indeed possible, but the options are limited and depend on how much blur is present. Most of the time, you can make a blurry picture less fuzzy using AI technology, but it’s best to use a photo where the features are visible. Otherwise, you could end up with an AI processed photo where the real features are distorted. Simple photo editing apps don’t have this deblurring option. You can apply a shake reduction filter in Photoshop, depending on the version used, or you can try using the sharpening setting on your phone for mild blur, but that’s the most you can do.

How to Fix Blurry Pictures?

Professional or not, you can get a clearer photo by employing the right technologies. You might be able to sharpen a blurry image in Photoshop if there’s not much blur, or you can unblur images online on different platforms using AI. Here are a couple of tips to make a blurry picture clear and improve image clarity.

Digitize Physical Photo

If you have any old photos in physical format, you can remove blur by scanning the physical image at a high resolution and editing it. This is the first and most important step when it comes to digitizing a photo. Scanning provides a digital copy you can use to enhance the picture quality. You can pass it through an online tool to reduce blur, but make sure the image’s size is large enough. You can also rely on AI to boost clarity or use Photoshop to increase sharpness and noise and improve the picture. The program usually has an intuitive interface, and you can use it to fix a low-resolution photo. Google Photos also has a feature that can help you get an unblurred image.

Remove Blur From The Background

Blur can be removed from the background only if you use RAW images. This lets you adjust the photo settings beyond the focal point. Photoshop has a “Smart Sharpen” setting for enhancing photos, making it easier for you to get a clear picture. Photo editing can also be done using artificial intelligence apps with minimal effort, as AI can recreate the background to fix a blurry picture. You can also edit an image with Photoshop by replacing the background.

Remove Face Blur From Picture

Once more, artificial intelligence comes to the rescue to fix blurry photos. When dealing with face blur, this is pretty much your only option. Keep in mind that while your image deblurring might look successful, some of the features could be exaggerated. There will be no blur there, but you might be looking at the face of a slightly different person. Most filters use an AI image sharpener but mind the strength when you use these functions.

Enhance & Sharpen Details with a Professional Photo Restorer

If your unblur image tool did not do the trick and you really care about those pictures, you can seek professional help to make a blurry photo clear. Professionals use advanced image unblurring tools that have no limitations and can sometimes give you the solution to fix your images. Whether you have landscape or portrait photos that you want to enhance and sharpen, they can restore details better than you.

How to Unblur Text in an Image?

Perhaps you have some blurry product photos where the ingredient list is hard to read. Or maybe you have a poorly scanned book, and you want to make the blurry text readable. For this, you can use photo editing apps that sharpen the image automatically, turning them into clear images.

You can also upscale images through AI, as it takes a low-resolution photo and replaces the “missing parts” with a clear image. This is particularly useful if you are dealing with pixelated product photos that are blurry in sections. AI can “repair” the photos automatically so you can see the whole text.

If you can’t get the photo clear despite your efforts, you can hire a professional to help you. They usually have better tools for unblurring photos, and the results often mimic professional product photography.

Conclusion: Make Less Blurry Photos Clear

Blurry images are a thing of the past now, and most of us can easily fix a photo online by using the right app. Having said that, if you want to unblur images that you particularly care about, you might want to call in the big guns. So, how do you make a picture less blurry? The answer: you get help.

Photo editing companies such as Pixels Photo Art use the latest tools to fix blurry images, the results being nowhere close to online software and photo editing apps. This way, you can fully enjoy your memories and not be constantly triggered by blurry pictures ruining the moment.