Fish-in-net Photos Consistently Out of Focus

[TromboneAl]

Any idea why almost all of my fish-in-the-net photos are out of focus? I assume the camera is focusing on the wrong thing. It's very difficult to hold the camera and take the picture with all that's going on.

Sometimes they are in focus:

 

[ggbutcher]

Since there's nothing in focus in the image, my money is on slight camera movement and/or a slow shutter speed. If the camera was focusing on one thing, at least one thing would be in focus...

There's no metadata in the image, so no clues about shutter speed. You might look in your original image; the website might have stripped it out when you uploaded. Shutter speeds below 1/30sec are hard to handhold.

I get this a lot with my phone. I don't know enough about the app to control shutter speed, and it's rather hard to hold still and look at the screen.

 

[ChiliPepr]

what camera are you using? if you are using an iPhone, try tapping the screen on what you want to be in focus and see if that helps.

 

[GravitySucks]

Darn. I misread and thought these were pinup photos.

 

[Ronstar]

Are the fish moving? Are you in a rocking boat? You don’t say what type of camera you are using, but you probably need a faster shutter speed. Probably at least 1/100 of a second. If things are moving , use the burst feature if your camera has it. Then hopefully at least 1 shot in the burst will be in focus.

 

[ERD50]

Darn. I misread and thought these were pinup photos.

These look to be in focus:

-ERD50

 

[MRG]

It's hard for dead fish to focus. [emoji12]

 

[harley]

what camera are you using? if you are using an iPhone, try tapping the screen on what you want to be in focus and see if that helps.

This works on my Samsung Edge 7 too.

 

[MooreBonds]

These look to be in focus:

-ERD50

Hmmm..not sure. Need an enlarged photo to verify it just doesn't appear to be out of focus because it's a reduced image. And also need to make sure there isn't any stripping shenanigans going on when it was uploaded.

 

[Sunset]

Maybe you are clicking the shutter button too fast, this happens on my old (just replaced) digital camera.
It wants the shutter button held down 1/2 way to focus, then carry on the shot. On a slow press it works find, but I did find I could click really fast and it didn't have time to focus.

You could always take 2 shots of a fish, since it costs nothing to double your shots.

 

[TromboneAl]

Sorry. I forgot to mention that this is with my cell phone, a Huawei Honor 5A.

The phone is in a case like this one:

> try tapping the screen on what you want to be in focus and see if that helps.
Yes, I do that sometimes, but I'm leaning over the side of my small kayak, the fish is trying to escape, I'm holding the net with one hand, etc.

Sometimes something closer than the fish is in focus:

I'll just have to experiment more.

 

[REWahoo]

Sorry. I forgot to mention that this is with my cell phone, a Huawei Honor 5A.

Ahhh, there's your answer. The phone's software gives secondary priority to the focus function. Huawei phones are programmed to spy on you and send data to the Chinese govt, only then does it focus the camera.

 

[ERD50]

Sorry. I forgot to mention that this is with my cell phone, a Huawei Honor 5A.

.... I'm leaning over the side of my small kayak, the fish is trying to escape, I'm holding the net with one hand, etc.

Sometimes something closer than the fish is in focus:

...

I'd say you are lucky to have any of them in focus. Everything is working against you.

The in-focus fishnet photo I posted was probably in good light, with a cooperative subject, and the camera likely on a tripod.

No comparison (in more ways than one ).

-ERD50

 

[MBAustin]

I have a similar case for my iPhone and have occasionally had the same issue with photos in general (no net involved). I think sometimes the plastic back interferes with the focus. I try to make sure it's really flat against the back before I use it (when I remember...)

 

[Bamaman]

I thought a fish picture on my Facebook was a focus issue. A catfish tournament locally was held last weekend and the biggest fish was 100 lbs. The same guy caught a 72 pounder in practice.I

The river is in my front yard. Time to get fishing.

 

[harley]

I think you need a bigger fish.

 

[Walt34]

All of the above.

Really, any of those things can be the issue with cell phones because you usually don't have any control over shutter speed or aperture. Lens focus is probably not the issue because of the light physics of a small-diameter lens and those usually don't have any focus control at all.

Kill the fish to make it more cooperative and hold still and it will be easier to get a good photo of it.