The camera is shaking whilst taking picture

What camera are you using? Generally, when a camera is zoomed in like a telescope, it's difficult to keep the scene steady. When photographing a still shot, the camera will in most cases compensate for the shaking by selecting a faster shutter speed. You can over-ride these in several ways, but that's for another message. When videoing, especially indoors, the camera will shoot at slower shutter speeds, and wider lens opening. Zooming in, like a telescope, creates the shake. Suggest that you shoot with the zoom all the way out (wide angle instead of telephoto), and get closer to your subject. Also placing the camera on a tripod or mini tripod, will steady the shot.

Be careful not to block the AF-assist Beam with fingers or other items.

Check the shooting mode to make sure Macro or a Macro setting is not being used.

Move the camera away from the subject slightly.

Preventing camera shake

Preventing camera shake using a PowerShot camera.

The PowerShot SD600 requires repair service.

Tips for taking better pictures in low light or night time conditions.

Use a tripod or other stable support

What to do if your camera does not focus on the subject.

Check the picture quality setting and make sure it's on the maximum number of MP's and highest quality.

You've got an excellent camera, very capable of doing such. Would also recommend setting it to portrait mode, turning off the flash, selecting macro, and ensuring that you have plenty of good "diffuse" lighting. Most important of all, recommend using a tripod and taking the pictures using the camera's timer to activate the shutter. This will prevent camera shake as the shutter is activated allowing much sharper pictures.

Now, just in case, here's your camera's user manual as it also has great pointers for taking macro pictures.

Sounds like you turned on Exposure delay mode (menu d10). This is similar to the "locking up the mirror" (or somethign) feature on canons.

YOu only need it when you doing a tripod shot with long exposure and you want to minimise absolutly all possibility of shake from the camera its self. Lifting the SLR mirror will cause small shake. Generally you can turn this off (i've felt it ona few times my accident and been confused for a second)

Hey liz2007,
Some scene modes don't allow the flash to be used such as landscape, sports, sunset, dusk/dawn, night landscape, museum, fireworks, and copy modes. If anti-shake mode is selected the flash will not fire, and if the camera is set to continuous shooting mode the flash will not fire. I hope this helps!

Sincerely,
Allan
Go Ahead. Use Us.

The shooting modes are as follows: PROGRAM (P)/AUTO Modes. Used for general photography. The camera automatically makes the settings for natural color balance. In PROGRAM AUTO (P) the brightness (exposure compensation) can be adjusted. Portrait. Suitable for taking a portrait-style photo of a person. The camera automatically sets the optimal shooting settings to produce natural skin tones. Landscape + Portrait. Suitable for taking photos of both your subject and the landscape. This setting allows both the foreground subject and background landscape to be in focus. Landscape. Suitable for taking photos of landscapes and other outdoor scenes. The camera automatically sets the optimal shooting settings to produce vivid blues and greens. Night and Portrait. Suitable for taking photos of your subject in the evening or at night. Since the shutter speed is slow, it is advised that you use a tripod to support the camera in this mode to help avoid blur from camera shake. Night Scene. Suitable for shooting pictures in the evening or at night. The camera sets a slower shutter speed than is used in normal shooting. If you take a picture of a street at night in any other mode, the lack of brightness will result in a dark picture with only dots of light showing. In this mode, the true appearance of the street is captured. The camera automatically sets the optimal shooting settings. If you use the flash, you can take pictures of both foreground subjects and the background. It is advised that you use a tripod to support the camera in this mode to help avoid blur from camera shake. Sports. Suitable for capturing fast moving action without blurring. Even a fast moving object will appear to be stationary. Self Portrait. Enables you to take a picture of yourself while holding the camera. Point the lens toward yourself and the focus will be locked on you. The camera automatically sets the optimal shooting settings. The zoom is fixed in the wide position and cannot be changed. Movie Mode. Enables you to take a QuickTime movie.

The Shooting modes are as follows: PROGRAM (P)/AUTO Modes Used for general photography. The camera automatically makes the settings for natural color balance. In PROGRAM (P) the brightness (exposure compensation) can be adjusted. In AUTO mode you cannot use exposure compensation or panorama features. Portrait Suitable for taking a portrait-style shot of a person. The camera automatically sets the optimal shooting conditions. Sports Suitable for capturing fast moving action without blurring. Even a fast moving object will appear to be stationary. Landscape Suitable for taking photos of landscapes and other outdoor scenes. The camera automatically sets the optimal shooting conditions. Night scene Suitable for shooting pictures in the evening or at night. The camera sets a slower shutter speed than is used in normal shooting. If you take a picture of a street at night in any other mode, the lack of brightness will result in a dark picture with only dots of light showing. In this mode, the true appearance of the street is captured. The camera automatically sets the optimal shooting conditions. If you use the flash, you can take pictures of both the subject and the background. Nightscene + Portrait Suitable for taking photos of your subject in the evening or at night. This setting employs a slow shutter speed, the camera should be stabilized to avoid camera shake resulting in a blurred picture. Landscape + Portrait Suitable for taking photos of both your subject and the landscape. This setting allows for both the foreground subject and background landscape to be in focus. The camera automatically sets the optimal shooting conditions. Self Portrait Enables you to take a picture of yourself while holding the camera. Point the lens towards yourself and the focus will be locked on you. The camera automatically sets the optimal shooting conditions. The zoom is locked to wide-angle and cannot be changed. Indoor Optimum settings for taking pictures of family gatherings and groups of friends. This mode reproduces the background clearly capturing the atmosphere. Beach Suitable for taking photos at the beach under a bright blue sky. Colors of the sky, the beach and people are reproduced vividly. Snow Optimun settings for taking pictures where backgrounds are snow fields. Settings are similar to Beach settings and colors of the sky, the greenery and people are reproduced vividly. Fireworks Optimum settings for capturing fireworks in the night sky. Since this setting employs a slow shutter speed , the camera should be stabilized to avoid camera shake resulting in a blurred picture. Sunset Optimum settings for capturing pictures of the setting sun. This mode reproduces reds and yellows vibrantly. Again, this setting employs a slow shutter speed , the camera should be stabilized to avoid camera shake resulting in a blurred picture.

The Shooting modes are as follows: PROGRAM (P)/AUTO Modes Used for general photography. The camera automatically makes the settings for natural color balance. In PROGRAM (P) the brightness (exposure compensation) can be adjusted. In AUTO mode you cannot use exposure compensation or panorama features. Portrait Suitable for taking a portrait-style shot of a person. The camera automatically sets the optimal shooting conditions. Sports Suitable for capturing fast moving action without blurring. Even a fast moving object will appear to be stationary. Landscape Suitable for taking photos of landscapes and other outdoor scenes. The camera automatically sets the optimal shooting conditions. Night scene Suitable for shooting pictures in the evening or at night. The camera sets a slower shutter speed than is used in normal shooting. If you take a picture of a street at night in any other mode, the lack of brightness will result in a dark picture with only dots of light showing. In this mode, the true appearance of the street is captured. The camera automatically sets the optimal shooting conditions. If you use the flash, you can take pictures of both the subject and the background. Nightscene + Portrait Suitable for taking photos of your subject in the evening or at night. This setting employs a slow shutter speed, the camera should be stabilized to avoid camera shake resulting in a blurred picture. Landscape + Portrait Suitable for taking photos of both your subject and the landscape This setting allows for both the foreground subject and background landscape to be in focus. The camera automatically sets the optimal shooting conditions. Self Portrait Enables you to take a picture of yourself while holding the camera. Point the lens towards yourself and the focus will be locked on you. The camera automatically sets the optimal shooting conditions. The zoom is locked to wide-angle and cannot be changed. Indoor Optimum settings for taking pictures of family gatherings and groups of friends. This mode reproduces the background clearly capturing the atmosphere. Beach Suitable for taking photos at the beach under a bright blue sky. Colors of the sky, the beach and people are reproduced vividly. Snow Optimun settings for taking pictures where backgrounds are snow fields. Settings are similar to Beach settings and colors of the sky, the greenery and people are reproduced vividly. Fireworks Optimum settings for capturing fireworks in the night sky. Since this setting employs a slow shutter speed , the camera should be stabilized to avoid camera shake resulting in a blurred picture. Sunset Optimum settings for capturing pictures of the setting sun. This mode reproduces reds and yellows vibrantly. Again, this setting employs a slow shutter speed, the camera should be stabilized to avoid camera shake resulting in a blurred picture.

The shooting modes are as follows: Program(P)/Auto. Modes Used for general photography. The camera automatically makes the settings for natural color balance. In PROGRAM (P) the brightness (exposure compensation) can be adjusted. In AUTO mode you cannot use exposure compensation or panorama features. Portrait. Suitable for taking a portrait-style photo of a person. The camera automatically sets the optimal shooting settings. Landscape + Portrait. Suitable for taking photos of both your subject and the landscape. This setting allows both the foreground subject and background landscape to be in focus. The camera automatically sets the optimal shooting settings. Landscape. Suitable for taking photos of landscapes and other outdoor scenes. The camera automatically sets the optimal shooting settings. Night Scene. Suitable for shooting pictures in the evening or at night. The camera sets a slower shutter speed than is used in normal shooting. If you take a picture of a street at night in any other mode, the lack of brightness will result in a dark picture with only dots of light showing. In this mode, the true appearance of the street is captured. The camera automatically sets the optimal shooting settings. If you use the flash, you can take pictures of both foreground subjects and the background. It is advised that you use a tripod to support the camera in this mode to help avoid blur from camera shake. Sports. Suitable for capturing fast moving action without blurring. Even a fast moving object will appear to be stationary. Beach and Snow. Suitable for taking photos at the beach or on snow covered mountains; situations where there would be very bright conditions where the sun reflects off of sand or snow. Self Portrait. Enables you to take a picture of yourself while holding the camera. Point the lens toward yourself and the focus will be locked on you. The camera automatically sets the optimal shooting settings. The zoom is fixed in the wide position and cannot be changed. Movie. The movie mode enables you to take a QuickTime movie for either viewing on the LCD or on your computer. The movie will record as long as the shutter button is depressed and or until there is no storage space left on the memory in use. No sound is recorded.