The influence of displacement and its first- and second-order derivative components on curvature fringe formations in speckle shearography is discussed. The results show that (a) all the displacement components have no direct influence on curvature fringe formations; (b) only the first-order derivative component along the centerline of three apertures has an influence on curvature fringe formations, whereas all the other first-order components have no influence; and (c) all the second-order derivative components have no influence on curvature fringe formations. Results from theory and experiments are in good agreement.