I have a canon Rebel GII. With a 85mm lens and a 100X300 zoom lens. A common comment about my photos is that they are not sharp enough (and I agree). I am new at photography and love it so much but want to get better at it. Can anybody give me some solid tips on how to get my pictures sharper or simply get the most from my shots. Thanks so much.

Ken Marsh (Hearthstone)

Hello Ken,

I recently got a new product from Alienideas who are the publishers of FocusOn: a guide to digital imaging. Its a self training and reference DVD e-book with video clips but covers all of the core skills of digital photography - I found it very useful and to prove it I've copied and pasted a short section on sharpening for you

Sharpening
Image files produced by scanners and digital cameras tend to
be softened due to the actions of electronic filters which are
used to remove rogue pixels - an effect known as aliasing.
This means the detail in image files can be improved by
resharpening them.
The most common method for performing sharpening is
Unsharp Masking (USM). Although this sounds like a misnomer
for an image sharpening process, it is actually based on an
old printing technique which was used to enhance image
edge details. When an image is in Lab mode, we recommend
sharpening is performed on the L (Lightness) channel:
Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask
When in RGB or CMYK use Unsharp Masking (USM) with
particular care: image sharpening is definitely better underdone
than overdone. In RGB or CMYK gamuts USM sharpening
adjusts the colour of the image - so if over saturation is
noticeable it may be best to convert the image to Lab mode
or try the High pass technique that follows.
With a layered image, flatten the file before applying unsharp
masking to ensure the sharpening is applied equally. As this
implies it is also possible to apply sharpening to layers, or to
selected parts of an image.
One alternative is to use the Photoshop Sharpen filters, but
these do not offer the fine controls of Unsharp Masking:
Filter > Sharpen / Filter > Sharpen More
Guideline Unsharp Masking for digital
camera files:
Amount - 130-200%
Radius - 1-2
Threshold – 2-20
We suggest the Amount is dropped to 150 and increased
to 200 to make a ‘bracketed’ comparison for fine tuning. A
setting of somewhere between 130-200 should be suitable
for most high resolution images for printed output.
Once you are comfortable with the effect, try small adjustments
to the Radius and Threshold as required. It is worth noting
the settings you use, especially if you have a single source,
a single output device and a preferred output size. It is also
common, for example, for social photographers to keep images
of people slightly softer than commercial images, as sharp
detail can be unflattering.
The higher the radius figure the more pixels are affected. USM
should only be used to sharpen the edge pixels so this figure
should generally be no more than 1-2 in the majority of cases
(this setting is in fact resolution and image dependent).
The threshold is used to determine which pixels are counted as
edge pixels. This measures the difference between pixels on
a scale of 0-255 (this number being the scale that produces
continuous tones in each colour channel). A figure of 5 will
alter all the pixels which differ by 5 shades or more........

It goes on and on but that should help you.

Best

Arthur Ruttler

Or you could always switch to centre focussing and invest in a tripod!,,,,,,,,be alot easier!..lol..........good luck .....Ken

A tripod is the best suggestion. Also, I found my pictures are sharper at shutter speeds 125 and higher. I shoot moving children so I don't have the benefit of a tripod so mostly I have to find a way to get enough light in to shoot at a min 125. My magical formula for shooting kids/babies is f2.5, ISO 200, Shutter Speed 125 - often with an external flash.

I do have a question for Kenp regarding the center focusing. I never know which to use between evaluative and center. Which do you suggest? Again, I am shooting babies/kids either outdoors or indoors in a studio type set up. Is there a rule of thumb?

Melissa

Hi Melissa I find when shooting a single subject centre focussing is far superior,the camera doesn't hunt and my shots are alot sharper,works for landscapes as well................you could always give it a try and see how it goes!............................Ken

Melissa & Ken, and other Ken (too many kens! ), I noticed you guys are using two different terminology sets here. Melissa, center and evaluative are exposure measuring terms. Ken is saying focus mostly at the center point of the image, which can expand the dof over the largest usable range.

I've heard you're supposed to focus on a point 1/3 of the way into the shot, which is harder to figure by eye sometimes than just getting the center. Ken has many excellent pictures posted with superior use of dof, so I'd tend to believe him.

Also, in nearly all tests I've read, lenses tend to be soft all the way open, and all the way closed. This means if you keep your f stop somewhere in the middle range, the things you want to be in focus may be more in focus.

And yes, use a tripod. An action grip head will help with panning active subjects such as children.

Chris

Ken & Chris -

Thanks for the information! When I shoot, I do tend to take quite a few shots and am always dissappointed at how many are not sharp enough. I don't use a tri pod because I need to move around so I appeciate the tip for the tri pod that can move with the subject - I am going to check these out. I think I should probably try using a smaller dof. It is hard to make the change because I love everything but the subject out of focus, however, it vary well may be my problem.

I'll try a few things and post back my results. Thanks again for the feedback. If you have any thoughts on resizing, that is my latest question on the blog

Melissa

Ken, what you can do is just stop down the lens or get a different one. Sharpness issues are usually from the lens. The elements might not be of high quality glass, or even plastic!

I don't recommending sharpening in PP in Photoshop, as a lot of times you get interpolation and you lose quality.

Gotta disagree with not sharpening in photoshop. It almost always helps the image. The trick is to use the right sharpening. I used to always go with unsharp mask until I realized it made many things look wrong. So I tried Smart Sharpening, which lets you dial in exact recipes of how much sharpness and how much to leave as was you wish. Then don't always sharpen to the same basic amount; make it to fit the image. Also, if you're shooting RAW, you can sharpen in the conversion program...sometimes.

On the matter of sharpening, both the Canon 40D and the Nikon D300 let you live focus, then expand the picture so you can manually dial in critical focus. In an online demonstration of this, the Canon used auto focus, got what looked like a sharp image in the live view. But once they zoomed in, it was plain to see that some more focusing could help.

I've been doing a lot of reading on these two cameras, since I plan on upgrading to one or the other (Nikon's finally bowed under to the wisdom of having some sort of sensor cleaning system, making them a viable alternative for me). I'm sure I read in one of many reviews that the Nikon lets you automatically program the camera to shift the focus to make up for the difference any particular lens demonstrates between what the autofocus gives and what is actually critical focus. If this is true, I think it could be the greatest advancement I've heard of in digital cameras in many a year.

Both these cameras now have the good autofocus sensors that detect things equally whether the camera is oriented horizontally or vertically. In the past, this was only true of the middle sensor on some cameras. Perhaps this is what Ken was referring to above?

Chris

I find that the lens and tripod are the best ways to get a sharp image. Do it right first and then you have less time messing around with software.

Another question, but linked to the subject.
Has anybody found a way to look around during racing with the ms wheel??? I can only use the D-pad for telemetry. Why would anyone use that...during competitive racing?
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An excellent rule of thumb to ensure consistently sharp photos is to always set your shutter speed to at least the equivalent of the focal length for a given shot. So if you are zooming in with a focal length of 200mm, a shutter speed of 1/200 of second or faster should be used to prevent camera shake from reducing the sharpness of an image. More on using shutter speed effectively here: http://www.photography-art-cafe.com/what-i...tter-speed.html

Also, there's no doubt Photoshop is a brilliant tool to improve sharpness - but different pictures clearly require different amounts. Most pictures benefit from the Unsharp Mask feature.

What about the use of a VR lens? Nikon claims that you can shoot up to four stops slower and get the same sharpness. I tend to believe that, since I got a sharp image at night (even at 100% zoom) of the Customs Tower in Boston using 1/4 second HANDHELD, with no shake. (My hands are steady, but even so...) I have a Nikon D80 with a Nikkor 18-200mm AF VR lens (admittedly not the sharpest or fastest lens, but it's so darn versatile that it's the only lens on my camera. It's been mounted since day one, so I never have to worry about dust on my sensor.

My concern is, does the VR itself introduce its own shake that would be detectable, and that given the choice of shooting 1/60 sec handheld or 1/250 sec tripod (both at 200mm), which would be sharper?

Thanks.

Art

This is a great thread, a lot of good tips that I have not thought of before. Thanks.

Hi to all! I'm an amateur photographer or let's just say a hobbyist and have the same dilemma when taking pictures. Reading through this thread gave me a lot of great information that can improve my captures. Using a tripod is my number 1 choice. But, nonetheless, all the other tips are great. I usually just use the center focus when doing portraiture, I get an OK shot but I really want to make the eyes to be crystal clear without having to edit it through photoshop. Anyways, I'm really I glad I joined this forum, will be frequenting here asking and reading great tips. Kudos to all!