Advice: I want my pictures SHARP!

[JerryPH]

First, an overly sharp picture is not always the best looking. Over-sharpening is a phenomenon that is starting to show up here and there... often, too much of anything is not a good thing.

That said, photo sharpness can be aided by:
- Using a quality lens
- Using the aperture sweetspot of a lens. For example, on my Nikon 18-200, at F/11, it is as sharp as the $2000 70-200 Nikkor!
- Using the base or low ISO
- Nailing the exposure. One way means being in manual, using a light meter or histogram, controlling lighting precisely and shooting in RAW, which brings me to...
- When shooting in RAW, PP sharpening is mandatory, and the best sharpening program I have found is NIK software's Sharpener Pro, however you can use other forms of sharpening like CS3's sharpening slider or unsharp mask slider.

For additional tutorials on photoshop sharpening, search YouTube, there are at least 20 the last time I looked. Searching the net gave me at least 100 more tutorials.

Hope that helps.

 

[Mike_E]

First, try sharpening with LAB. See here.. Photoshop Tutorial - Sharpening In Lab Mode | PhotoshopSupport.com

Also, if you want insane DOF then look into focus stacking
Focus stacking - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

BTW, if you are not using a good tripod, then nothing is going to be that much of a help. sorry

 

[Henry Peach]

Everywhere I turn my eye is struck with visually crisp surroundings that nearly miss the translation through my lens.

That's because you see with your eyes and mind, and the camera is merely a crude mechanical/electrical approximation of the eye with no brain.

I wouldn't worry about your lenses. As long as they are Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Sony/Minolta, Olympus, Sigma, Tamron, Tokina, or any of the other well known brands they should be more than sharp enough for 99.9% of photographers' purposes (unless they are damaged or a lemon).

Start will camera holding/shooting technique. Are you holding your camera so it's stable? It seems simple enough to hold a camera, but there are ways that work better than others.

How to hold the camera with your hands for best support - a knol by Vesna Kozelj

Also make sure you understand the relationship between shutter speed, magnification, and camera shake. The lower the shutter speed and/or greater the magnification the more camera shake will affect your sharpness. Magnification occurs two places: lens focal length and display size. Photos that look fantastically sharp web friendly sized may not look as sharp at 16"x24". The popular advice is minimum shutter speed for hand holding is 1/focal length x crop factor. In the real world that's just a starting point. Do some personal testing. For very sharp hand held photos I try for 2 or 3 times 1/focal length. In general a heavy tripod, mirror lock-up, and a cable release or remote is how to get the very best lens sharpness.

Photographic sharpness is most often an optical illusion. Our binocular vision is actually only good out to 10' or so. Beyond that my brain translates edge contrast/sharpness into data it uses to convert a 2D image into 3D. You need to understand how the mind sees, and then you can use those effects in your photos. These effects can be controlled at the time of exposure with lighting, such as hard rim light, and there are many techniques for adjusting sharpness in both traditional wet and digital processing.

An old school trick is the unsharp mask. In the darkroom it's 2 films of the same photo layered together slightly off register. This seems like it should cause a fuzzy, double image effect, but the brain reads the increased edge contrast as more sharpness and detail. USM is much easier to use in digital processing software. Just google "unsharp mask tutorial", and maybe add what software you are using.

It's also about what's not sharp. Softening some areas in the photo can make other parts appear sharper. Look to painters and illustrators (books, websites, classes...) for advice. They deal with the exact same effects, and they won't get sidetracked with lens-geek talk.

Here are some links for understanding sharpness:

Tutorials - Sharpness
Sharpening Using an Unsharp Mask
Sharpening -- Part I

If you google "edge sharpness vision" or "edge sharpness human eye" there are a lot of really technical papers written about the effect.

The commonly cited bible of sharpening for photographers is the late Bruce Fraser's "Real World Sharpening With {whatever version of Adobe Photoshop}"

A great book that I recently picked up is George DeWolfe's "B&W Printing: Creating The Digital Master Print". It goes into the visual effects, and how to enhance them.

 

[JerryPH]

Those look very interesting Mike, and I will look at sharpening in LAB mode... thanks, you may have added another tool to my collection!

But focus stacking is completely useless in portraiture/modeling, where you have one shot per pose as the smallest movement will cause the stacked pictures to look funky... I tried... lol

Besides, DOF and sharpness, though one can be affected by the other, are not really related.

 

[Mike_E]

You defiantly do not want to stack a portrait.

Landscapes, however, can be fun.

 

[Lorti]

How are you setting focus when you are doing self portraits ?

Unfortunately, because a lot of my work is self portraits I'm relying Canon to focus and I can't shoot in manual (since I can't be in both places at once). I set it to one shot auto focus instead of AI, it seems to grasp the face better that way. I use a remote timer to focus, when I hear the confirmation beep I click. Often I shoot 10-15 pics in a row, then review the images, make a change, go back and do it again, again, and AGAIN! Daunting, but the more I do it the easier and faster I can produce a portrait.

 

[JerryPH]

Easy thing to fix. Since with portraits you want better sharpness and NO lens is sharpest at it's widest aperture, place a broom or statue or something on the chair where you will be sitting, use the sweet-spot aperture of your lens (which will 99.9% of the time be smaller than F/8) and you will have several inches forward and back of wiggle room. Now, focus on your fake target, set the focus to manual so it doesn't change, and voila... perfect focus each time!

I also invite you to go out and find someone else other than just yourself to shoot portraits of, way more fun!

 

[kundalini]

^^ Too right. I use a light stand so that I can adjust the vertical to where my eyes will be. Focus on that knob and turn AF off. I never go wider than f/4, but like f/5.6 for a cushion. If you're only using natural light, I would make adjustments so that aperture max f/4 and shutter speed not less than 1/125, which means ISO may have to be increased. It's amazing how much you can move in less than 1/125 of a second.

 

[Lorti]

Easy thing to fix. Since with portraits you want better sharpness and NO lens is sharpest at it's widest aperture, place a broom or statue or something on the chair where you will be sitting, use the sweet-spot aperture of your lens (which will 99.9% of the time be smaller than F/8) and you will have several inches forward and back of wiggle room. Now, focus on your fake target, set the focus to manual so it doesn't change, and voila... perfect focus each time!

I also invite you to go out and find someone else other than just yourself to shoot portraits of, way more fun!

Not only is it more fun, but WAAAY easier. I hardly ever have issues when I shoot someone else. Models all want $$$ which I refuse to pay haha, but I have a lot of friends I do portraits for, some lucrative, most just good learning and courtesy.

 

[JerryPH]

Join the local branch of the strobist club. If there isn't one, make one! Then you get access to not only hundreds of knowledgeable photographers, but models *and* people with businesses.

I was 2 days away from starting one in Montreal, when I found out that someone else had beaten me to the punch. It is a great way to learn, make friends and as far as models are concerned, I can promise you that I have people that say "any time and anywhere" to me for portrait sessions... more people than I have time for... lol

I'm very excited to shoot with you whenever possible. I'd love to do something different, maybe outside or on a roof top, or wherever..to be honest im not very creative but i have a male friend and some female friends who would love to be in the shoot if possible. I love your photos they are so full of life and color, so just message me!

Granted all so far are TFP (trade for photos), but I am not in it for the $$, its all about the fun for me in that area.

With this one really nice girl, I have at least 3-4 people in a shoot coming in about 3-4 weeks, it is just that easy and it is all about networking!

 

[Lorti]

Thank you so much! I just joined this forum, and as a "nOOb" I sincerely appreciate the generous and helpful responses to my question! I can certainly understand how the resolution of the picture will affect the clarity, and I also realize transitioning from PC to PC that my graphics card will also affect the way I see my photographs in translation from Canon. I will certainly try all the techniques you have suggested to improve the clarity of my work.

(Still holding out for my beloved 5D. Haha...)

 

[Lorti]

Aside from all the good info above, check to see if your camera has sharpness settings. My camera was reviewed as having soft output on it's default settings, which for the most part was very true. Uping the setting a bit may be helpful. Super sharp portrait photos may not really be optimal, but in end it comes down to what do YOU like. Or, if you are a pro, what does the CLIENT like.

where would i find a setting like this on my Canon XTi? Anyone know? I'll go home and root around soon, just curious though.

 

[Lorti]

Join the local branch of the strobist club. If there isn't one, make one! Then you get access to not only hundreds of knowledgeable photographers, but models *and* people with businesses.

I was 2 days away from starting one in Montreal, when I found out that someone else had beaten me to the punch. It is a great way to learn, make friends and as far as models are concerned, I can promise you that I have people that say "any time and anywhere" to me for portrait sessions... more people than I have time for... lol

I'm very excited to shoot with you whenever possible. I'd love to do something different, maybe outside or on a roof top, or wherever..to be honest im not very creative but i have a male friend and some female friends who would love to be in the shoot if possible. I love your photos they are so full of life and color, so just message me!

Granted all so far are TFP (trade for photos), but I am not in it for the $$, its all about the fun for me in that area.

With this one really nice girl, I have at least 3-4 people in a shoot coming in about 3-4 weeks, it is just that easy and it is all about networking!

Yea I have a model I have enjoyed working with for sometime, he's quite unique. Some others I'd love to work with eventually but scheduling is hard.

 

[JerryPH]

where would i find a setting like this on my Canon XTi? Anyone know? I'll go home and root around soon, just curious though.

If you are shooting in RAW (which you SHOULD be anyways), all RAW files need sharpening and touching up anyways. If you are shooting in (ick) JPG, reference your camera manual for how to change your JPG sharpness settings.

Faster than waiting for us here.

 

[Lorti]

where would i find a setting like this on my Canon XTi? Anyone know? I'll go home and root around soon, just curious though.

If you are shooting in RAW (which you SHOULD be anyways), all RAW files need sharpening and touching up anyways. If you are shooting in (ick) JPG, reference your camera manual for how to change your JPG sharpness settings.

Faster than waiting for us here.

True. And I'm gonna level with ya. I do not shoot in RAW! :l
I know how to shoot in RAW, but I have never learned how to convert. PS CS2 is my right hand, but I simply don't know all that much about it.