Fuzzy Photos

[ffmedjoe]

Hello all,
I am new to this forum and new to DSLR photography. I have been taking pictures for a couple of days now and i just can't seem to get the "perfect" picture. Every thing just seems fuzzy. I have been reading and watching movies about shutter speed, iso and aperture and I think I've got a pretty good idea of what I'm doing. However, it appears I am missing something.

 

[pgriz]

Not enough light. The camera's AF missed the focus, I think, and the auto settings gave you f/4.5 at ISO6400. The high iso introduces noise, which "can" reduce fine detail. The f/4.5 give a relatively thin DOF (depth of field) which would show if the focus is missed. And the AF needs enough light to get a good fix.

 

[ffmedjoe]

I tried this one with the flash on, the iso is at 6400 f/8 and 1/50. I think my ISO is too high. They just don't have that crisp clean picture.

 

[pgriz]

Digital cameras have an anti-aliasing filter to reduce the chances of moiré patterns. In effect, this filter creates a blur of fine detail. So it is necessary to sharpen the images after they are taken. If you shoot JPG, the camera often has sharpness settings that do that. If you work with RAW, then you need to do that in post-processing software.

As for the flash, it does give more light, but the focusing is still happening under dim light. Try shooting a contrasty target under daylight - I'm sure you'll find the image to be quite crisp.

 

[ffmedjoe]

will do
thanks

 

[Big Mike]

Welcome aboard.

Firstly, yes that ISO is probably too high for that situation...certainly much higher than you need when using flash. The high ISO give you a lot of noise/grain.

What mode (file type) are you shooting in? DSLR cameras will (in JPEG mode) apply some sharpening to the photos, but maybe not as much as you're used to seeing from other types of cameras. If you shoot in Raw mode, the camera doesn't apply any sharpening (or processing of any kind) and it's up to you to do it on the computer later.
So it may just be that you need to figure out a workflow of shooting and processing that will get you the results you are looking for.

Also, how/where are you viewing the images when you determine they are fuzzy? If you zoom in too close, every photo will break down eventually. Or maybe you are viewing it at an odd zoom scale and the software isn't rendering it properly. For example, with some programs, photos tend to look a little fuzzy at 66% and 33%, but they look much better at 100%, 50% and 25%.

 

[ffmedjoe]

Big Mike,
I am using Raw format and I am looking at the photos on my computer.

 

[Big Mike]

OK, that's a start. As I mentioned, a Raw file has absolutely no sharpening applied by the camera....and most digital images do need some sharpening to look their best.

What program are you using to process the Raw files?

 

[ffmedjoe]

OK, that's a start. As I mentioned, a Raw file has absolutely no sharpening applied by the camera....and most digital images do need some sharpening to look their best.

What program are you using to process the Raw files?

ViewNX 2 and Photoshop CS6

 

[KmH]

While true that the camera doesn't apply any sharpening to a Raw file, the Raw converter does apply some sharpening when converting the Raw file 1's and 0's into a photo we can see. We can then apply additional more sharpening if we want to.

Image sharpening is best done in stages and there are quite a few different image sharpening techniques. The subject of image sharpening is involved enough to write an entire book about it:
Real World Image Sharpening with Adobe Photoshop, Camera Raw, and Lightroom (2nd Edition)
The authors of that book wrote the sharpening software used by ACR.


ffmedjoe mentions Adobe Photoshop CS6, or more specifically CS6 Camera Raw. The Raw conveter plug-in that is included with CS6 is Adobe Camera Raw 7. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4's Develop module also uses ACR 7.

Note that because they use slightly different algorithms, Nikon View NX2, ACR 7, and other Raw converters will render Raw image files a bit differently.

 

[ffmedjoe]

Well, I've been out taking photos today and i'm still gitting alot of fuzz. It is overcast outside so I pulled out my shop lights and started messing around. Here are the settings for these photos. ISO1250 F/5.6 Shutter 1/4000
I'm still doing something wrong. help (these photos were in raw mode but have been converted)

 

[MLeeK]

The problem in the two newest ones is the depth of field. You have great sharp focus on the top of the image in the first and on the waterdrop in the second, but your aperture combined with the distance to your subject is causing your DOF to be very shallow.
Here are some basic tutorials to help you to understand aperture and shutter speed. Digital Photography Tips and Tutorials

Your first ones are a product of the very slow shutter speed.
For hand held your shutter needs to be above 1/80 if your subject is perfectly still and you are incredibly steady holding the camera. 1/125 can even get you some shake. If your subject is alive and still never below 1/125. If your subject is moving never below 1/250. For sports you are talking about 1/500.

 

[christop]

The high ISO still appears to be responsible for the "fuzz" in your latest shots. ISO 1250 is a lot noisier than ISO 100 or 200. You should be trying to keep the ISO as low as possible, which is I believe 100 for the D5100. Of course, you will need to compensate somehow: slow down the shutter speed (1/500 should be fast enough for action shots), open up the aperture (which decreases DOF), or increase light (that's what speedlights are for!).

Photography is about balancing many different factors to create the photo that you want.

 

[ptl2010]

There are areas of these photos in focus, and they are fairly sharp. In the first image, it's the top part of the fitting, and in the second one the water droplets and part of the neck of the faucet is in focus. If you are trying to get more of your image in focus use a narrow aperture (bigger number, so instead of 5.6 use 8 or higher). If you are not getting the areas you want in focus, use single point AF or manually focus.

The ISO plays a part here too, as a higher ISO value results in more grain, which could be the fuzz you are seeing. Depending on your camera, anything above 400 could produce a lot of noise. If you are shooting JPEG, most cameras apply noise reduction automatically, which can add to the "fuzzyness" of the image.

At such high shutter values I don't think you have a problem with motion blur, but in other situations it can be a problem. Lower shutter speeds don't freeze the action, which means if you or your subject moves a bit, you can get motion blur. Usually anything over 1/500th of a second is enough to freeze motion. When I shoot sports I use the highest shutter speed I can as long as it doesn't bump my ISO up too high. Usually 1/1000th up to 1/2000th.

Try this. Put your camera on a tripod or flat surface, and aim it at an object like some headphones or something. Aim your light source at the object so you have plenty of light. Focus your camera on the subject. Adjust the ISO to it's lowest possible value, probably 100. Adjust the aperture to f8. Adjust the shutter speed until the light meter on your camera reads 0, it doesn't matter if its 1/1000th or 10 seconds as long as your camera or the object your photographing doesn't move. Take a picture and see if it looks ok to you. If it does, try adjusting the aperture to its lowest possible setting. That could be f5.6, f4, f2.8, f1.8, etc. Keep the ISO at the lowest possible value, and adjust shutter until the light meter reads 0. Take a picture and see if you think its fuzzy. If it looks fuzzy, then your images are not in focus where you want them to be. If it's still not fuzzy, you don't like the noise produced from high ISO values.

 

[ffmedjoe]

Try this. Put your camera on a tripod or flat surface, and aim it at an object like some headphones or something. Aim your light source at the object so you have plenty of light. Focus your camera on the subject. Adjust the ISO to it's lowest possible value, probably 100. Adjust the aperture to f8. Adjust the shutter speed until the light meter on your camera reads 0, it doesn't matter if its 1/1000th or 10 seconds as long as your camera or the object your photographing doesn't move. Take a picture and see if it looks ok to you. If it does, try adjusting the aperture to its lowest possible setting. That could be f5.6, f4, f2.8, f1.8, etc. Keep the ISO at the lowest possible value, and adjust shutter until the light meter reads 0. Take a picture and see if you think its fuzzy. If it looks fuzzy, then your images are not in focus where you want them to be. If it's still not fuzzy, you don't like the noise produced from high ISO values.

Here we go Aperture f8 ISO-100 and 1/15 for shutter speed. I took two of them and that the first one was fuzzy, so I turned auto focus on, and here is what happened.