Hi from Houston

Brett Hondow · Sep 26, 2019

Hi guys.
Another newbie here from Houston, TX. Well... more of an amateur/enthusiast.
Came across this forum out of pure frustration of not finding answers to issues (technical perhaps?) that I've been experiencing for these last 3 years that has been crippling my photography. Perhaps the veil will be lifted from my eyes... maybe... maybe not. Time will tell.
Anyway just saying hi.

Michael Donald · Sep 26, 2019

Welcome, dude. Ask away...

Brett Hondow · Sep 26, 2019

Michael Donald said:
Welcome, dude. Ask away...

Hi Michael, thanks.
Geez, such exclusive company! I fear any advice you can give a budding photographer would be overkill on your behalf. Quite impressive credentials indeed.

My issues are quite basic but cannot seem to be answered anywhere I look. It concerns focus. Sounds easy, right? It's not.
I submit to various stock agencies (as many do), but I am becoming increasingly convinced over these past 3 years that it is impossible to get an image tack sharp without a flash and without a tripod. Too many rejections due to "poor focus" is really getting to me.
Yep I know the focal length rule as it applies to shutter speed etc. It makes no difference. Pimping the ISO doesn't work either. My images are always slightly fuzzy, and thus get rejected.
I have even gone "screw it", and used Shutter Priority which nets me a cool 1/1000 shutter speed but no... it doesn't help the image sharpness. My lenses are clean and I can get sharp images with either flash or sturdy tripod w/cable release but when it comes to hand-held images without flash I am lost. Oh, and I only shoot RAW.
I was hoping there is a great revelation out there, an awakening of sorts that will lead me in the right direction.
But really I'm hoping it's just a gear quality issue and that I actually don't suck!
Gear I use is a Nikon D5300 entry level camera.
Lenses: 50mm AF-S Nikkor Prime 1.8
105mm AF-S Micro Nikkor Macro lens
Lastly, the crappy 18-55mm kit lens that came with the camera (quality not great).

I do notice a difference in sharpness between the 2 shorter lenses, the Prime a little sharper and less noise and CA but that's all. Still, it's an issue with both lenses and I cannot get sharp images for the life of me with either lens. And the macro lens? Forget it. Flash or tripod all the way, even with VR otherwise sharpness is out of the question.

Any help would be immensely appreciated, thank you!
Before I throw my camera out the window and accidentally hit a passer-by with it...

I'll provide an example. I took this pic this morning under a freeway. You don't have to zoom in too far to see it's not sharp (had to resize to submit example):

Polluted Drain Humble Texas - Copy (1280x853).webp

Michael Donald · Sep 26, 2019

Hey Brett, the only thing I can suggest is stopping the lens down. You really only want it wide open for portraits. If you're at over 250th second at f8 with autofocus it is virtually impossible to be out of focus.

That image doesn't look soft to me. The other alternative is to bump up the sharpness in post, photoshop or equivalent.

The stock library business on it's knees so I wouldn't worry too much anyway, but don's go throwing your kit out the window just yet.

Brett Hondow · Sep 26, 2019

Thanks Michael. Yep actually it doesn't look too bad as a thumbnail but it's really soft at 100%. I have more "usual" examples. This one I thought might just be passable for stock. I was wrong ( focus rejection).
It was shot at f8 i believe, and 1/60 second, 50mm lens. Kept the ISO low to avoid noise. Point is, even with raising ISO to increase shutter speed to say, 1/250 or 1/500 the results remain the same, soft and fuzzy focus. Either single point focus, evaluate metering, doesn't matter. See my frustration? I can find no info on the whys out there.
Oh, stocks not on it's knees yet. I'm still making money from it. It just keeps evolving year to year. One day it will die but it won't be any time soon. As an amateur it's my only viable low cost source of photography income! I'd like to do more than just stock but can't get past the issue above to improve.