In need of some serious advice

[PLombard68]

Hi guys, Not sure if this question belongs here. If not I'm sorry for the inconvenience. As you can see i'm new here and wanted to get some advice on what I'm doing wrong. First, I just started getting into photography 2 years ago. I started out with an Olympus epl1 pen camera. Loved the little guy and still have it. But recently I've upgraded to a Canon T3i with the 18-55mm kit lens and a 75-300mm lens. Well last weekend I took the canon and the kit lens on a hike up a mountain with beautiful views. Took about 100 photos that seem to look okay on the lcd screen. When I got home and loaded them on my computer I was not happy at all. They just seemed flat with no color, blurred, and just all around crappy. I was shooting in manual at several different f-stops, iso and shutter speeds. I can understand the blurred ones as I hand held the camera at low shutter speeds. But for the life of me I can't understand why some of them have washed out looking backgrounds and such. I was shooting in auto WB, and neutral picture style. Also want to mention I was using a cheap UV filter and a cheap telephoto converter. Here are some of the photos I took. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

 

[Designer]

There appears to be a light haze in the air. You might not have needed the UV filter. Next time try without the filter and the teleconverter. And hope for better light.

 

[PLombard68]

It was actually a beautiful mostly clear day with low humidity and temps in the low 70s. My sister who also there using her Nikon D3100 took photos in landscape mode and the photos came out colorful and sharp. I just bought this camera brand new, is it possible the sensor could be crappy?

Also, if you notice I seemed to be getting a lot of Chromatic Aberration. This is the third time I get this after using this camera with the UV filter on.

 

[Gavjenks]

Several things:

1) Are these RAW or jpeg? If you're only going to shoot jpeg, and you shoot on neutral picture mode, then that's basically telling the camera that you want flat, gray images, and only flat gray images. Either shoot RAW, in which case you'll get stuff that looks like this, but you will be able to increase the contrast and color without damaging the photo. Or shoot jpeg, but allow the camera to make reasonable sharpening and color and contrast adjustments (for example, standard picture mode). Jpeg only + neutral mode is just a terrible recipe for disaster.

2) Chromatic aberration is a lens issue, not a sensor one. The UV filter (although not something I recommend) should not have any effect on CA. You have a fairly cheap large zoom range lens, and it is not unexpected to get CA at its extreme focal lengths. Solutions are:
a) Only use one color channel and make it B&W
b) Buy a better lens
c) Attempt to remove the CA with software. Again shooting RAW is helpful since the converter will know what lens you had and will be able to use known parameters about that lens to adjust for its CA, if you choose that option during conversion.

3) The UV filter could be causing some of the haze, but not all of it. Mostly as mentioned above, this just looks like what any DSLR actually takes in a raw form. The problem is that you have neutral picture mode, so your camera is locking in the boringness in your jpeg, and throwing out any RAW data that might have made it more interesting, forever. Although ditching the UV filter can't hurt.

4) Blurry photos: You may just be missing focus. Try using spot focusing and make sure you point the spot at a high contrast edge. Also, 1/640th of a second seems fast, but isn't actually that fast at 300mm. The rule of thumb is to have the reciprocal of your focal length at least (so 1/300th at minimum at that length). And that assumes very good form and posture. So if you're just being lackadaisical and not very careful with your stance, 1/640th could easily motion blur at 300mm. Either work on your form, or try to get 1/2000th of a second or so at that length. Also make sure you're using image stabilization, which I think your lens has.

 

[Derrel]

I looked at Photo #6 in its full, large 5,000x pixel size...that is a GOOD lens performance. Then, I looked at the next shot, and you jerked the camera at release, and the image shows subtle motion blur in the horizontal axis.

It might have been a clear day to your human eyes, but from those distances, the sheer amount of airborne particulate at almost ANY spot in North America in the summer is going to show up when a high-rez camera takes a scenic view. Shot #5 is a GOOD lens performance, but if you want an over-saturated, juiced image, you will need to process it. In the long-sitanbxcer shots, the amount of atmospheric haze looks pretty normal to me.

I have not looked at other images, but #5 shows me that the camera and lens is cap=able of EXCELLENT images, and shot #6 shows me that your camera technique was insufficient for that shot. As Gavjenks poitns out above, 1/640 at 300mm is dicey...it might "seem like" it's a fast speed, but, ummmm, no, not really. It's not! I reviewed some of my own shots from last summer, shot with a 70-300 VR lens at 1/640...eh...not a gurantee.

I think a guiy almost has to go 3x the focal length on high-rez 16 to 36 MP cameras...just to be "Safe", and to wring out all the resolving ability that's possible.

 

[kundalini]

1) Remove the cheap UV filter and try again. Never use cheap filters again.

2) Set your WB to Daylight (5500 K). They look blue-ish.

3) The CA is a combination of your lens and where you point it in releationship to the direction of the sun. Sensor performance on the T3i should be able to handle landscapes.

4) Quit centering your horizons.

5) LCD output (image-wise) should never be considered as a result of IQ.

6) Keep shooting.

 

[PLombard68]

Thank you so much for all the awesome information guys. Like I said I am new to photography and very green when it comes to using manual mode. I just ordered a lens hood which someone told me should help with my outside shots.

 

[JosephCarter]

I agree with everything that's been said.

Also know that the only thing a UV filter is good for on a DSLR is to protect the lens, I would suggest replacing it with a polarizing filter, which will probably help a bit with the haze and increase your colour saturation.

 

[KmH]

. . . Also know that the only thing a UV filter is good for on a DSLR is to protect the lens, . . .

UV filters used for 'protection' cause more problems than they solve - From promoting lens flare, to adding Newton's rings to images, to damaging the lens they were supposed to 'protect'.

A lens hood offers a lot of lens protection - while minimizing lens flare, and improving image contrast

There is a type of UV filter (Skylight 1-A) that can help with hazy landscape scenes. B + W 77mm Skylight 1A Coated Glass Filter (KR1.5)

Earth's atmosphere cause blurring. The further away anything is in a scene the less sharp it can be photographed, just because of all the ait that's on the way.

Astronauts on the Moon had difficulty gauging how far it was to distant boulders because there was no atmosphere to provide the subtle blurring humans here on Earth rely on to help them gauge distance.

Cheap filters, of any kind, generally degrade image quality.

 

[Majeed Badizadegan]

But recently I've upgraded to a Canon T3i with the 18-55mm kit lens and a 75-300mm lens. Well last weekend I took the canon and the kit lens on a hike up a mountain with beautiful views. Took about 100 photos that seem to look okay on the lcd screen.

Beautiful views to our eye does not always equate to a beautiful view to our camera sensor.

When I got home and loaded them on my computer I was not happy at all. They just seemed flat with no color, blurred, and just all around crappy. I was shooting in manual at several different f-stops, iso and shutter speeds.

Even if you had perfect technique, your subject is so far away in most of these that distance becomes a problem for image quality (due to the stuff floating around in the air/haze).

You also need to understand how small apertures impact image quality by way of diffraction.

I can understand the blurred ones as I hand held the camera at low shutter speeds.

It is best practice to shoot off a tripod to avoid camera shake at low shutter speeds .

But for the life of me I can't understand why some of them have washed out looking backgrounds and such.

Probable reasons are haze/cheap filter.

I was shooting in auto WB

Don't do this. Set a WB.

Also want to mention I was using a cheap UV filter and a cheap telephoto converter.

The quality of your images are only as good as the weakest piece of glass. If you have a weak link, your IQ will suffer. You have 3 weak links: kit lens, cheap tele-converter, and cheap UV filter. Honestly, what did you expect? You cannot skirt the rules of optics. Cheap glass will give cheap results.

Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Shoot at times of the day when the light is good. 45 minutes before and after sunset/sunrise. Find interesting subjects.

Read up and use sound composition rules as a guideline. Post more here and you will see yourself improve.