Please help! I can't figure this out.

[photomama3]

However, that is a still image - now take my son, for instance, who refuses to sit still, as most children and I run back into that same problem.

isaac | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

f 5
ISO 200
S 1/500

 

[vtf]

Flash would help the sharpness. Do you by chance shoot raw?

 

[photomama3]

O hey tyler, I am not ignoring you. Not in the least - its as though you are here with me. The image of the dog was in response to analogs suggestion.

I found through experimentation, that 4.6-5.6 does seem to be my optimal aperture (such as my son above). I just need a lot of practice with moving subjects and multiple subjects. Which I am still not able to achieve a sharp action shot with this lens. I am going to experiment with my zoom lens, based on what I now about aperture and Iso. I will post results.

 

[photomama3]

Yes vtf, I do shoot RAW.

 

[vtf]

Yes vtf, I do shoot RAW.

In that case there is no sharpening done in camera as with jpeg. Any sharpening is done in post and if thats not being done then that could be your issue also.

 

[photomama3]

Yes vtf, I do shoot RAW.

In that case there is no sharpening done in camera as with jpeg. Any sharpening is done in post and if thats not being done then that could be your issue also.

What?? A image I take in a jpeg will be sharper than the image I take RAW??

 

[shufti]

Yes (if sharpness is activated in your camera styles). It's been processed in-camera, sharpened in-camera. You can learn to do a better job in Lightroom/Photoshop etc though.

 

[vtf]

yes

 

[Edsport]

Camera applies sharpness to a jpg but not to a raw...

 

[Overread36]

Camera applies sharpness to a jpg but not to a raw...

It also applies a series of other adjustments including contrast, brightness and various other alterations along with noise reduction. You can control these in the camera to a limited extent using the in camera controls; but these have to be set before you take the shot (you can't change them after). Furthermore the application of this editing is made to the whole photo every time - you can't limit the effect to select areas (for example you'd want subjects to be sharpened most times, but not the blurred background and vis-versa for noise reduction).

Shooting RAW gives you the full data from the camera before it goes through the in-camera processing and thus gives you the chance to be more in control over the whole editing process. With practice and experience this lets you unlock far more potential from the same shot than the in-camera JPEG mode can do.

I will say that keeping your in-camera editing set to neutral values is however, still important because each RAW that is made has a JPEG embedded into it (with all the in-camera editing) and this JPEG is what you see on the back of the camera LCD and what it builds the histogram off when you're reviewing a photo - so keeping the editing neutral gives you the best idea of what the RAW photo will have in content.

 

[ACRPhotography]

You should read your camera's manual or google if your camera is compatible with shooting in RAW + JPG. It takes the picture and formats a RAW and a JPG file. I'm pretty sure

 

[photomama3]

ACR, it is compatible with shooting in RAW + JPEG. My memory card is small so I switched to only RAW. However, I think I nailed down the sharpness with the combination of the right Aperture, lower ISO, and changing my camera's focus mode. My lens seems to give me the sharpest picture at 4.6-5.6 Played around with it a lot yesterday at the ski lake with my children. Got some pretty sharp pictures considering all the motion (from the boat to the subject skiing -- of course switched to my zoom lens for the skiing pics) I am going to continue shooting RAW - I like having the control - I just need to practice with editing...amongst several other things

Overread, Question? when you say, 'neutral values' - are you referring to the picture control?

What is the preferred image file by most professional photographers? RAW or JPG or RAW+JPEG

 

[KmH]

What?? A image I take in a jpeg will be sharper than the image I take RAW??

Yes, because a JPEG is edited right in the camera. A JPEG is a finished, ready to print image file. Well get back to this in a moment

A Raw image data file cannot be seen as an image. It is just a bunch of data: 10001010101101010101001010101010101101011011010000111010101001010......... and if you could see it as an image, it is in fact colorless, a monotone image. With most DSLR's there is a Bayer Array in front of the image sensor and with that array the colors are inferred by a mathematical algorithm process known a demosaicing. http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/camera-sensors.htm

That data has to be converted into an image, but that conversion is not done in the camera. It has to be done using Raw converter software that is not in the camera.

DSLR cameras capture Raw data files as either 12-bit depth files or 14-bit depth files. Some DSLR let you choose one or the other.

The bit depth determines how many tonal gradations can be rendered in the photo. 12-bit depth can render 4096 tonal gradations per color channel: red, green, and blue. 14-bit depth can render 16,384 tonal gradations per color channel: red, green, and blue.

JPEG is an 8-bit depth image file format. 8-bit depth can only render 256 tonal gradations per color channel: red, green, and blue. Because JPEG can only render 256 tones, it has little, if any editing headroom.

Here is a key point: The camera always starts with a Raw file. If you have the camera set to JPEG, it never writes the Raw image data file to the memory card, but it uses the Raw file data to make the JPEG.

So, there are 12 or 14 bits of tone captured by the image sensor, but JPEG can only use 8 of them. No problem. The camera simply throws away enough tonal data to get down to 8-bits. (All of the luminance data is retained, only color data is discarded.)

JPEG is called a lossy file format, because about 80% of the tonal data the camera can capture gets discarded. That's why JPEGs are considered a final, print ready and have little, if any editing headroom.

Why Should I Shoot Raw?

 

[vtf]

What?? A image I take in a jpeg will be sharper than the image I take RAW??

Yes, because a JPEG is edited right in the camera. A JPEG is a finished, ready to print image file. Well get back to this in a moment

A Raw image data file cannot be seen as an image. It is just a bunch of data: 10001010101101010101001010101010101101011011010000111010101001010......... and if you could see it as an image, it is in fact colorless, a monotone image. With most DSLR's there is a Bayer Array in front of the image sensor and with that array the colors are inferred by a mathematical algorithm process known a demosaicing. Understanding Digital Camera Sensors

That data has to be converted into an image, but that conversion is not done in the camera. It has to be done using Raw converter software that is not in the camera.

DSLR cameras capture Raw data files as either 12-bit depth files or 14-bit depth files. Some DSLR let you choose one or the other.

The bit depth determines how many tonal gradations can be rendered in the photo. 12-bit depth can render 4096 tonal gradations per color channel: red, green, and blue. 14-bit depth can render 16,384 tonal gradations per color channel: red, green, and blue.

JPEG is an 8-bit depth image file format. 8-bit depth can only render 256 tonal gradations per color channel: red, green, and blue. Because JPEG can only render 256 tones, it has little, if any editing headroom.

Here is a key point: The camera always starts with a Raw file. If you have the camera set to JPEG, it never writes the Raw image data file to the memory card, but it uses the Raw file data to make the JPEG.

So, there are 12 or 14 bits of tone captured by the image sensor, but JPEG can only use 8 of them. No problem. The camera simply throws away enough tonal data to get down to 8-bits. (All of the luminance data is retained, only color data is discarded.)

JPEG is called a lossy file format, because about 80% of the tonal data the camera can capture gets discarded. That's why JPEGs are considered a final, print ready and have little, if any editing headroom.

Why Should I Shoot Raw?

This needs to be a stickie along with why images taken with my 50 mm 1.8 are blurry. A quick reference guide.