Sharp or blurry...?

[Artograph]

I've been checking out some of the pics that people are asking critiques for...while I am learning so much by doing this, there is something that has me confused. Sometimes people will say that the image should be sharper....other times it's not an issue. Some say too grainy, others say no it's fine. Other than the obvious issue of a pic being totally out of focus....is the 'sharpness' and/or "graininess" of a picture just personal taste, or are there "rules" (as such) to follow??

I've been taking mostly pics of flowers and landscapes. I'm getting a real kick out of having close-up, super sharp photos!! I've even caught a few bees and a dragonfly in some of the pics---the wings at close range are very cool!!

Any answers for me???? ...Thanks so much!!

 

[Hertz van Rental]

There are people who will insist that a picture must be sharp to be any good. But in Photography sharpness is a moveable feast and what needs to be sharp will be determined by what the picture is of and what it is to be used for.
For example, in general for a portrait, as long as the eyes are in focus nothing else needs to be.
And I know several pictures by well known photographers where everything was intentionally out of focus - and they still worked.

As images are being electronically reproduced there are a lot of variables to consider as well.
If the image has been saved as a JPG file with any compression then detail can be lost and the resultant image can appear soft. Some web sites people post their pictures on compress the image or reduce it in some way and so the images look soft when the original is not.
Different monitors have different resolutions so a high res monitor will give a sharper image than a low res one.
And so on.
The bottom line is - it's your picture so if you are happy with it then don't worry. If someone says it needs to be sharper, ask them to explain why they think this. If they give adequate reasons then think about what they are saying.
But at the end of the day it's just their opinion

 

[xfloggingkylex]

theres no hard rule for sharp or blurry pictures, but generally you want your subject to be sharp at the very least. This means you dont want a blurry face or blurry eyes on a portrait, and anything that you are making the subject generally needs to be more or less sharp. Of course with creative depth of field, blur often adds to the picture - so again, there is no hard rule.

Also, with blurriness, it will often depend on whether the cause is movement (camera or subject), out of focus (shallow DOF or just improper focusing), or if it is a softness caused by the lens itself, such as the kit lens used wide open. Shallow DOF is often acceptable, movement such as the grass blowing in the wind is also acceptable whereas a blurry car for race photography isn't. And generally, softness caused by the lens can be accepted as long as the large aperture helped the photo (DOF or proper exposure), though it still may be frowned upon.

At least thats my take on it.