Sharpness Issues

[Derrel]

Even though this was shot at 1/125 with a 24mm lens, the lack of sharpness in this photo looks like camera shake to me. Here's one of many articles out there that might help you control camera shake: 5 Tips on How to Hold Your Camera

Why isn't the whole thing as blurry as the sign underneath then?

Somewhere in my 3,800 on-line photos, I have a home-made diagram I drew, showing the way the depth of field plane is actually "distributed" when the camera is angle steeply downward on a close-up shot, as is the case here...the best focus in this shot appears to me to be right along the very top of the teeth; the majority of the depth of field in this shot appears to simply *miss the target" and the physical location of the target!!!! The vast majority of the depth of field zone falls on empty space!!!

The camera is angled steeply downward...the very tops of the teeth are in focus...we can see the floor as the background...with a fixed-back camera and a little bit of missed focus placement and a downward angled camera...BOOM! most of the shot looks OOF...

That's my estimation of what happened....as TCampbell mentioned, if the camera is a Canon in one-shot focus mode, if the focus was acquired and locked, and the photog moved a bit...well...the focus is going to be "off". I think if the camera back had been squared-up with the jawbone, then the limited depth of field zone would have been placed more in an appropriate place for the actual subject, instead of being "wasted" on empty space, due to the camera's angled orientation in relation to the subject plane.

 

[Buckster]

^Exactly.

 

[table1349]

24mm on a crop sensor, with a field of view about 8 feet wide gives you a working distance of about 8 feet, which is about what I am estimating his field of view (at the plane of what we might jokingly call "focus" with the thing he has on the front of his camera).

T-Rex jaws are pretty large objects. It could easily be 4 feet from the first tooth to the second. The sign suggests the animal this came from was 47' feet long, and the damned things were all mouth.

FYI a T-Rex jaw could be up to 4 feet long in total, not from front tooth to the second tooth. The OP's pictured lower T-Rex jaw is only half of the typical bottom jaw of a T-Rex making it in the area of 2 feet long. It would help if the OP piped in and advised the approximate shooting distance as the shooting distance could be significantly shorter than some of the ones that have been hypothesized.

 

[Cpalmer03]

It isn't REALLY all that unsharp. Hit it with some more contrast and a little unsharp mask and it peps right up. This feels like a bunch of contrast reducing crap on the front of the camera, to me.

OP, are you by any chance using a "protective UV filter" on the front of your lens, and have you tried removing it?

No filter on the lens. This was a couple days ago and I would guess that I was about 4 feet from the subject. The flash did fire and help with AF.

 

[molested_cow]

Hmmm.... put it on a tripod. If you have a remote trigger, use it. If not, use the timer trigger.
Set your camera to aperture priority mode. Take some shots with various aperture settings, in AF.
Check the focused spot to see if they are sharp. If not, then we have a problem.

 

[Cpalmer03]

I am using Aperture 3.4.3 and in order to find the distance, I went into metadata and turned on focus distance but nothing showed up. Is it possible that my camera doesn't record that information?

 

[paigew]

On my t3i sometimes the focus will be off depending on lighting conditions and focus point choice. The center fp is the most accurate. It can be common for focus to be missed if shooting in difficult light or with low contrast in the scene. Often times the camera will grab focus on the easiest (most contrast) part of the image. To combat this I use the center focus point and recompose.

 

[Cpalmer03]

On my t3i sometimes the focus will be off depending on lighting conditions and focus point choice. The center fp is the most accurate. It can be common for focus to be missed if shooting in difficult light or with low contrast in the scene. Often times the camera will grab focus on the easiest (most contrast) part of the image. To combat this I use the center focus point and recompose.

So you compose first, use AE-Lock, focus on center point, recompose and fire?

 

[christop]

On my t3i sometimes the focus will be off depending on lighting conditions and focus point choice. The center fp is the most accurate. It can be common for focus to be missed if shooting in difficult light or with low contrast in the scene. Often times the camera will grab focus on the easiest (most contrast) part of the image. To combat this I use the center focus point and recompose.

So you compose first, use AE-Lock, focus on center point, recompose and fire?

I don't know how others shoot, but I typically focus on the center point first, recompose, meter, and fire. Metering and firing is basically done at the same time because it is done when the shutter button is depressed halfway, so I have to compose only once.

 

[paigew]

On my t3i sometimes the focus will be off depending on lighting conditions and focus point choice. The center fp is the most accurate. It can be common for focus to be missed if shooting in difficult light or with low contrast in the scene. Often times the camera will grab focus on the easiest (most contrast) part of the image. To combat this I use the center focus point and recompose.

So you compose first, use AE-Lock, focus on center point, recompose and fire?

Pretty much! I will lock focus where I want it then recompose to get the correct framing. It does take a lot of practice though because every slight move (recomposing) changes the distance to the subject (and depth of field). I shoot pretty wide (2.2-3.2) but at narrower apertures it would be more forgiving.

also I use back button focus so no 'ae-lock' is needed

 

[paigew]

I don't know how others shoot, but I typically focus on the center point first, recompose, meter, and fire. Metering and firing is basically done at the same time because it is done when the shutter button is depressed halfway, so I have to compose only once.

why would you meter right before you take the photo? What happens if your settings need adjusted? You should meter for your subject, choose correct settings, set fp, (recompose if needed) and shoot. At least that is what I do

 

[Cpalmer03]

On my t3i sometimes the focus will be off depending on lighting conditions and focus point choice. The center fp is the most accurate. It can be common for focus to be missed if shooting in difficult light or with low contrast in the scene. Often times the camera will grab focus on the easiest (most contrast) part of the image. To combat this I use the center focus point and recompose.

So you compose first, use AE-Lock, focus on center point, recompose and fire?

Pretty much! I will lock focus where I want it then recompose to get the correct framing. It does take a lot of practice though because every slight move (recomposing) changes the distance to the subject (and depth of field). I shoot pretty wide (2.2-3.2) but at narrower apertures it would be more forgiving.

also I use back button focus so no 'ae-lock' is needed

The problem I was running into was that I would focus on a subject by pressing halfway, staying halfway pressed i would recompose but then my Exporsure would be off, that is why i started to compose first, AE-L, press halfway to focus on subject (on middle focus point), then recompose and the AE-L would keep the original metering settings.

Is there an easier way?

 

[paigew]

The problem I was running into was that I would focus on a subject by pressing halfway, staying halfway pressed i would recompose but then my Exporsure would be off, that is why i started to compose first, AE-L, press halfway to focus on subject (on middle focus point), then recompose and the AE-L would keep the original metering settings.

Is there an easier way?

pressing the shutter button will not change any settings so if your exposure is off it was like that before you locked focus. One thing you might check is your iso setting, make sure it is NOT on auto-iso (b/c if it is your exposure might change)

this is assuming you are shooting in manual mode....

 

[christop]

I'll split the metering and firing steps if I'm using manual, since I have to set the exposure manually, but for any of the auto or semi-auto modes it's done by the camera when pressing the shutter button. Note that I consider exposure compensation to be a different step than metering, and I consider metering to be setting the exposure based on what the camera is currently looking at. If I take a picture of a black bear or a polar bear, for example, I'll set the exposure compensation one or two stops down or up but let the camera ultimately set the exposure settings (or only one of the exposure settings if I am using aperture priority or shutter priority mode) with the compensation in exposure that I set.

I also don't leave the auto-focus functionality on the shutter button because I'd rather press one button to focus and another to meter and set exposure settings than to have one button do both and have to press another button anyway to lock the exposure settings.

 

[paigew]

I'll split the metering and firing steps if I'm using manual, since I have to set the exposure manually, but for any of the auto or semi-auto modes it's done by the camera when pressing the shutter button. Note that I consider exposure compensation to be a different step than metering, and I consider metering to be setting the exposure based on what the camera is currently looking at. If I take a picture of a black bear or a polar bear, for example, I'll set the exposure compensation one or two stops down or up but let the camera ultimately set the exposure settings (or only one of the exposure settings if I am using aperture priority or shutter priority mode) with the compensation in exposure that I set.

I also don't leave the auto-focus functionality on the shutter button because I'd rather press one button to focus and another to meter and set exposure settings than to have one button do both and have to press another button anyway to lock the exposure settings.

sorry I don't use any of the auto modes (or exposure comp) so I am no help there. I shoot in manual and meter to '0'