tips for sharper photos

Closed Aperture for homework...do they also call this stopped down? If so, f/8-f/11 is considered stopped down quite a bit, especially from f/1.8. I'd check with your professor and see if closed/stopped down aperture means the extreme (f/25) or if it just means a little. It would be weird that the assignment wants you to go balls out on the thing...unless the idea is to show you that closed gives less then ideal results.
 
mirror lockup is a custom function which prevents mirror vibration. since you use a tripod you shouldnt need mirror lock up

what mode are you using? ie Aperture priority, manual, etc
 
Closed Aperture for homework...do they also call this stopped down? If so, f/8-f/11 is considered stopped down quite a bit, especially from f/1.8. I'd check with your professor and see if closed/stopped down aperture means the extreme (f/25) or if it just means a little. It would be weird that the assignment wants you to go balls out on the thing...unless the idea is to show you that closed gives less then ideal results.


i would have to agree on this.
 
Yeah I just reread the assignment and I think I had it wrong, that i dont have to toally close it up. I was confused. Well at least I am learning
 
from what i understand, all digital files require some sort of sharpening in pp.
if you shoot in raw you have control over this process, if you shoot in Jpeg, the camera applies a sharpening algorithm, or so i have been told.
 
A couple guys got to it before me (been busy today at work) but I would have to agree that most lenses seem to be sharper at something around F11

Nice shots though....in our hood LOL

Jay
 
The last one is a tripod with the is lens
If you are using a tripod, you also want to turn OFF the IS. It is not needed with a tripod as you shouldn't have any shake. I've read using IS with a tripod, the IS motor will induce vibration because with a tripod, your camera/lens is stable.

Good luck with figuring out the sharpness. They are great shots otherwise.
 
Try a few test shots with the shutter speed at >= 1/500th regardless of anything else. If you have success work the shutter speed down until you get to know the limits.
 
i am going to get noise ninja for my birthday I think. My brother showed me an amazing fix on an old photo.

Just a note here... though Noise Ninja does have a sharpening feature, it's primary reason for existance is noise or grain removal. It does this by LOSING detail and often losing sharpness.

Lens quality and it's F-stop "sweet spot" is important, as are camera stability and proper focus.

Post processing methodology are likely going to give you the most visible results in the end. I found that CS3's "smart sharpen" gives me results tht I have not been able to ge any where else before.

Your profile says that we can modify your pics... its not the original size, nor is it a RAW or TIFF file, but some judicious sharpening made a difference.

Yours first, then mine:
park.jpg
2228517267_933ca5aafd_o.jpg


Using the building on the left or the blades of grass at the bottom left, you can see the most obvious levels of sharpness increases. If I used an extra 10% the differences would have been even more obvious, but then we start to add artifact at the JPG level.

Your pics have the sharpness in them... its up to you to PP in the best manner to get the most out of your pics.
 
big difference, very nice. I didnt even see how un sharp it was. What is cs3?
 
Hi Emerana,

Light hates being constrained: Every time light goes through a small opening, it tries to spread out (diffraction), so if you started with a beam of highly-focused light, you end up loosing focus and your pictures end up less sharp. Also, diffraction depends on wavelength, so you might end up with colours bleeding as well.

Unfortunately the smallest apperature will give you the largest possible depth-of-field, but it won't give you the sharpest possible image.

Also, the term "noise-filter" is a misnomer, there is no such thing as your computer doesn't know what noise is. What Noise Ninja does is really low-pass filtering: it describes your image by means of a series of sinusoids with different periods and then simply throws out the highest-frequency ones. This is going to loose detail, especially when you try to go sharp: anywhere you have an edge or a tiny detail, you have a high-frequency term that your noise filter is going to drop.
 
Unsharp mask in photoshop really helps.

yeti explained a lot of good stuff in his post. :thumbsup:
 

Most reactions

Back
Top