What did I do wrong?

TonyUSA · Oct 8, 2018

Hello,

By looking at two simple head shot from two links below. The fist photo is mine and very very bad but other photo from other pro look so amazing, crazy sharp, stand out so nice. What did I do wrong? Please advise.

Thank you,

snowbear · Oct 9, 2018

Your shot looks a little on the cool side - maybe tweak the white balance.

dunfly · Oct 9, 2018

Did you do any post processing? All of your photos could be improved by tweeking exposure, vibrance, white balance, etc. While most pros get better photos out of camera, they are almost always better at post processing.

smoke665 · Oct 9, 2018

All of the above ^^^^^ Assuming the lettering is white, and using that as a sample the WB is way to cool. Image was slightly underexposed. Having been to a few swim meets, the light is going to be on the cool side. In the future if you use a WB target card as your first shot, you can then adjust all the images in the series to that card, in post. If you don't do post processing then read your camera manual to learn how to set a custom WB for all the shots your taking (don't forget to change that when the light changes).

weepete · Oct 9, 2018

Lighting, yours is a little underexposed and lack the directional lighting of the second which makes it look a little flat.

Braineack · Oct 9, 2018

TonyUSA said:
By looking at two simple head shot from two links below. The fist photo is mine and very very bad but other photo from other pro look so amazing, crazy sharp, stand out so nice. What did I do wrong? Please advise.,

$7,000 pieces of glass tend to do that...

it looks underexposed and the shutter speed was too slow and the DOF too thin, and also looks outdoor vs. indoor.

ac12 · Oct 9, 2018

I agree with others.

You need to get the exposure up.
The eye sees thing sharper with more contrast. So the better the exposure, to increase the contrast, the sharper the image will look.
Even if an image with less contrast is technically sharper, the slightly less sharp but more contrasty image will LOOK sharper to the eye.

Post processing will generally improve many shots.
So don't just take the image as it comes from the camera.

The other is simply the subject.
Your shot

- The facial expression on your shot does not lead me to think sharp.
- There is nothing on her face for me to really focus in on and recognize as sharp. I have to look at the writing on her hand or printing on the cap to see anything to focus on as being sharp.
- Related to this, if the camera's AF cannot lock onto something to focus on, it may not focus well.
- WHERE is the camera focusing? I think the camera may have focused on the writing on her hand. Go back and check where the camera focused on. I had to do this with one of my students, to figure out that the camera was not configured correctly.

The other shot

The happy face, goggles and visible teeth, gives me something to focus on, and recognize as sharp.

The angle of the shots, facial angles and poses do not make the two images comparable. You really need comparable shots to compare to.

@Braineack's comment is true. As much as I like to buy and use less expensive consumer lenses, they just don't match up to a pro lens. Is a consumer lens "good enough" for me, absolutely YES. But they come with compromises. You don't get the 10+:1 zoom ratio of a consumer super zoom (like the 18-200) without some optical compromise and still meet the lower target price of a consumer lens. In general, the lower the zoom ratio, the easier it is for the manufacturer to make it sharper. Most PRO zooms (like the 24-70 and 70-200) are 3:1 or less. If you really want sharp, you have to fork out the $$$$ for a pro zoom lens (used is cheaper) or the increasingly less common consumer prime. As much as I like my 18-140 general purpose lens, it is NOT as sharp as my 70-200.