verisäkeet: December 2011

ok having well focused shots is one thing, and sharp shots another. so i'd like to share some hints with you to get your shots sharper. some of them will fix your out of focus shots aswell. (i'm not gonna get into photography for dummies 101 like slow shutter speeds cause blur images bla bla here.)

ok, most of mid level photographers are familiar with these hints but those of you who are not, listen up!

before you start reading make sure you SLR is properly calibrated.

- get a proper tripod
would be better if its not made in china. like a basic model of a Manfrotto will do the job. you need to keep your camera still. say you dont have a tripod for the moment, try holding your breath before hitting the button, rest the camera on your face, and rest your body on a wall or desk i dunno just try not to move.

if you got image stabilizer on your lens or camera, and wondering why that on/off switch exists since it always good keeping it on, well this time its not. IS,VR and stuff like that will go crazy on a tripod. so that switch actually works here. you need to turn image stabilizer off.

- get a remote controller
most of nikon model's IR codes can be found on the internet so you can set up your universal remote controller for shutter control. or get one from dealextreme for any camera brand for like 3$.
whats the point of keeping camera still with a tripod if you are poking shutter button with your finger while trying to get the shot.
ok this time you got a tripod but no remote. then use self-timer for the delay so by the time it goes of, tripods movement will be ceased. so you'll get a clear shot.

- use lower iso
well, since we are talkin about tripods, remote controllers who needs ISO then? no need to ruin your shots noisy. lets say you don't have a tripod with you. then read above and use less iso. try not to exceed iso 1000.

- go get some prime lenses and try them
if you wanna use your SLR as a point and shoot camera, dont try prime lenses. get a tamron 18-270 or sometin, hell you should even stop reading.

you have to use your feet with prime lenses. they got no zoom at all. a focus ring and thats it and i'll keep this brief and not gonna get into pros and cons of a prime lens.

if you want your pics sharp, use proper zoom lenses which are usually expensive, or try some prime lenses. like start with 50mm f1.8 which costs less than a crappy mp3 player. if you are little bit interested in macro shots, go for macro lenses, you'll be shocked how sharp they are for normal uses.
so.. no zoom usually means sharper photos. ofc there are some crazy zoom lenses, thats why i just used word "usually".

- use higher f-stops
try to use high aperture numbers like f/7.1 - f/8. longer focal lengths will be less sharper comparing to short focal lengths. lets say we got a 18-70mm lens. lens will provide sharper pics at 18-35 comparing to full zoom 70mm. as shot gets softer you could make it more sharper by increasing the aperture number.

ok, most likely 70mm will give you f/5.6. now take the pic, take a look and now set it to f8, make proper adjustments to get enuf light. take another pic. check it out on lcd at %100 crop and you'll notice its much sharper than the one you took at f5.6

another important note, don't dont think higher aperture means sharper pics. most of lenses stop giving sharp photos after f/11. becomes worse at f/22. so its best keeping it around f/8-f/11.
yes background will be leless diffused, theres no way to prevent it except a good post-production.

btw f8 is just a number that usually gives best results but all lenses got their best aperture value which is the sharpest point of that lens.

here some test shots i got with a cheap 70-300 lens. great lens for starters but terrible after a point. no need to give names. check out F numbers, as it gets higher, photo gets sharper!

lens: 70-300mm
left f/5 @ 200mm
right f/11 @ 200mm

so unless you are after a really shallow depth of field, boost your photos with some sharpness by giving some aperture numbers. you got a f/1.8 lens? try setting it to f/3.2 instead of f/1.8

- apply some sharpness
use photoshop or a simple image editing software to give some little sharpness to your photo. don't ruin it with ridiculous numbers. it will cause noise. a sharpen brush would help alot. but an out of focus shot is still an out of focus shot, giving sharpness will only make it worse!

- and last step soft pics are great too!! don't forget that.