What factors can contribute to sharpness when taking a photo. I can't PP to save my life so I really want to be able to get the shot sharp the first time. I see some shots that are so sharp the details just pop right out. Lots of my shots seem soft and washed out.

What factors will help make an exposure sharp? Discuss?

 

I am interested in this as well.

 

sharp glass for one. but its not everything by any means but definitely helps.

 

^^ That helps, but keeping the camera steady (on a tripod if possible) and the aperture not too wide open is also important.

 

Mirror lock up, remote trigger?

 

Stable tripod, cable release, mirror lockup or liveview, stop down, and pray to the wind gods when you press the button.

 

http://digital-photography-school.co...igital-images/

some good info in there

 

Tripod

I don't do much PP yet either. I really need to learn that stuff.

 

tripod, stopping down the aperture, cable release, MLU and a burst of flash.

 

 

Tripod is the best solution.

But for hand holding, the general rule is don't use a shutter speed less than 1 over the focal length.

For example, on a 50mm lens, don't use a shutter speed slower than 1/50.

But you also have to compensate for the crop factor your camera might have. On a Canon Rebel, this is 1.6. (1.6 x 50mm) = 80. So your minimum shutter should be 1/80.

Flash will make your images sharper if there is either not a lot of ambient lighting, or you stop your settings down enough to keep the ambient lighting out. This is because a flash burst is so quick in duration there's no real room for subject or camera shake.

Stabilized lenses tend to give you 2-3 stops. So what used to be a 1/50 lens, you could now hold at 1/15 or so.

 

I'm not singling you out. But I saw a lot of responses similar to this.

Judging from work I've seen from OP in the past, he's not taking pictures of stamps.

Tripod, MLU, and cable release is fine for 1% of photography.

 

I guess 90% of my photography falls in that 1% then.

If my camera is on a tripod, I use cable release and liveview (in lieu of MLU) almost all the time.

 

It's good advice and spot on correct.

Just not very practical in my opinion for the casual photographer.

 

I think JLatimer does a lot of landscape photos, which is bread and butter for tripods.

 

Also, post processing is critical to getting great images.

I always think of it like this. Me, doing the best job I can out in the field, will get images that are 70% of what they could be.

Later, with some quick and dirty processing of the RAW files, I can get those images to 90% of what they could be.

If, out in the field, I did a poor job and the images are only 50% of their potential, I'm in damage control mode with post processing.

When I used to shoot film, I'd say that the responsibility of getting good images was 50/50 camera side and processing side. Digital makes it 70% but that's because I can preview the image immediately and make necessary changes.

It's never going to be 100% camera side. All I have at my disposal is a lens with a finite range, and a portable flash of finite power.

 

Well if that is the case, I take back what I said. Tripod, MLU, remote shutter, and dial down the aperture.

 

Thanks for all the suggestions...
I can see 2 things I need to change. I tend to shoot too wide open... Also I am too lazy to carry my tripod I recently got a monopod that I hope to put to more use.

I had to google MLU I will try that out too.

 

its alright.

short of using a tripod and a cable release, what id do for handheld is:

high shutter speed
burst of fill
moderate aperture

 

its Mirror Lock Up. you can use it also as a "two second selftimer" on most Canon DSLRs

 

Someone on the Nikon board on FM showed his set up using live view with an external DVD portable DVD player, IIRC about an 8" screen. Just as being tethered to a laptop. I can't find the link, but using that 8" screen and a 10x view, looks like a pretty good set up, you just have to have a video in on the portable DVD player.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xQmWPAcaKU

not sure if this is it but he uses the mini dvd player

 

That's one way to use it, for review. But using it and live view at the same time you can get everything about the shot just about perfect before taking the shot. Close up and macro exposure blending would be great!