I take my pixs on manual or aperture priority and usually can get the light that I want, but not the sharpness. I am shooting on "Fine" and i always try to keep my ISO low if I can, I also remember to white balence for each new environment. Is there something else that i should be doing because I am so disappointed with my shots even though I love the composition.
2007-06-10 14:06:22 · 6 answers · asked by sbellcha 2 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Visual Arts ➔ Photography
Can you post links to examples? That might helps us diagnose the issue. A number of things come to mind. How are you viewing your images? They probably won't look very sharp on a camera LCD screen. It's possible that the auto focus system in your camera needs alignment. If it's an SLR, the mirror may be out of whack, or your focusing screen may not be positioned exactly right. Or, you may need to adjust your diopter to match your eye. Or, it could simply be a camera or lens that is not very high quality.
Then there are the user issues. Are you choosing a good focus target? This would be something with decent contrast and with enough area for the auto focus system to "grab". Are you focusing then re-framing the picture? Sometimes the camera will re-focus after you've re-framed. In such a case, you'll be focusing on what is in the center of your frame, regardless of whether or not it's what you mean to focus on.
Auto focusing can certainly be faster than manual focusing, but it requires practice. Manually focusing can work very well (evidenced by the 150 years of manually focused photographs) but also requires practice.
2007-06-10 15:05:20 · answer #1 · answered by Karl W 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
1. Try shooting with an old camera that doesn't even have autofocus. (Nikons are great.) Because these cameras rely on manual focus, they tend to be a bit more user-friendly and easier to use.
2. Use a light meter. You can double check that your aperture and shutter speeds are correct. Get one that lets you try conversions, so you can take a meter reading and then convert the settings to as high of a shutter speed as possible.
3. If this doesn't work, then the problem is probably not that the camera isn't focused, but that you're moving as you take the picture. Try leaning against a wall, etc. for balance, and pull your arms close into your body; the further out they are as they hold the camera, the shakier they'll be. Also, don't press the shutter down suddenly; the camera will shake ("snapping" the shutter is actually a bad term). Push the shutter down steadily and smoothly.
4. If #3 doesn't work, you'll need a tripod. They're relatively cheap nowadays and ensure you a stable support for the camera. You can also buy a few cable releases, which are dirt cheap and allow you to not even need to touch the camera.
Good luck!
2007-06-10 17:33:15 · answer #2 · answered by Flutterby 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It would be helpful to see some examples and know what kind of camera you are using.
Most people cannot handhold below about 1/30 or 1/40 of a second shutter speeds and have a sharp image. Make sure your shutter speed doesn't get too slow. Also, lenses are not the sharpest at either wide open or the smallest aperture..
If you are using a dSLR, you probably need to do a little post processing and use unsharp mask to get the optimal image. Consumer digicams apply sharpening in the camera, most dSLRs do not.
I agree to do a tripod test. If the picture is sharp from a tripod, then you have to work on your technique.
BTW, I don't agree that autofocus doesn't work good. There are instances of course, where autofocus might struggle a bit, but in most normal shooting situations, AF is spot on, especially in a modern camera. It is possible that your AF has a problem, which would mean a repair job, but in general AF systems are reliable and do a great job.
2007-06-11 01:38:19 · answer #3 · answered by Ara57 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If your entire photo is not sharp I would suspect camera technique first, a damaged lens second.
Are you using a tripod? Are you 'punching' the shutter release instead of gently pressing it?
Try some shots like you normally do them, then put the camera on a tripod and use the self-timer to take the same photos, taking your hands completely off the camera once you press the shutter release.
Do you get sharp photos when using a different camera?
2007-06-10 14:26:43 · answer #4 · answered by PBIPhotoArtist 5 · 3⤊ 0⤋
focus while zoomed in on the part of your composition you want to draw the eye of the viewer to then zoom back out to complete your composition
2007-06-10 14:17:18 · answer #5 · answered by vidiotonline 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sounds like a focus issue to me. Can you try manual focus. (Auto focus is never quite reliable IMO).
2007-06-10 14:12:45 · answer #6 · answered by glenbarrington 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋