Why do my digital portrait pictures come out only fairly sharp?

Question

I have a Fuji digital camera with 7.2 MP. I paid about $150. I find myself constantly trying to sharpen them in Photoshop. What are other things to look for in a digital camera? I'm not interested in all the "bells and whistles", just sharp, clear, clean portraits. It even has something for shakiness.

Thank you!

Answer 1

Quality and sharpness is in direct relation ship to lens quality and resolution factor. Higher the resolution the better your picture quality.

Answer 2

I would assume that "fairly sharp" would means that either there are noise in your picture, or it was because the limitation of the optics quality. Pocket camera usually will produce high noise level during anything except broad daylight because of the small size of the sensor. You can't fix this except only to reduce it. Optical limitation are pretty common on cheaper lenses. But I doubt that this is the case since they are not very noticeable especially when the casual photographer saw them. The other possibility, like the other said, is dirty lens, or it could be because it's out of focus and there is camera shake when you take picture. To fix this, make sure you focus properly and don't shoot any picture when your shutter speed is below 1/50 second unless you have something to prop your camera with - like a tripod.

Answer 3

You might try using a tripod if you don't already do that. Even with the anti-shake, it is hard to hold a camera perfectly still sometimes.

If that doesn't do it, your camera may be at fault. Do you get sharp pictures of other things? Sometimes, you have to get a camera with the bells and whistles in order to get quality pictures.

Answer 4

Also shoot on the lowest possible ISO setting. Higer ISO settings are more noisy, and thus less crisp. Many portraits look better if they aren't tack sharp anyway, as long as the focus is right on and the eyes are sharp.

Answer 5

Most digital cameras produce pictures that are slightly 'soft' All advice I have read suggests that a small amount of unsharp mask will assist.

Answer 6

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