Making Photos Sharp
The most common complaint of amateur photographers is Making Photos Sharp. This brief tutorial will help you do so.
Keeping your subject in sharp focus is really important for achieving professional results. In this article, you’ll discover ten ways to get really sharp photos you can be proud to share.
- Still camera
For static subjects, like portraits or landscapes, you should keep your camera as still as possible while shooting. Unintentionally moving the camera while taking the photo introduces blur, also known as camera-shake. This makes everything blurry, not just the subject or background. Ideally, use a tripod for maximum stability and steadiness. Camera focus techniques
- Focus on Subject
It sounds obvious, but to get sharp photos you need to ensure your camera is focusing on your subject and nowhere else! The good news is that your camera can help you using one of its Auto Focus modes.
- Auto-focus
By default, your camera tries to focus automatically – but it is easily confused. If you’re shooting a portrait and your subject’s body isn’t roughly central in the frame, the camera might not realize this person is your subject. Instead, it will likely focus on the background.
Your camera has a number of Auto Focus points (AF points) which it uses to check for the presence of a subject. These are visible in the optical viewfinder or electronic viewfinder (EVF). You can choose any single AF point you like or a preset group of AF points. E.g. a group of AF points clustered around the center of the frame, or all AF points. Consult your camera user manual to find out how to choose AF points.
- Manual focus
Cameras aren’t foolproof, and some subjects can be particularly tricky for the camera to focus on. These subjects include low-focus subjects, or any subject in low light. So, to get sharp photos, sometimes it’s best not to rely on the camera’s AF modes, and to set the focus yourself. Typically, when your subject is stationary, focusing manually is a good option. Such scenarios include landscapes and macro photography. You can select MF mode using a switch on the barrel of the lens (switch it from AF to M). If it’s not available on your lens, it’ll be in your camera’s settings. Consult your camera’s user guide to find out how it’s done on your camera.
- Aperture and focus
Achieving good focus is only half of the battle when it comes to sharp photos. You also need enough of your subject, from front-to-back, to be in sharp focus. For example, getting perfect focus on the eyes of your portrait sitter is important, but an out-of-focus nose ruins the portrait.How much of a scene is in acceptable focus, from front-to-back is called Depth Of Field, or DoF.
A large DoF means that, as well as the focal point, more of the foreground and background will be in focus.
Depth of field can be controlled by setting the Aperture to a suitable value. A large aperture size produces a shallow depth of field where only the subject is in focus. A small aperture size creates a large depth of field, where some or all of the foreground and background is in focus, as well as the subject.
- Fast shutter speed
If you or your subject moves while the camera is capturing the scene, you won’t get sharp photos – just blurry shots. The longer or slower your shutter speed, the more time there is for you or your subject to move, so the blur and lack of sharpness will be even worse.
To reduce the chance of blur caused by camera or subject movement, choose the fastest shutter speed available to you. You can do this by shooting in Shutter Priority mode (TV or S mode) and selecting a fast shutter speed, or in the other semi-automatic modes (such as Aperture Priority mode or Program mode) check the shutter speed value – and make adjustments to the aperture value until the shutter speed value is high enough.
To reduce the effects of camera movement for hand-held shots, the rule of thumb is to choose a shutter speed which is at least “1 over the focal length,” e.g. for a focal length of 55mm, you need the next available shutter speed after 1/55s – which will be 1/60s. Ideally, you’ll want to go higher than this.
If your subject is moving, you’ll need to choose an even faster shutter speed.
- Intentional blur
If you are deliberately trying to capture some movement in the scene – such as star trails across a night sky, or vehicle light trails at night, or the water veiling effect with waterfalls, rivers or the sea – then you’ll need a much slower shutter speed. So long as your camera is mounted securely on a tripod, your intentional motion blur will be emphasized and intensified by the presence of sharply focused elements within the scene.
- ISO
The other theory is that using a low ISO value (at the expense of a fast shutter speed) gives sharper results. This is because non-detailed areas of the scene will be smoother and cleaner, emphasizing and intensifying the sharpness of the more detailed areas. When using a tripod, always use a low ISO value, since you don’t need to sacrifice image quality (due to excessive noise/grain) to get a usable shutter speed.
Feel free to experiment with both approaches – but you should prioritize a low ISO value over a high one if you’re able to get a shutter speed and aperture size which works – especially when using a tripod. That said, modern cameras are becoming increasingly good at producing fantastic results at high ISO values, with minimal noise or grain, so don’t be afraid to use higher ISO values when you need to.
- Clean lens
It seems like a trivial point, but a dirty lens will result in softer photos. Lens cleaning kits are cheap and available both online and in any camera store. Blow away any loose dust or dirt before attempting to wipe the lens. Always use a lint-free cloth on the lens as this reduces the chance of scratching the lens.
Conclusion: You’ve discovered that a faster shutter speed helps to keep moving subjects in sharp focus, or compensates for camera-shake. You now know that front-to-back sharpness is controlled by the aperture size. A smaller aperture means more of the foreground and background will be in focus. A larger aperture means less of the foreground and background will be in focus. You also know to use a tripod for best results when shooting stationary subjects. And that, even with a tripod, camera-shake can be eliminated using your camera’s timer or a remote shutter release.
