Taking Sharp Photos

Left Image: Canon EOS D60, Tamron 70-210mm f-2.8 lens, 1/250 sec at f-2.8, Bogen tripod and ball head. Spot meter.

Some people are under the impression that it's the camera that takes sharp pictures, and if you want to take good photographs, you need to purchase one of the latest top models. I have seen photographers blaming their cameras or the manufacturers for their unsharp photos, and trading their cameras for a better model to improve their pictures. The truth is, that cameras regardless of their brand or model, have nothing to do with taking a sharp photograph. As a matter of fact, cameras don't have much to do with any good photograph. They are simply a box that hold the film flat and have a shutter to control exposure time. Everything else built into them is just luxury. What creates a sharp image is the photographer using the camera with good photographic technique, a sharp lens, sharp film, and a sturdy tripod. Ansel Adams took some of the best pictures in the history of photography with cameras and equipment that are light years behind what we are using today.


To take razor sharp images you must use a tripod. Buying an expensive camera or a lens will not guarantee a sharp picture. This is especially true with longer lenses. I have seen a lot of people with high end cameras and lenses taking pictures without a tripod. They are not getting the results they should without a tripod. Take two photographs of the same subject, one with a tripod and the other without. Use an 8X loupe and view both images and you will see that the one taken with a tripod is much sharper. Enlarge both pictures and the handheld shot will begin to soften more with larger enlargements. Buy a good sturdy tripod and use it at all times, except in places that is impossible to set up a tripod in which case a monopod or a shoulder pod should be used. When photographing from your car, use a window mount or a bean bag (I use rice in mine) to support the camera. I only hand hold my equipment when it is absolutely impossible to use a tripod or any other form of support.

Your lens has a big effect in the sharpness of your photograph. Buy the best lens you can afford. If you have to decide between a more expensive camera or lens, buy the better lens. Lenses project the image, and a sharp image is only projected by a sharp lens. I also strongly recommend not using a UV or Skylight filter over your lenses. Many people use a filter to protect their lenses. All lenses give best results without a filter attached. Whenever you attach a filter to your lens, you degrade image quality to some degree. The lower the quality of a filter, the more you will loose overall sharpness. Buying an expensive lens and placing a cheap filter over it, turns your high quality lens into a low quality one. Use a lens hood to protect your lens against damages. If you have to use a filter, at least buy the more expensive type. Don't place a $10 filter over a $500 lens and expect to get a good results. It just won't happen.


Right Image: Canon EOS D30, Tamron 70-210mm lens, 1/15 sec at f-16. Original color image was converted to black and white in Photoshop.


The f-stop you set on your lens also has an effect on the sharpness of your pictures. All lenses are at their sharpest when closed down two to three stops from their widest apertures. Try to avoid the widest and the slowest f-stops if possible. With wide open apertures you will loose sharpness especially in the corners. Using very small apertures will produce a soft image due to diffraction.
Use a slow fine grain film for better results unless you need the extra speed. For slide films ISO 50 films and 100 are the best. Print film users can get good results with ISO 100 or 200 films. Generally speaking, slower films produce sharper and finer enlargements. Avoid unknown brand films. Experiment with different types of film and pick the one you like best. I use ISO 50 slide film for most of my photography. ISO 100 is my fast action film. I'm experimenting with the newer ISO 200 films as they are getting very close to ISO 100s in terms of both sharpness and finer grain.


When taking pictures, pay close attention to your shutter speed. Slower shutter speeds can cause blurred images even with your camera set on a tripod. Your camera's mirror can cause vibration at slower shutter speeds and with longer focal length lenses. A mirror lock up can be used to lock the mirror up prior to exposure. If your camera doesn't have a mirror lock up, avoid speeds between 1/8 to 1/15 sec. and use a longer or shorter shutter speed. Use a cable release to trip the shutter. This will reduce camera vibration during exposure.

When judging sharpness in your pictures, use a quality 8X loupe or reverse a 50mm lens to view images. You can't tell much by projecting your slides. Follow the above steps and I'll guarantee, you will see great improvements in your photography.  
 

 

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