getting sharper images.rules

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Landscapejunkie

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Dan
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my critique seems to be mainly that my images are soft. can anyone give me advice or rules on what I should do to try and get sharper images.i am mainly shooting birds and wildlife at the minute.
 
Get the focus right
Keep a high shutter speed
Don't crop.

Other than that you need a lens that isn't inherently soft.
 
It could be a few things. Do you focus and then re-compose at large apertures? If so your shallow depth of field could be the problem because your focal point will be at a different distance to the subject.

What is your shutter speed? Ideally it needs to be greater than the focal length e.g. 1/125 sec at 100mm.

What lens do you have? Some lenses are sharper than others.
 
I think it might be the shallow depth of field. my lens is not the best its a sigma 70-300. I dont have a massive budget.
 
If you shoot raw you need to sharpen your pics in post processing.

Any samples?

TTFN!!
 
Sigma 70-300 is a good lens and at 300mm you should get pretty sharp results, at least in the main part of the frame.
You will need plenty of light though, its probably best closed down a bit, maybe ƒ8-ƒ11
Allan
 
use tripod , if using a long zoom use cable release and if possible mirror lock up or mirror delay.
 
To get sharp photos with your lens you need to keep your shutter speed up and use an aperture between f5.6 and f8 to get a good depth of field. That means you have to shoot in good light or increase your ISO to get the shutter speed up. You need to be shooting at around 1/400 - 1/500 at least to get sharp pictures of skittish wildlife (squirrels and birds) and up to 1/1000 to get BIF. It's going to be a trade off between a usable ISO and shutter speed, but keep practicing specially in good light.
 
had a quick look at some of your zoo pics but youve stripped out the EXIF so cant see what settings you had. can we have some examples with exif so we can give the right advice?
 
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