The secrets of REALLY sharp photos??

TimB

TimB

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Hi all,

I wouldn't say this is causing me a problem as such, but I am curious more than anything :)

Quite often, I see photos on the internet that I really like, and what catches my eye is that they are absolutely razor sharp. Literally unbelievably sharp, and in my eyes, this quite a desirable 'look'.

I just can't seem to replicate this level of sharpness in my photos for whatever reason!

Take the photo below as an example, (excuse the fact that it's apparently HDR) it looks terrific.

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g286/timblacker/SharpHDR.jpg

So, what are your tips for absolute sharpness?

Is it down to a number of things at the stage of taking the photo or is it a post processing type affair?

Thanks :)
 
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The small presentation size helps a great deal. I'd take a guess that it's strongly sharpened during processing and they've bumped the clarity slider up.

As for in camera things I'd say:
-High quality optics,
-Fast shutter speed,
-Everything inside the depth of field,
-Good exposure,
-Good lighting,
-Stable shooting platform.

The smaller you resize the image the more you'll get away with any problems with the above.
 
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If that image wasn't taken by you then it belongs to someone else and they hold copyright over it..
Best to remove it and link to it instead before someone comes knocking on the forum door demanding it's removal. ;)
 
Wozzaaah said:
If that image wasn't taken by you then it belongs to someone else and they hold copyright over it..
Best to remove it and link to it instead before someone comes knocking on the forum door demanding it's removal. ;)
Click to expand...

Or they might thank me for the free advert of their fine work...

That image and others by the same person were being splashed about a couple of motoring forums.
 
Add to that - great lighting

Great lighting gives an object 3 dimensionality, and when done well - you can actually see the edges of the object really clearly, you can also adjust the contrast totally of a shot with lighting

Also consider calibrating your lenses to your camera

On top of that KNOW YOUR LENSES - I know all of mine, I know what stops are sharpest in what conditions - I literally test a new lens until Im happy I know its limits and what happens beyond the limits

Additionally - it depends what you shoot and your approach to shooting it. By throwing a background out of focus, you can give the illusion of sharpness to an object that really inst that sharp

Also consider if your lens optics mismatch your sensor. My D7000 with a really tight pixel density is totally unforgiving of an un sharp poor quality lens. Ironically my D3s is much more forgiving, mainly due to the lower pixel density
 
Interesting stuff.

Thanks so far!

I shoot with a D90 and I have 3 lenses:
Tokina 11-16 F2.8
Nikon 18-200 VR
Nikon 50 F1.8

So far the 50mm seems to churn out fairly sharp shots, and the 18-200 isn't far behind, but the Tokina is the one I'm struggling with a little. I just bought it new a few weeks ago.

One of the reasons I bought it was all the reviews about it being an incredibly sharp wide angle.. So I can only conclude it is operator error on my part!
 
Looks like its had a touch of high pass filter sharpening in post production.
 
TimB said:
...out fairly sharp shots, and the 18-200 isn't far behind, but the Tokina is the one I'm struggling with a little. I just bought it new a few weeks ago.

One of the reasons I bought it was all the reviews about it being an incredibly sharp wide angle.. So I can only conclude it is operator error on my part!
Click to expand...
Interestingly I feel very much the same way about my 11-16mm, I have never quite got the hang of nailing tack-sharp images despite having it tripod mounted in perfect lighting conditions and super-fast shutter speeds at f/5.6.
 
Byker28i said:
Looks like its had a touch of high pass filter sharpening in post production.
Click to expand...


I agree, it looks very high pass filter sharpened.

..pretty easy to get all of that image sharp with any wide lens (ish) ... doesn't really matter how long your shutter speed is if the camera doesn't move. plenty of DoF range dialled in and away you go...everything else is PP and sharpeing filters Id guess.
 
I dunno about one particlar form of sharpening but that image has had a massive amount of photoshop done to it.

Who knows quite what!

Try to show us something a little less mangled and we might be able to identify the process...
 
TBH I think the amount it has been PP'd has spoiled a pretty good shot. I try and get a natural looking photo, sort of what you see is what you get. I don't feel the need to change my pics into something they're not.
 
Richard King said:
Great lighting gives an object 3 dimensionality, and when done well - you can actually see the edges of the object really clearly, you can also adjust the contrast totally of a shot with lighting
Click to expand...

Interesting point, I don't think I ever paid enough attention to these 'side-effects' of lighting rather than just where the light and dark is. You've given me food for thought!

Richard King said:
Also consider calibrating your lenses to your camera
Click to expand...
Can you give any more info on this? Does it involve sending your kit off to a specialist? Or is it a function on high end cameras? (not mine then :lol:)
 
I quite often here the advice to use mirro lock-up as well to esnure sharp photos, even when using a tripod. I have never done so myself but intend to next time I'm taking some landscape shots.
 
It's a popular look and whilst it is sharp, I'd put it more down to lighting and HDR/PP techniques than "sharpness" as such.

Someone experienced at PP may be able to tell what's been done to it although it does look to have been processed quite a lot so it may be difficult to tell exactly.
 
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Apart from good exposure technique, including tripod use where necessary, another key is to learn the hyperfocal distance for the lens you are using. Correct use of this gives you the sharpest possible image, in conjuction with the best aperture, obviously.
 
TopBanana said:
Interesting point, I don't think I ever paid enough attention to these 'side-effects' of lighting rather than just where the light and dark is. You've given me food for thought!


Can you give any more info on this? Does it involve sending your kit off to a specialist? Or is it a function on high end cameras? (not mine then :lol:)
Click to expand...

Its an option on some cameras - essentially, you can fine tune the camera to a specific lens
http://www.slagermanphoto.com/2009/01/08/nikon-autofocus-fine-tuning/

You can do the same on a D7000, and I believe many of the Canons
 
Some amazing advice here but I'd just like to mention that it does come down to the equipment you use ~ working with a full frame sensor, better glass in your lens & many other factors all increase the quality of your photographs.
 
Lighting, up the clarity slider & get HDR software. Done :)
 
Anyone else seem tho think the image in question is a composite? I know hdr is a composite (and i absolutely detest hdr) but the car looks dropped in.
If! The car was present during the shoot, would it not have the same tonal range as the rest of the image?
Its the highlights on the bumper that don't convince me, too pure and white, i know that it could have been present and could have been lit with whatever. But Im not convinced.
Can't believe no one considered this?! And if its sharpness you want and your not convinced the car has been dropped into this image, zoom into the far roof line, very very poor brush skills lmfao
Btw, i would say that most of the "bread and butter" car promotion images will be some sort of composite dreamed up by an advertising exec and boshed together by an art team.
Not sayin this is one of those images, this is *****
 
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Right, some great advice in this thread!

Based on advice I went out last night at dusk and took a landscape shot of a harbour/town and it came out really well :)

It was noticeably sharper than what I have managed before, no question.

I used my D90 and the previously suspect Tokina 11-16 F2.8

Changes I made:

Better, more sturdy tripod (Manfrotto) and kept the legs shorter and didn't extend the neck/shaft part for further stability.

Tried different apertures until I found F8 as being the sharpest point for the Tokina.

Activated the mirror lock feature (called Exposure Delay on the D90).

Removed the camera strap so it couldn't blow about and jerk the camera in the breeze (a minor point I know).

Used my remote to fire the shutter to avoid touching the camera.

I think all these things added together really helped, especially finding that sharp F number for the lens. Even on the longer exposures the images were satisfyingly crisp :)

I will post up the shot later when I'm home as I'm just on my phone now.

Thanks again!
 
TimB said:
Hi all,

I wouldn't say this is causing me a problem as such, but I am curious more than anything :)

Quite often, I see photos on the internet that I really like, and what catches my eye is that they are absolutely razor sharp. Literally unbelievably sharp, and in my eyes, this quite a desirable 'look'.

I just can't seem to replicate this level of sharpness in my photos for whatever reason!

Take the photo below as an example, (excuse the fact that it's apparently HDR) it looks terrific.

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g286/timblacker/SharpHDR.jpg

So, what are your tips for absolute sharpness?

Is it down to a number of things at the stage of taking the photo or is it a post processing type affair?

Thanks :)
Click to expand...

that's processed.

I don't know if it still does, but when I tried flickr about 2 years ago, they added that look to the photos, by sharpening them on upload.

You obviously need good optics and a steady shot to start with but that kind of "pin prick" sharpness is done by processing in graphics software.
 
sharpness is down to local area contrast - the HDR processing and the PP done to the image will give it that look. It won't come out of the camera like that (thankfully lol)
 
TimB said:
Tried different apertures until I found F8 as being the sharpest point for the Tokina.
Click to expand...

There is a good reason for this
- 1 as you make the lens aperture smaller(i.e. towards the F32 end of lens), diffraction rears its ugly head
- 2. as you open a lens up (towards the f1.4 end of a lens) your DOF diminishes AND you are using much more of the periphery of the lens. Most lens systems are excellent on axis; whilst off axis, all sorts of abberations and issues creep in i.e.on a wide open lens a lot more of these issues begin to effect an image

I'm glad the ideas worked for you
 
Another issue is technique - how do you focus and recompose? Some people actually move slightly doing this, and for a narrow DOF, this is a killer
 
Simon photo said:
So no no one thinks the image mentioned is a composite? Or is it just me?
Click to expand...

It looks like they've made a sharp edge around the car but then made the roof soft which suggests it is a composite, it'd be consistent if it was one shot.
I think it probably is but the shots still needed to be sharp before they were composited.
 
Simon photo said:
So no no one thinks the image mentioned is a composite? Or is it just me?
Click to expand...

Composite or not, it doesn't really matter. There's more than one way to skin a cat.

I'd say it was a single shot, given an HDR process, with the HDR effect then partially removed from the car.
 
What i was getting at was, i didn't think the image was good fodder for a wow that's sharp thread, its been through the mill for sure but if the thread starter used a more honest image for an example i think the topic would have turned a different corner.
 
TimB said:
Right, some great advice in this thread!

Based on advice I went out last night at dusk and took a landscape shot of a harbour/town and it came out really well :)

It was noticeably sharper than what I have managed before, no question.

I used my D90 and the previously suspect Tokina 11-16 F2.8

Changes I made:

Better, more sturdy tripod (Manfrotto) and kept the legs shorter and didn't extend the neck/shaft part for further stability.

Tried different apertures until I found F8 as being the sharpest point for the Tokina.

Activated the mirror lock feature (called Exposure Delay on the D90).

Removed the camera strap so it couldn't blow about and jerk the camera in the breeze (a minor point I know).

Used my remote to fire the shutter to avoid touching the camera.

I think all these things added together really helped, especially finding that sharp F number for the lens. Even on the longer exposures the images were satisfyingly crisp :)

I will post up the shot later when I'm home as I'm just on my phone now.

Thanks again!
Click to expand...

Strap blowing. That's a good tip I hadn't thought of.
 
Byker28i said:
Strap blowing. That's a good tip I hadn't thought of.
Click to expand...

I do that too. I do a lot of long'ish exposures outdoors and have quick release clips on my strap. I think trying to eliminate any possible source of movement, vibration can only go to helping the sharpness of your image.

Shielding the camera and tripod from wind is another one, but I guess that is more hit and miss, who is to say that what/how you are shielding the camera isn't causing more volatile eddy currents.

I have time booked in a wind tunnel next week to determine the optimum shielding under a variety of conditions ;)
 
Individual Lens calibration to your particular camera seems to make a difference for me. With and my 24-70L series, I needed to make minor adjustments to the AF system tuning. My 50mm 1.4 was almost perfect, out of the box, while the 24-70 was backfocussing by a substantial margin. Interesting article over here: regarding techniques for various set ups:
http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/article_pages/cameras/1ds3_af_micoadjustment.html
 
As my post a few above said, I would post the photo I was happy with having used the advice on this thread:

wh123jpg-1.jpg


Link to large:

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g286/timblacker/wh123jpg-1.jpg

It isn't amazing by the standards on this forum but I think it's one of my crispest looking landscapes to date :)
 
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TimB said:
As my post a few above said, I would post the photo I was happy with having used the advice on this thread:

Link to large:

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g286/timblacker/wh123jpg-1.jpg

It isn't amazing by the standards on this forum but I think it's one of my crispest looking landscapes to date :)
Click to expand...

Nothing wrong with that, you have got mist In the far distance, so that's made things a bit soft, but yeah all in focus, nothing to complain about. But it does seem to be shot at a High aperture, near the max? Its common for people to go to f22 or higher thinking the higher the f stop the sharper the image, some lenses actually perform better at a lower stop, depending on what lens. As you get less diffraction.
 
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Simon photo said:
Nothing wrong with that, you have got mist In the far distance, so that's made things a bit soft, but yeah all in focus, nothing to complain about. But it does seem to be shot at a High aperture, near the max? Its common for people to go to f22 or higher thinking the higher the f stop the sharper the image, some lenses actually perform better at a lower stop, depending on what lens. As you get less diffraction.
Click to expand...

Thanks :)

It was shot at F8 as I did a bit of experimenting to determine the sharper aperture area of the lens.
 
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