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Sharper Images

Secrets of Experienced Photographers

Seasoned photographers have quite a few tricks up their sleeve to get sharper images.

While there are some factors that are difficult to control such as wind when you’re out in the field shooting flowers, or low light when you’re shooting a moving subject without flash, others can be remedied.

Digital Photography Tips for Sharper Images

Orange Tulips

Sharper Images Tips # 1: Support your Camera

• If at all possible, try not to hand-hold your camera. Tripods have tremendous benefits in all kinds of light. If you’re doing landscape work in good light, a tripod allows you to use a slow shutter speed for great depth of field. In low light or at night, a tripod enables you to take a good quality picture without having to increase the ISO. This prevents digital noise that degrades the picture quality.

• A tripod is especially important for macro shots. Your pictures will not be as crisp without it. Using a tripod also means that you can increase your depth of field substantially.

• When using a tripod, make sure not to raise the centre column too high. Instead, ensure maximum stability by extending the legs fully.

• If you don't have a tripod, a monopod or beanbag will do. Alternatively you can place the camera on a low wall or any sturdy structure.

Sharper Images Tips # 2: Perfect your Stance

• If you absolutely have to hand-hold your camera, take care to hold it steady with two hands, right above your center of gravity, especially in the less stable upright position.

• A good camera holding technique is to hold it as if it is a rifle. Rest the camera in your left hand with your fingers on what used to be the focus ring, now the zoom ring, eyepiece against your dominant eye, right hand holds the right side of the camera with the index finger on the shutter release, and elbows in tight.

• A variation is to hold the camera with your right hand, index finger on shutter control. Reach across your chest with your left hand and grab the top and back of your right shoulder. Rest the lens in/on the crook of your left arm.

• When standing, keep your feet comfortably spread apart with one foor slightly forward of the other. For additional stability, consider a long strap looped around the lens and the other end tightened under your foot in the absence of a tripod.

• Alternatively, and if possible, brace yourself or the camera against solid support, such as a tree or wall.

• Before pressing the shutter release, take a gentle but deep breath, hold it, then take the shot and exhale. Another method is the exact opposite – exhale and take the shot before inhaling again. Your body rises and falls simply by breathing – being conscious of it can give you an edge when it comes to taking sharp images.

• Release the shutter smoothly.

Sharper Images Tips # 3: Invest in Lenses with Image Stabilization

• Use the absolute best lenses that you can afford. As Sean on the Picturesocial Network for Photographers rightly points out, don't get too caught up in the numbers though. Sean says, 'There are some lenses that are f/2.8 and not sharp, yet there are a couple of canon L series lenses that are f/4 and extremely sharp. There are also f/2.8 lenses that really do not start performing great until they hit f/4-f/6.' Do your homework before opening your wallet.

• Image stabilization technology has recently become more available to photographers. Also known as vibration reduction and anti-shake, this technology helps prevent digital photos from becoming blurred by reducing camera shake caused by hand movement, slow shutter speeds or when using a long telephoto lens without a tripod.

• Be aware that you can see the vibration caused by the mirror going up if you have a long lens on your camera and you're using a light tripod. It's therefore advisable to turn this feature off when using a tripod.

• If you don't have a tripod handy, turn on stabilization, brace the camera as best you can, then turn on the drive to shoot a number of photos at once. By remaining still and holding the shutter release firmly down, one, or some of the shots in the middle will be pretty sharp. (By the way, taking a burst of photos is also useful when shooting a group, it increases the chances that a shot will have everyone with their eyes open.)

Sharper Images Tips # 4: Use Mirror Lock-Up

• Using mirror-lock up is a trick for SLR users (point and shoot cameras don't have a mirror). Normal operation in an SLR camera involves flipping the mirror up out of the light-path just before the shutter opens. This causes vibration of the camera. Mirror lock-up involves flipping the mirror up well before the shutter opens, allowing the vibrations to die down. Note that when the mirror is in the up and locked position, the subject is no longer visible through the viewfinder. Therefore, the image must be composed before activating mirror lock-up.

Sharper Images Tips # 5: Use a Shutter Release Device

• If you want to eliminate even the smallest camera shake, consider investing in a shutter release cable. This is particularly useful when shooting with longer shutter speeds where even the smallest camera movement (like the depressing of a shutter with even the lightest touch) can have an impact. Shutter release cables are available for all major DSLRs and some point and shoots. The more recent wireless models use infrared technology.

• A good alternative is to set the self-timer on your camera. I like to set mine to two seconds.

Sharper Images Tips # 6: Switch to Manual Focus

• There are situations where manual focus will help you get clearer images. For example, when there is more than one plane of focus in your image (foreground, middle ground and background), the auto-focus mechanism can’t know which plane to focus on. The answer is to use manual focus.

• When light levels drop, it’s advisable to switch to manual focus. Auto-focus is dependent on color and contrast. In low light, there is sometimes not enough contrast in a scene for the auto-focus to work well.

Sharper Images Tips # 7: Be Aware of Environmental Factors

• When shooting outdoors, wind is the number one enemy of photographers, especially when doing macro work. The slightest breeze will lead to blurry photographs. Wait until there is a lull in the wind or try your luck with macro subjects before sunrise and after the sun goes down. These are the times of day that wind often dies down.

Sharper Images Tips # 8: Control the Shutter Speed

• An important factor in taking sharp pictures is shutter speed. Many seasoned photographers consider 1/125 a ‘safe’ speed to take sharp pictures. However, when you use longer focal length lenses or when the focusing distance is closer, 1/250 or 1/500 is probably a safer bet.

Sharper Images Tips # 9: Bump Up ISO

• As a last resort you can prevent blurry photos by bumping up the ISO in low light conditions. Just be aware that the higher the ISO, the poorer the image quality.

Sharper Images Tips # 10: Sharpen in Post-Processing

• I always recommend that you shoot in RAW for maximum control over the quality of your images. Although it's not possible to fix an out-of-focus image, you can apply a degree of sharpening to 'soft' images in post-processing. My personal favorite tool to use for this is the unsharp mask filter in Photoshop.

• Make a layer copy of your background layer by going to Layer > Duplicate Layer. while on the background layer, go to filter > sharpen > unsharp mask. In the dialog box, change the amount to 10, the radius to approximately 40 and the threshold to 0. This is a good setting for most images to give them more contrast and sharpen them without looking too sharp. Alternatively, you can try settings of 20 for amount, 50 for radius and 0 for threshold. This is a little more intense and you can play with the opacity slider for the layer and tone it down a bit. Both of these settings will give a little more pop and contrast to all kinds of photos.

While I was doing research for this article, Nathan McCreery, an experienced photographer on Picturesocial made and interesting observation. He said, 'one thing to keep in mind is that there is a difference between "sharpness" and "crispness". A photograph can be well focused and absolutely not crisp in the final image due to a too shallow depth of field and subject movement while the shutter is open.'

My gratitude also goes to the other seasoned photographers on Picturesocial who took the time to make suggestions for this article. Thank you, CameraClicker, Fred, Ed, Sean, and Matt Needham.