The Keys to Sharper Images
Derek Smith • 23 January 2021
Like every other photographer in this lockdown pandemic world that we currently inhabit, we long to be travelling, and taking photographs. Deeply saddened by the high Coronavirus mortality rate, and infections, it’s sometimes hard to be motivated to take photos, especially in this lockdown situation, where photo opportunities are limited.
Nonetheless, I believe that it’s important to be out as much as possible, with our cameras, making the most of whatever opportunities arise. The snowdrops are out now, and sunrise, sunset photos make great subjects, you only have to see the weather watchers photos on the television weather forecasts.
So, how do we improve the photos that we do take? Composition skills are certainly one avenue to explore, but today I want to discuss the topic of sharpness in our images. The key elements to sharp images are focus, depth of field, and shutter speed.
Focus
The first point to remember is that cameras are very clever, but not mind readers, the auto focus on the camera needs to be guided to the correct focus point. For portraits, and animal photography use the smallest focus point and focus on the eyes, S-AF will be the best camera setting for posed photos, you may need to switch the focus mode to C-AF, or AI Servo for moving subjects, and possibly with a slightly larger focus point, or even a small group of focus points. For landscape photography the focus point is determined by the hyper focal point. However, the easier method is to focus a third of the way into the scene, because camera focus is sharp at the focus point, a third of the way in front, and two thirds of the way behind the focus thus ensuring a sharp foreground, and background. For macro photography the rule here is not to get too close to the subject, as the depth of field reduces as you get closer to a subject, so stay back, and crop into the image during post processing. When using manual focus, use whatever aids your camera has; focus peaking, or magnification to ensure the subject is in focus.
Depth of Field
Controlling the depth of field in an image is relatively easy if using the aperture priority mode on the camera. Portraits with a shallow depth of field and blurred background can be obtained by opening the aperture to f/2 to f/4 in natural light. For wildlife f/5.6 to f/6.3, landscape photography will require stopping the aperture down to f/7.1 to f/14. These aperture settings are dependent upon the available light, the lens, and camera used. Be aware that a lens opened wide open may not be sharp in the corners of the frame, and exhibit darker corners, called vignetting. Conversely, a lens stopped down f/16 to f/22 might give softer images owing to an effect known as diffraction, where not all the light rays are directed onto the sensor. Lenses will often be sharpest at a particular aperture setting usually around the range f/4 to f/8 this is known as the “sweet” spot of the lens.
Shutter Speed
A rough guide to the best shutter speed for handheld photography is to match the shutter speed to the focal length of the lens, with a 50mm lens 1/50, 300mm lens a faster speed of 1/300. Now, starting off the camera settings in Aperture Priority mode and fixing one of the exposure triangle parameters leaves the photographer with only the ISO adjustment to obtain the correct shutter speed, and exposure. Most modern cameras will happily shoot up to ISO 1600 without any noise issues. The type of scene that will need care with shutter speed will be: wildlife, sports, and children, moving water, and windy conditions causing moving flowers, grasses, and leaves.
Looking at this tree reflection image, taken a few days ago, I have set the aperture to f/7.1 (ideal for micro four thirds camera landscape photography) ISO200, shutter speed 1/100, with these settings the hyper focal length is 2.71m ensuring sharpness from front to back. The lens used was my walk around favourite the Olympus M.Zuiko 17mm f/1.8 (35mm full frame equivalent), on the Olympus PEN E-PL7.
For the nuthatch image it was a very different scenario, using the Olympus OM-D E-M5 lll, and the M.Zuiko 40-150mm f/2.8, with the x2 convertor. Setting the aperture to f/6.3, and ISO1000, the resultant shutter speed of 1/250 was sufficient to capture the bird at a full frame equivalent focal length of 600mm. The 5 axis image stabilisation of the Olympus camera really does pay dividends for handheld wildlife photography.
Stay safe, and enjoy your hobby.
Nonetheless, I believe that it’s important to be out as much as possible, with our cameras, making the most of whatever opportunities arise. The snowdrops are out now, and sunrise, sunset photos make great subjects, you only have to see the weather watchers photos on the television weather forecasts.
So, how do we improve the photos that we do take? Composition skills are certainly one avenue to explore, but today I want to discuss the topic of sharpness in our images. The key elements to sharp images are focus, depth of field, and shutter speed.
Focus
The first point to remember is that cameras are very clever, but not mind readers, the auto focus on the camera needs to be guided to the correct focus point. For portraits, and animal photography use the smallest focus point and focus on the eyes, S-AF will be the best camera setting for posed photos, you may need to switch the focus mode to C-AF, or AI Servo for moving subjects, and possibly with a slightly larger focus point, or even a small group of focus points. For landscape photography the focus point is determined by the hyper focal point. However, the easier method is to focus a third of the way into the scene, because camera focus is sharp at the focus point, a third of the way in front, and two thirds of the way behind the focus thus ensuring a sharp foreground, and background. For macro photography the rule here is not to get too close to the subject, as the depth of field reduces as you get closer to a subject, so stay back, and crop into the image during post processing. When using manual focus, use whatever aids your camera has; focus peaking, or magnification to ensure the subject is in focus.
Depth of Field
Controlling the depth of field in an image is relatively easy if using the aperture priority mode on the camera. Portraits with a shallow depth of field and blurred background can be obtained by opening the aperture to f/2 to f/4 in natural light. For wildlife f/5.6 to f/6.3, landscape photography will require stopping the aperture down to f/7.1 to f/14. These aperture settings are dependent upon the available light, the lens, and camera used. Be aware that a lens opened wide open may not be sharp in the corners of the frame, and exhibit darker corners, called vignetting. Conversely, a lens stopped down f/16 to f/22 might give softer images owing to an effect known as diffraction, where not all the light rays are directed onto the sensor. Lenses will often be sharpest at a particular aperture setting usually around the range f/4 to f/8 this is known as the “sweet” spot of the lens.
Shutter Speed
A rough guide to the best shutter speed for handheld photography is to match the shutter speed to the focal length of the lens, with a 50mm lens 1/50, 300mm lens a faster speed of 1/300. Now, starting off the camera settings in Aperture Priority mode and fixing one of the exposure triangle parameters leaves the photographer with only the ISO adjustment to obtain the correct shutter speed, and exposure. Most modern cameras will happily shoot up to ISO 1600 without any noise issues. The type of scene that will need care with shutter speed will be: wildlife, sports, and children, moving water, and windy conditions causing moving flowers, grasses, and leaves.
Many dedicated sports photographers will choose to shoot in Shutter Priority mode, or even Manual exposure mode, but for the vast majority of photographers Aperture Priority mode makes camera settings easier to understand.
Looking at this tree reflection image, taken a few days ago, I have set the aperture to f/7.1 (ideal for micro four thirds camera landscape photography) ISO200, shutter speed 1/100, with these settings the hyper focal length is 2.71m ensuring sharpness from front to back. The lens used was my walk around favourite the Olympus M.Zuiko 17mm f/1.8 (35mm full frame equivalent), on the Olympus PEN E-PL7.
For the nuthatch image it was a very different scenario, using the Olympus OM-D E-M5 lll, and the M.Zuiko 40-150mm f/2.8, with the x2 convertor. Setting the aperture to f/6.3, and ISO1000, the resultant shutter speed of 1/250 was sufficient to capture the bird at a full frame equivalent focal length of 600mm. The 5 axis image stabilisation of the Olympus camera really does pay dividends for handheld wildlife photography.
Stay safe, and enjoy your hobby.
Reflections
Photo By: Derek Smith
Nuthatch
Photo By: Derek Smith
Louth Photographic Society
The New Inn, at Saltfleet will be hosting our well attended Classic Car Nights, these now have a regular following among the classic car and vehicle owners in the area. The dates for the next Classic Car Nights, are the 8th August, and 12th September. In addition the New Inn will be holding a Bike Night on 22nd August.
Last weekend we spent a pleasant Saturday in the north Lincolnshire Wolds. Our first stop was to All Hallows Church, Clixby, the church is very hard to see from the road, as it is hidden away among trees on a double bend. The church dates from the 13th century, is grade 2 listed, and was declared redundant in 1973. The stone carved font is 15th Century, and was formerly in a Low Toynton Church. Driving on to Caistor we stopped at the Rock Foundation Nursery, and café for an excellent coffee, and cake, for lunch. Returning home we pulled off the Caistor - Brigg Road to visit the hamlet of Somerby. A monument has been erected on the side of a hill here in 1770 to celebrate the 29th anniversary of Edward, and Ann Weston, and in the tenth year of the reign of George III. The views from here are amazing, clear across Lincolnshire to Lincoln. It was a pleasant excursion with my young lady, and my camera.
About a year ago, my computer crashed, and I lost all my files and photos. After learning from Curry’s that retrieval from the defective hard drive was costly and uncertain, I chose to buy a new desktop computer and start afresh. I had backed some of the older photographs up, with some club talks, and a lot of holiday photos on memory sticks. I had also been lazy about deleting photographs on my camera SD cards that went back to July last year. I decided not to use any of the old photos I had for competitions, and instead using only new images, essentially starting again. Downloading what I had on my camera and re-editing some I had worked on previously (hopefully better) as I had purchased the latest Adobe Elements (25) editing software on my new desktop, after losing my previous copy of Adobe Elements (10), and taking more photographs when I had the chance. I now have over 40 PDI's in my competition file but still need a few more in the print file as I like to print what I consider my best photographs; competition judges may have other ideas of course. Reviewing my last year’s monthly competition scores to May of this year, with Prints Subject - 3rd, Open-2nd, and PDI's Subject-3rd, Open-2nd, not bad considering that I started from scratch. Lessons learned then; firstly back your files up and don't let your computer get too old and out of date, secondly, I think it has been a good thing to start again and use only the latest photographs for competitions.
As photographers we take many photos over our lifetime, personally I have over 30,000 photos, my photos of family, friends, and holidays are precious. A selection of my memorable photos of various subjects are pictured here and hold particularly fond memories for me. The first image is of Mam Tor at dawn, I and two other club members climbed Mam Tor in the dark by torchlight, to photograph the sun rise, unfortunately owing to the low cloud, and mist the sunrise disappointed, with just a lightening of the eastern sky, but we still managed to obtain some excellent images. My second image is of a London Docklands basin, this one processed as a monochrome image taken on a family outing, it looks stunning with the office towers, and the reflections in the water. Most of you know that I enjoy my portrait and model photography, this one staged at Doncaster Motorcycles, is gritty, and realistic. Obviously, she isn’t a motorcycle mechanic, but she entered into the spirit of the theme, and covered herself in dirt, and grease for the shoot. Lastly, a photo that I have longed to capture, you see photos like this in all the farming magazines. We were driving back from the Humber Bridge, through the lanes near Winterton, when I spotted the combine harvester in the field, we pulled up on a wide verge. I had to wait in the corner of the field until the tractor, and combine, were in just the right place so that I could capture the shot. Hopefully, you’ve enjoyed seeing these photos. If any members have any memorable photos that you can share, please email me.
Good Morning All I visited Chambers wood last Sunday in search of rare butterflies, I did manage to photograph a White Admiral and what I think is a Silver Washed Fritillary, it was a very bright day, and the butterflies were not settling for long. Last Tuesday four members attended the LPA Battle at Cleethorpes, Derek has done a blog on the evening to read on our website. Dave Turner has sent me a list of all the scoring over the three rounds which is attached, just be warned the scores on round three were quite low compared with other rounds. A big thank you to Dave Turner who has taken our prints to the away rounds and done all the administration for the Battles. It is our summer break now so the newsletters will not appear each week until September unless there is something to report. Feel free to send blogs to Derek if you have been somewhere you want to tell us about, or just a blog on anything photo related. Regards Graham
The 3rd round of the LPA Battles was held last night at Cleethorpes camera club was held last night. The judge for the evening was Erica Oram, from Sheffield, I enjoyed her style of judging, very considered, and with her speaking out her thought processes as she assessed each print. The standard of prints from Cleethorpes, Louth, and Pinchbeck, in this 3rd and final round, were extremely high and Erica had quite a job to select the prints retained for higher points, her “hold backs”. I took this photograph of the “hold backs” at the break, about three quarters of the way through the initial judging, it was very evident then that Cleethorpes Camera Club had chosen a very creative, and well photographed set of prints for the LPA Battle. At the end of the judging process, Cleethorpes had 10 “hold backs” in the running for awarding higher points, accordingly Cleethorpes took first place in this round with 274 points, against 238 points for Louth, and Pinchbeck trailing with 234 points. Cleethorpes took a deservedly first place in this round, many thanks to Cleethorpes for the hospitality, making us feel very welcome.
Good Morning All Last week at the club we held a local PDI competition, Wildflowers and Open, there were some very good entries and especially well done to Keith Rossington who was placed first in both categories. The results are on our website. Thank you to Dave Turner who judged the Open, the first time he had judged live, and he did an excellent job with plenty of helpful comments and some good advice as regards processing our images. That was the last meeting at Church House until September as we now begin our summer break. There is however an LPA Battle, third round at Cleethorpes camera club next Tuesday, It is at 7.30 in their clubroom which is between 49 and 51 Reynolds Street DN35 7TU. Parking is best by the tennis courts. Regards Graham
Last night we held our last competition before our summer break. The PDI (Projected Digital Image) competition had the categories of "Local Wildflowers", and "Open". As this was a members competition, Dave Turner judged the "Open" category, this was his first time judging a competition, he had previewed the images, and made notes, and he gave some excellent critique, which will help members when submitting images in future competitions. After the break, Graham Harrison judged the "Local Wildflowers", a couple of the submitted entries were excellent, but unfortunately did not meet the category criteria so lost some points, flowers always make a good subject for a competition, and Graham had quite a task in judging the images. It was a superb evening with some amazing images, Keith Rossington took first place in both categories, the images he submitted show how much time, and effort he takes with his photography, well done Keith.
Good Morning All Last Sunday I went to the Armed forces day at Cleethorpes, there were not so many people about as I think most wanted to see the Red Arrows on Saturday. There was an excellent display from a group of first world war re-enactors who were mounted and in the uniform of the Lancers as well as a limited air display the highlight been the Spitfire. Last week was also the run for life in Louth, Sam from Colorgrafix did the run in memory of Paul Malley and raising money for cancer research. Sam asked the club for sponsorship so we sent her a donation from us all. Last Friday 21 members and partners enjoyed a meal at the Royal Oak, Cawthorpe, it was good to be able to socialise with each other with a few drinks and a very good meal. I hope everyone had a great night. This week, Wednesday 9th July, we are holding a PDI (Projected Digital Image) competition, with the categories of "Local Flowers in Their Environment (25 miles limit)" and "Open". I am going to judge the Flowers with Dave Turner judging the Open. Regards Graham
Most people are aware of “writers block”, where a writer sits staring at a blank page, and can’t think of a story to write, well photographers suffer from a similar affliction, with a camera sitting on a shelf, and we can’t think of anything to photograph. I believe that change in one way or another can invigorate our photographic creativity, one of our members renowned for his seascapes, has begun taking photos of birdlife, creating some stunning images. My favourite photographic genre has been in fashion and portraiture for the past 6 years, but I’ve lost the “joy” in the genre, so now I want to take more landscape, and macro photography, varying my style. I have just changed my camera system, and now I’m excited to try out the new lenses and watching endless YouTube videos to learn about the new camera system, as well as getting out, and trying the new techniques, these are some of the images from my new camera system. Another method of invigorating your photography is to start a project, think of a subject, and build a portfolio of images, watching how your photography improves as you take each image over time. Joining a camera club is another way to invigorate our photography. Many of our members have stated that their photography has improved since joining, being inspired by the talks, workshops, and regular competitions. The competitions are important both from a learning perspective, but also from the challenges in the subject matter. Recently I was dashing around trying to photograph “Wildflowers in the Environment” for our next competition, a lot of the roadside verges had been mowed reducing the wildflowers locally. Next, I tried some churchyards, there was some “Ladies Bedstraw” flowers in Scrivelsby churchyard, but it didn’t make for a convincing photo, I found some wildflowers along a footpath that did work. I did find another convincing photo in a local church yard, but still I had only two out of three photographs, and the deadline for competition entry submission was fast approaching. Driving out of Horncastle I spotted an ideal wildflower candidate, so quickly turning the car around, parking on the verge, and laying flat on the ground I was able to take one of the best images of the three, and with a lens that I wouldn’t normally associate with this style of photography. In conclusion, dust off that camera, take some photographs, and rediscover the simple joy of photography.
