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Learn to take pin-sharp shots of everything from big landscapes to flying birds and motorsports with Jon Adams & Andrew James
As a photographer, if there’s one bar you have to hit, it’s the ability to capture a sharp shot – and that means an image with crisp, well-defined edges on the subject or area you want to be sharp. By ‘sharp’, we mean that there’s no trace of blur or double-image ghosting on the in-focus area. With today’s sophisticated and quick autofocus systems, this doesn’t sound like it should be too much of a challenge but if you have critically inspected your images, you may have noticed that a significant percentage are not pin-sharp in the places where they should be.
This lack of sharpness occurs for various technical reasons, all of which we will explore over the coming pages. But along with the reasons why that crispness is lacking, we’ll also explain how you can overcome these problems to ensure that your shots hit the mark and deliver super-sharp results.
With all this in mind, the first thing you need to do is identify the specific type of blur problem your shot has. If you know what this is then it’s relatively easy to find the appropriate fix for it, and then revisit your technique and/or camera setup to make sure it doesn’t happen again!
CONTENTS
Three reasons photos aren’t sharp 30
Curing camera shake forever 32
Camera support systems 33
Fixing your focusing fluffs! 34
Coping with subject movement 36
Sharpening in software 37
This image of the mountainous Dolomite Alps, Italy, has great clarity and sharpness thanks to perfect focusing
Exposure 1/4 sec, f/8, ISO100
Three reasons why your photos aren’t sharp
We need to acknowledge that compelling and engaging photos don’t have to be sharp! After all, if your aesthetic treatment of a shot requires fuzzy or indistinct areas then
