Quest for superclean photos

flipperzoom

Senior Member
Hi,

I have a D5200 with basic 18-55mm lens. No matter what i cannot get super clean-crystal clear photos and i guess the lens is the reason. I can make them look good by editing raw ones but the are never CRYSTAL CLEAR. I have used tripod + remote for zero vibration, i have changed many settings but the quality of the photos are no match to many i see online.

Which lens should i go after if i want that? I dont mind if it has zoom or fixed.

Thanks in advance
 

Eyelight

Senior Member
If by crystal clear you mean a sharp focus, the camera and lens should be able to deliver. Perhaps there is some adjustments or technique improvements or you could just be too critical. If you could post an example of a photo and be specific as to what is not clear enough for you, I'm certain several members can confirm your diagnosis and/or make suggestions
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
Are you shooting JPG? If so, I suggest you press the MENU button, click left and then up and down to select the camera icon (Shooting menu). Drop into the "Manage Picture Control" option and then click right. You'll see options to select the various "Picture Controls" here (Standard, Vivid, Landscape etc.)

I suggest you choose "Standard". Highlight that option and then click "right" again. From these menus you can adjust the settings for this particular Picture Control. I bump the "Saturation" setting to +1 and the "Sharpening" setting to +7. I also like using the "Landscape" Picture Control with "Sharpening" set to +7 but everything else I leave at default. Try those settings and see what you think. For whatever reason, the default setting on Nikon's Picture Control "Sharpening" setting is bizarrely set to something like -2. Adjusting the Sharpening setting as I've outline will have a dramatic affect on your shots.

If you're shooting RAW, you can pretty much ignore all of this.

Edit: See this article from Nikon: Picture Controls Step-by-Step
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flipperzoom

Senior Member
I would like to thank everyone for taking time to reply.

Its not that my pictures are not clear but some photos of others i see have that "wow-super-clean" effect and they are very nice.

I will try to find some of those that i consider as "super clean" and post them to see what im talking about.

in the meantime i will try playing with the pictures control as mentioned!

thanks again
 

flipperzoom

Senior Member
example: (even though this is not the kind of photos i had seen)

5.jpg


So smooth and sharp image
 

SteveH

Senior Member
Like @J-see says, that is post processing. You won't get an image like that out of the camera, or even out of one bit of software. Photoshop, with add-on tools maybe - Coupled with a lot of work and learning!
 

flipperzoom

Senior Member
i know , i wasnt talking about the colors. The picture i posted is not the right one to show what i want. I do shoot in raw and i know how to edit them pretty well! The thing is , especially in portrait photos i dont get the desirable sharpness.
 

aroy

Senior Member
There are many interpretations of what you call "Super Clean" photos. Here is mine

1. The images should be sharp. For that critical focus is important. At times AF will not do. You have to have the camera on tripod, use live view, zoom it all the way up, and manually focus till you get it sharp.

2. If you use wide aperture, parts of your images will be out of focus due to DOF. If you want every thing (at least in and around the main subject) in focus, use higher apertures. I have had sharp images between F8 and F11.

3. To negate the effects of camera, hand and widnd shakes, use either a very high speed - 1/500 sec or more, or else use the Flash as a strobe. A flash is 1/5000 of a second or less and freezes the motion. I use this for insect shots, but at times for children who are fidgety.

Here are some shots with the kit lense and a portrait with 35mm

ESC_2511.jpg

ESC_2358.jpg

ESC_2261.jpg
 

J-see

Senior Member
i know , i wasnt talking about the colors. The picture i posted is not the right one to show what i want. I do shoot in raw and i know how to edit them pretty well! The thing is , especially in portrait photos i dont get the desirable sharpness.

I guess that's the art and experience of processing. I don't always get the desired sharpness. Having a spiffy lens and cam will surely help but in the end, knowing how to improve what they deliver is what makes the difference.

I don't get the sharpness in LR alone and have to move to PS and fumble with the high-pass to get better results. Even when that's done, I'll start tweaking that again. It usually takes different manipulations to get something decent.

Just increasing the sharpness setting doesn't work. I tried that. ;)
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
i know , i wasnt talking about the colors. The picture i posted is not the right one to show what i want. I do shoot in raw and i know how to edit them pretty well! The thing is , especially in portrait photos i dont get the desirable sharpness.
Then we need to get down to brass tacks about what, exactly, you're doing and how you're doing it.

What software are you using to post process and how do you go about it? More specifically, how do you go about sharpening an image?

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AC016

Senior Member
Why don't you post some of your own photos for us to look at? You said you would post example of "what you mean", but then you post a photo that is an example of what you don't mean. Then you say, "... and i know how to edit them pretty well!". I'm a little confused. How is it that we can help you?? Posting your own photos would greatly help. Also, if you can maybe put a RAW file in a Dropbox, then perhaps someone may be able to help you get that "crystal clear" look that you are after. I don't know how long you have been doing this photography thing, but you may know that it takes many years to achieve "magazine quality" photos. Correct lighting, correct camera settings and extremely good knowledge of a photo editor. Sure, some lenses will be "sharper" then others, but all modern day lenses will give you a sharp photo. Lastly, don't pixel peep to much. If you are a habitual pixel peeper, you will be disappointed no matter what camera & lens you use. Again, post some of YOUR photos so that we can see. No one can offer you a silver bullet solution.


 

J-see

Senior Member
Thinking about it. There's a photo challenge each week. Why not something like a sharpness challenge? One photo usable by all.

It's not about winning or anything but about learning and understanding all the different approaches. I'd myself wouldn't mind learning why someone does what in that specific case.

In the end, sharpness is something we're all struggling with.
 

SteveH

Senior Member
Thinking about it. There's a photo challenge each week. Why not something like a sharpness challenge? One photo usable by all.

It's not about winning or anything but about learning and understanding all the different approaches. I'd myself wouldn't mind learning why someone does what in that specific case.

In the end, sharpness is something we're all struggling with.

That right there, is a great idea! I'd like that too!
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
Thinking about it. There's a photo challenge each week. Why not something like a sharpness challenge? One photo usable by all.

It's not about winning or anything but about learning and understanding all the different approaches. I'd myself wouldn't mind learning why someone does what in that specific case.

In the end, sharpness is something we're all struggling with.
If someone wanted to start a new thread in the Tutorials forum we could attack it as sort of an open-ended "Group Tutorial" sort of thing. I have Mod power over there so I could keep things orderly. Someone mentioned creating a DropBox account, which I think would be a good thing as wel; one "box" we could all access for the purposes of uploading RAW files to be worked on.

This is a concept that could really catch on.

....
 

Eyelight

Senior Member
Thinking about it. There's a photo challenge each week. Why not something like a sharpness challenge? One photo usable by all.

It's not about winning or anything but about learning and understanding all the different approaches. I'd myself wouldn't mind learning why someone does what in that specific case.

In the end, sharpness is something we're all struggling with.

That right there, is a great idea! I'd like that too!

If someone wanted to start a new thread in the Tutorials forum we could attack it as sort of an open-ended "Group Tutorial" sort of thing. I have Mod power over there so I could keep things orderly. Someone mentioned creating a DropBox account, which I think would be a good thing as wel; one "box" we could all access for the purposes of uploading RAW files to be worked on.

This is a concept that could really catch on.

....

I've posted something on this here:Re: Weekly Challenge Feedback and Suggestions
 
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