A noob question about taking sharp pictures

H

Hans Kondor

Senior Member
Hello,

I am still studying my first SDLR camera. I bought now a 18-105vr to my D7000 for a walk around lens. I have encountered the following problem.
I tried to photograph my cacti. And many times it occured that I cannot make sharp pictures from the cactus. Here is an example what I am thinking of. The firts picture made with my mobile phone. As you can see every ribs and spikes are sharp. On the next picture made with the camera using Scene-Close up settings you can see some of the ribs are obscure. What should I change? I tried to use the A function with different F-stops, but I am not sure that that is the problem. Any ideas?

Thank you in advance!
​ 20130506_172130 másolata.jpgDSC_1029.JPG
 
D

Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
You have probably two different problems going on. Depth of field, a smaller aperture (Larger number) will help. Also it looks like it is not in focus to begin with. You may be to close. Back up some or buy a macro lens.
 
Fred Kingston

Fred Kingston

Senior Member
Looking at your EXIF data... I'd say your speed was too slow for hand held... You should increase the speed (or use a tripod)...

Never mind... I see the flash fired... Maybe Don has the right idea... that lenses minimum focus distance is 1.48'...
 
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S

stmv

Senior Member
Point and shoots benefit by having (due to their small image sensor size, large DOF), since they are really intended for the quick shot.

SLRs are requiring knowledge of speed and focal length. You should not need a tripod in the conditions you were shooting in.

Keep the speed up over 250th a second, hold the camera steady, and controlled push on the shutter.

Also, hold a camera a split second on the subject, people have the habit of pulling away the camera from the subject too quickly, and inducing blur.
 
Horoscope Fish

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
Looks like a depth of field issue to me as well. See how "in focus" your background is in the mobile pic, and how blurry it is in the D7000 pic? Even bigger indicator: Note how not even the lip of the pot is not in sharp focus on your D7000 shot. That alone tells me your depth of field is quite shallow. To correct this issue you'll need to use a smaller aperture while keeping your shutter speed up around 1/250 or so (you can shoot slower if you're able to use a tripod of course). I also wouldn't let my ISO go above 200.
 
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H

Hans Kondor

Senior Member
Hello guys,

thank you very much for the quick replies. I made some further shots. Used manual setting this time. Higher ISO, shutter speed, flash etc. Please check it if you have some time.

I think on some pictures I managed to improve it a bit but the closest parts of the cactus are still more obscured.
​
DSC_1037.JPGDSC_1042.JPGDSC_1060.JPG
 
Horoscope Fish

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
A few suggestions:

1) ISO 400 isn't going to get you the best possible sharpness. As I said before, not above ISO 200 and ISO 100 would be better still.

2) At least one of your shots uses f/8.0, which is fine, but if you want a deeper depth of field for "macro" shots like this, you're going to have to stop down... Mmmm, probably two more stops.

3) Dump the flash. That's not going help here in my opinion.
 
D

Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
You shot one of these at f8. Which at this distance is still going to be a very narrow Depth of Field. The one shot a f18 is a little better. With a zoom you might not be able to get the entire cacti in focus. Do a little research on Depth of Field with that lens.

Assuming that you are 1.5 feet away from the subject. At 58mm where you were on these photos. and at f18 which was your smallest aperture your DOF would be.

dof.JPG
So that is around an inch that can be in focus.

GO to this page and play with distance using the same aperture and focal length and see what the difference is. The further away you are from the subject the greater the depth of field will be.

Online Depth of Field Calculator

Get a distance/aperture/focal length combination that will get a DOF great enough to get it all in focus and then reshoot. Then crop the photo to get jsut what you want in the shot.
 
H

Hans Kondor

Senior Member
Horoscope Fish said:
A few suggestions:

1) ISO 400 isn't going to get you the best possible sharpness. As I said before, not above ISO 200 and ISO 100 would be better still.

2) At least one of your shots uses f/8.0, which is fine, but if you want a deeper depth of field for "macro" shots like this, you're going to have to stop down... Mmmm, probably two more stops.

3) Dump the flash. That's not going help here in my opinion.
Click to expand...

Ouch, I read it wrong and set a higher ISO instead of low. Last try for today, bit better but still not good. :(
So, is it not a problem that I am trying to aim/focus on the most obscured part and still that one is not sharp only the rest. Does it not mean back focus issue with the camera or something right?

DSC_1071.JPG
 
F

fotojack

Senior Member
I see nothing wrong with this picture, other than the White Balance was on Auto. If this was shot outdoors in broad daylight, set the WB to Sun setting.
Remember...the brighter the light available, the lower the ISO. The less light available (darker), the higher the ISO.
 
D

Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
Horoscope Fish said:
Yeah it is... Thanks for posting that, Don!

Total bookmark.
Click to expand...

There is a iPhone app that does this also. It has given me some great info when in the field that has helped me.

I really miss the olden days when the DOF was marked on the lens. You never missed it then. When it was really great was shooting sports you could set the Hyper Focal distance and shoot all day without focusing.
 
M

Moab Man

Senior Member
I'm wondering what the quality level is set at on the camera since you're starting out. Normal? Fine? Reason I ask is someone else I knew was not happy with the sharpness of their camera and for whatever reason Nikon's (at least the D5100) at factory default is not set at its best settings.

Kind of like buying a high performance car only to find out from the factory only half the spark plugs were put in.

Once I changed the settings to "fine + RAW" for image quality the image improved drastically.

I would also add were these shots done on a tripod. Reason being is once your focus happens your own slight wavering could be changing things by the time you snap the picture.
 
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Horoscope Fish

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
Moab Man said:
I'm wondering what the quality level is set at on the camera since you're starting out. Normal? Fine? Reason I ask is someone else I knew was not happy with the sharpness of their camera and for whatever reason Nikon's (at least the D5100) at factory default is not set at its best settings.
Click to expand...
Totally forgot about this. If shooting .jpg adjusting the "Sharpness" to +6 or +7 in the Shooting Menu will help a lot.

Not sure about the '7000 menus but on my 5100 I go to: Menu/Shooting Menu/Set Picture Control
I select the mode (I use "Standard"), click "left" and then under "Sharpening" bump the setting to +7.
 
H

Hans Kondor

Senior Member
Thank you guys. I use fine jpeg. I tried the ViewNX2 sofware a bit, there I set the sharpness and some other setting, it helped a bit.
​DSC_106d6.jpgDSC_10711.jpg
 
E

eurotrash

Senior Member
That last photo looks wicked sharp, possibly too sharp. That's probably due to the flash. It really separated the cactus (cati??) from the background in a weird way to my eyes.

Remember, when shooting JPG, your camera will adjust things like saturation, sharpness etc all within the camera. When you post process a JPG that's already been dealt with in camera, you're going to add to what's already been done. (to an already lossy file to begin with)
I think that flash is making things crazy. Try using a longer exposure with a tripod if you can't get the shutter speed to a decent level to handhold it. I'd also focus on the darker parts of the cactus and spot meter to see if that would bring out some more of the shadowy details too. It's all in experimenting. Since we can't see the actual light it's being taken in it's a little harder :)
 
C

chico

Senior Member
Tracsoft - Don Kuykendall said:
You shot one of these at f8. Which at this distance is still going to be a very narrow Depth of Field. The one shot a f18 is a little better. With a zoom you might not be able to get the entire cacti in focus. Do a little research on Depth of Field with that lens.

Assuming that you are 1.5 feet away from the subject. At 58mm where you were on these photos. and at f18 which was your smallest aperture your DOF would be.

View attachment 35722
So that is around an inch that can be in focus.

GO to this page and play with distance using the same aperture and focal length and see what the difference is. The further away you are from the subject the greater the depth of field will be.

Online Depth of Field Calculator

Get a distance/aperture/focal length combination that will get a DOF great enough to get it all in focus and then reshoot. Then crop the photo to get jsut what you want in the shot.
Click to expand...

love the depth of field calculator.thanks for the link.in my favorites now.
 
M

MrF

Senior Member
Tracsoft - Don Kuykendall said:
There is a iPhone app that does this also. It has given me some great info when in the field that has helped me.

I really miss the olden days when the DOF was marked on the lens. You never missed it then. When it was really great was shooting sports you could set the Hyper Focal distance and shoot all day without focusing.
Click to expand...

For you Android users, there are plenty in the Google Play store as well. This is the one I use on my phone and tablet: https://play.google.com/store/apps/...jdW5uaW5nZG9nc29mdHdhcmUuZG9mY2FsY3VsYXRvciJd.
 
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