Seeking help to get sharper pictures

[jules357]

Hi - I take a lot of pictures of birds and am always disappointed at the lack of sharpness in my pictures. I've read a few of the threads about sharpening pictures using Photoshop but am sure there must be techniques or something I'm missing to get better quality pictures to start with. I've uploaded a photo I took this weekend where I was lucky enough to see my first ever Bearded Tit, conditions were excellent - sunny, quite calm and at a distance of about 15 feet away, it even hung around for about 3 minutes! Equipment used is Nikon D80 with Sigma 120-400 lens and a monopod. Settings were F5.6 and 1/1000, ISOAuto selected a setting of 900 (could this be the problem?). I've cropped the picture. I'm a novice at photography so all advice will be much appreciated (I know the composition isn't great but am trying to crack the sharpness issue first ).

Message - Wild About Britain Pics

[Richard G.]

Well first of all jules, I think it's a good effort, so don't be too disappointed

Having said that, you seem to be at full zoom and with a wide open aperture (400mm @ f5.6). Most zoom lenses tend not to be at their best at the extremes of their zoom, but can usually be improved by closing the aperture by a stop or two. This does mean you'll lose a little more light and will therefore have to suffer either a slightly slower shutter speed (which is what I'd suggest) or a higher ISO (as a former D80 user, I wouldn't go above ISO 800 under pretty much any circumstances).

I'm not familiar with the Sigma you own, but I'm sure you could pretty quickly test the sharpness at several apertures to find out where the sweet spot is, otherwise just try f/6.3, f/7.1 and f/8 and see if it sharpens up much, it should.

Also, the Sigma 120-400mm is an Optical Stabiliser lens, which is good if you're handholding and the shutter speed is below 1/500s. If you are using any kind of support (beanbag, monopod, tripod) and the shutter speed is 1/500s or above, general consensus is that OS will have an adverse effect on sharpness and should be turned off.

Hope it helps.

[ChrisJB]

I'm new to taking pictures (I wouldn't dream of calling myself a photographer ) of birds as well and have been experiencing similar problems to Jules. Your post makes very interesting reading Richard and has given me some techniques to try out. Many thanks.

Regards, Chris

[loripo]

I know this is going to sound daft, but when I wanted to start photographing butterflies I cut a life sized picture out of a magazine and practised on that to give me an idea how best to approach it. Using the advice given by Richard you could test out all the options using a toy perhaps, at different distances etc if you have a garden.

[jules357]

Hi Richard & Loripo - a big thanks for your advice - I'll be trying it all out tomorrow morning - will let you know how I get on - thanks again for your time

[david156]

Hi

I've only being taking pictures about 2-3 months now and have had the same problem. I always forgot to check the aperture for depth of field or try to get the speed up or some other little error that made my pictures not be as good as i wanted. But at the weekend i managed to get a good view of a heron in calm conditions and i think i got most of the camera settings right. I even remembered the reflection of the heron and I got a picture that i'm pleased with.

I think its a case of practice makes perfect and i won't worry about the hundreds of photos i've deleted.
good luck and keep experimenting. I know i am!!!

[Richard G.]

Originally Posted by david156

I think its a case of practice makes perfect...

Oh yes, lot to be said for practicing on static subjects or even common garden birds to hone your technique, so when the exotic turns up you can be shooting quickly without thinking about settings.

I should also have mentioned that, with long zoom lenses, the depth of field (that part of the picture which is in focus) can be quite small and if you want the whole bird/animal in focus and sharp, it's usually also necessary close the aperture a little. It's always a bit of a trade-off though between this and having a nice out of focus background to make the subject stand out.

Nice Heron by the way David.

[loripo]

Perfect heron by the way, David I do like reflections...

[Jim Ford]

Originally Posted by jules357

I've read a few of the threads about sharpening pictures using Photoshop

The best article I've come across, explaining why _all_ digitally captured images need sharpening, is this one:

Sharpening -- Part I

The late Bruce Fraser, who was 'an internationally recognised authority on digital imaging' wrote a 288 page book, just on image sharpening with P.S. CS2 - which shows just how complex the subject is!

Some photographers complain that their old point and shoot camera took much sharper images than their expensive newly acquired DSLR. This is because a P. & S. usually has heavy sharpening built-in as a default, whereas the DSLR manufacturers give the user the opportunity to post-sharpen the image to suit the output. The degree of sharpening an image requires depends on the final image size and the media on which it is to be displayed.

Jim

[Ollie]

Hi Jules. Like Richard G said. I wouldn't be too disappointed with a photo like that.

I'm not familiar with your lens either but most zoom lenses will give the sharpest results a little short of their full zoom range so maybe trying to keep the lens at around 350mm rather than the full 400mm would help.

Actually I think your photo is reasonably sharp, it just lacks a little feather detail which again in my opinion is due to the subject being plenty far enough away. The closer you can get the more detail you will pick up. I realise this is easier said then done because I use a 400mm prime lens and I have to get reasonably close to get good sharp shots with good detail..

It could also be the way you edit your photos as well and just a few quick pointers on this.

Using PS elements I always crop the photo first, then resize it to the dimensions required. Next I will adjust with the shadows and highlights tool and the levels if required. Then I will sharpen with the unsharp mask tool. Next I will draw round the subject with the magnetic lasso tool. Then I will inverse the selection so that the background only and not the subject is selected. Next I will run the image through Neat Image to reduce the noise on the background only and this also helps to blur the background before finally saving the image.

Hope this helps.