How do I get sharp photos?

tumchy · #1 (**permalink**) 31-01-2011, 03:15 PM

Hi, this was taken at
A 1/30 F5.6 ISO (automatic) 320

What setting could I have used to make it sharp? Was the ISO too high?

I think it's time I got the manual out an start studying. Thanks in advance.

JeffH · #2 (**permalink**) 31-01-2011, 03:37 PM

It's your shutter speed that's the problem - 1/30th sec is much too slow for a shot like this.

What camera/lens were you using?

Jeff
(Schedule 1 Licence holder for Kingfishers, Barn Owls & Avocets)

tumchy · #3 (**permalink**) 31-01-2011, 03:45 PM

It's a Nikon D3000 with a Nikkor 55-200 lens. I cropped the picture.

What shutter speed would you recommend?

Thanks for your quick reply.

JeffH · #4 (**permalink**) 31-01-2011, 04:07 PM

You're welcome

As for shutter speed the general rule is that the minimum shutter speed should match the focal length of the lens, so if you were using your 55-200 at full reach (ie 200mm) this would give a shutter speed of 1/200th sec.

However, I emphasise that this is only a general rule and in different conditions with different birds you may be able to get away with a slower shutter speed or may have to use a faster one.

For instance, I've shot sharp images of a Barn Owl sat on a branch with a
400mm lens at a shutter speed of only 1/6th sec, albeit using a tripod, cable release and the mirror lock-up facility on my camera - but Owls do often sit very, very still.

But with small, busy birds like Blue Tits, Wrens, etc. the faster shutter speed you can get, the better.

Hope that helps

Jeff
(Schedule 1 Licence holder for Kingfishers, Barn Owls & Avocets)

tumchy · #5 (**permalink**) 31-01-2011, 05:17 PM

Thanks again, I'll play about with this and see what I get. I downloaded "lessons on how to get the most from your digi SLR" but found it very technical....I might have a look for SLRs for Dummies.

Geoff F · #6 (**permalink**) 31-01-2011, 07:23 PM

You could try a read of this site Camera Exposure: Aperture, ISO & Shutter Speed and there is quite a bit of other general information there.

But once you start trying to take good photos of small birds you are leaping into 'expert waters'; and I always find blue tits very difficult. Being so small and soft they make rather bad targets for the auto focus and they don't usually stay still long enough for me to manually focus.

Very generally, I would say don't use any auto settings. Keep your shutter speed sufficiently high, as Jeff said, close down the aperture a bit (say F8 or F11) which will mean using either the Tv or Av settings and adjusting the ISO to suit.

Using a high ISO (say 800 or higher) can mean a bit of background noise under some conditions but you simply have to accept that to achieve the other requirements. The best and easiest answer is, of course, use a nice sunny day!

marvin · #7 (**permalink**) 31-01-2011, 08:16 PM

hi

check your white balance settings as well. the camera should give you a number of options to correspond to the light conditions, e.g. sunny, cloudy, indoors etc. just choose the one that is most appropriate at the time.

cheers
tim

sorry, thats to do with colours rather than sharpness.

IanF · #8 (**permalink**) 01-02-2011, 07:51 AM

A couple of brief comments:

This image looks pretty acceptable to me!
When processing digital images one should always sharpen them (or use "unsharp mask"). This is easily done if you have access to Adobe photoshop or other processing software. The reason this is required is due to the way that each pixel records boundaries in an image, a pixel on a boundary will often be recorded as an intermediate colour and thus soften the sharp boundary line. One word of caution - oversharpening is to be avoided as it ruins the image.

Hope this is helpful,

IanF

PMG · #9 (**permalink**) 01-02-2011, 09:47 AM

Hi tumchy - I've had a go at your blue tit shot which I thought was quite good to begin with actually! I have done a few things to the shot which might sound complicated but arn't once you get used. I use Paint Shop Pro mainly and what I did to your pic is: Fade Correct (darkens slightly) Levels (playing about with these can darken, lighten, knock down bright overexposed areas - all kinds - its a good thing to experiment with) Then I took the pic to Neat Image and got rid of background noise and added some sharpening (its all automatic after ticking a few boxes you can watch the preview area change and choose the one you like) then I brought it back into PSP, selected the birds head and Sharpened and then selected its breast feathers and sharpened.

Now I must get going - I'm not supposed to be on here this morning but couldn't resist a look or answering a thread!!!

Pauline

PS Everyone elses advise holds good - esp the not using Auto - you don;t want the camera choosing to do what it thinks is right - cos it seldom is right! Plus it gives a very bluey cast which is hard to correct later. Must dash!

tumchy · #10 (**permalink**) 01-02-2011, 02:46 PM

I can't thank everyone enough for their advice, and PMG for taking the time to work on my pic. You've all spurred me on to read up on how the different settings work and I'm goin to try out the manual setting. I've gotten into the habit of just using Aperture priority cos I didn't really understand how the others work.
Thanks everyone x