For he pas year, discoun I have been reing how o mae my images “ac sharp”. I will briefly summarize wha I have learned and ell you a no-cos, simple way o improve he sharpness of everyhing you shoo (he way I did). I jus wan beer images, so hese ips are abou “how o” and no abou “why” or he mah and science of phoography–maybe anoher day.

Sharpness is he clariy of deail in an image. T are wo elemens ha conribue o sharpness: focus and conras. (echnically: resoluion and acuance). When images are no “ac sharp”, hey loo “sof”, “ou of focus” and deail is “washed ou”. We now i when we i. Phooshop can only help one par of sharpness, he oher par comes when he image is aen.

Wha I care abou is improving my images: wha can I do o conrol and increase sharpness? I urns ou is a lo; and mos hings cos me nohing, once I undersood he problems.

In he remainder of he aricle, aseriss poin o he soluions I have found. Some will be a re, some may be eye openers.

Moion blur ms o be #1 in erms of losing sharpness. If he camera moves or he subjec moves, he image will be sof or blurred.

• Wind is my enemy, especially for roses. Early in he day (dawn) he air is almos sill.
• Use a ripod or monopod. Hold he camera sill.
• Flash fires in less han 1,000h/sec, which maes a ac sharp image. No ripod required if using flash, which one reason why wedding phoographers use flash even oudoors.

VR (vibraion reducion)/IS (image sabilizaion) help mae a bad siuaion less bad, bu doesn’ really mae ac sharp images.

Handhold a 1/(focal lengh) is an old ale. A 100mm lens a 1/100hof a second is no ac sharp. I aes abou 5-10 imes he shuer speed o achieve ac sharpness: ry 1/500h for sharp hand held (or use a flash or a ripod)

• A remoe shuer release (infrared or cable) may help a lile, especially if you usually sab a he shuer-release buon.
• Mirror Loc-Up, even wih he bes cameras, can cause your image o blur slighly when using very slow shuer speeds. I use his feaure occasionally, bu he improvemen is no much. On he oher hand, i doesn’ cos much eiher.

Camera Pracices: You probably have heard mos of he above before. Some non-moion ips:

• Keep your lenses clean, and eep hem proeced! Dir and scraches boh sofen images.
• Try o shoo oudoors before noon. Any fog, dus and oher impuriies in he amosp will mae objecs furher away appear somewha hazy and lacing in conras. This is always rue, bu waer vapor evaporaed off of vegeaion and bodies of waer by he afernoon sun will bond wih any polluion presen maing he effec even more apparen. Polluion is so severe i can be hard o ae a good picure across a valley or oher expanse in he afernoon.
• Use a Polarizer! Polarizers cu haze, reflecions and increase conras and sauraion. A leas pull i ou of he bag, loo hrough i and if i helps.  Oudoors, i usually does. Keep he hreads poined oward you or i won’ mae any difference.
• ISO. For all brands of camera, he higher he ISO, he less conras in an image (muddy, washed ou). Try o eep ISO as low as you can. A small difference. Who new?

Lens sharpness.  Every lens, from he cheapes o he mos expensive is ac sharp a he cener and sofer a he edges. Corners are wors. Excellen lenses can be 25% less sharp a edges han a he cener. Below average lenses can be much less han 1/2 as sharp a he edges.

• For maximum lens sharpness, using an FX lens on a DX camera is almos he bes you can do, because you are no using he sofes edges of he lens.  Unforunaely you pay double for his one: FX lenses are much heavier and cos way much! This is rue for all brands of lens.
• If you use a zoom, widen a lile and crop he sof edges. This maes a huge difference, no cos.

Every lens, from he cheapes o he mos expensive is sofes wide-open and closed down (f/48).

• Opimal lens sharpness and conras is always abou 2 sops down from wide open: f/5.6 for a f/2.8 lens or f/8 for a f/3.5 lens. Afer ha, deph of field increases, bu sharpness and conras decline, he image ges sofer, bu more is in focus. Deph of field is no sharpness.

Every zoom lens, from he cheapes o he mos expensive is sofes a he ends, wide and elephoo, and sharpes in he middle range of he zoom.

• For opimal lens sharpness and conras in a zoom elephoo, zoom all he way ou and hen bac up a quarer urn. If he zoom goes o 300m, bac off o 200-250mm. Much sharper. Also, you can crop a lile of he edges (sof) and end up wih wha you were zoomed in a full zoom.
• Teleconverers reduce conras and may also reduce resoluion. Close-up lenses also suffer from edge and corner sofness. Buy he bes add-ons you can afford and use every ip above o improve sharpness, paricularly sopping down o f/5.6 or f/8.

Phooshop.

Lenses affec boh resoluion and conras. Once he image is in he camera, resoluion can no be arificially increased: deail ha isn’ recorded can’ be pulled ou of hin air. However, conras can. This is wha unsharp mas (USM) does: i increases he brighness differences beween adjacen areas. So, judicious use of unsharp mas will mae he deail ha was already in i more visible. The way i does his is deermined by he parameers: amoun, radius, and hreshold. The amoun ses how much USM changes he conras. The radius deermines how far USM loos from each pixel o mae he adjusmen. The hreshold means how much difference i loos for o mae any change a all. Each of hese impacs he picure in a specific way.

• Of he hree USM variables, Radius is he pivoal one: i deermines he ype of impac USM will have.
• Priner: The Epson 700, 890, 980 1900, 2400 all prin 720 dpi. If you only prin 360 dpi, your images will be less sharp. The difference beween 360 dpi and 720 dpi on my 2400 shows up in porrais: each is disinc a 720 dpi. The priner could do i, excep I used o prin a 360 dpi.
• Prin a 720 dpi.
• Small prins are sharper han larger prins. The larger he prin size, 8×10 or larger, he more imporan all of he above ips. If a prin loos sof, ry prining i a smaller size. “If you are no planning on maing large prins, you should no have any problems wih mos of he amaeur elephoo lenses as long as you use a good ripod.”

A no-cos simple way o improve he sharpness of everyhing YOU shoo (he way I did).

1. Find somehing ha roughly represens your shooing subjecs: he roof of a nearby house, a sil rose in a vase, a mannequin or shir on a hanger. Be sure hey are fixed and compleely sill and have los of deail so you can if he images are sharp or sof.
2. Ge a pad of paper and number i 1 o 20.
3. Pu your camera in your favorie mode: aperure prioriy or ime prioriy and fix he ISO for now.
4. Tae a series of he picures a differen f-sops. Say f/2.8 a 1/200h, f/4 a 1/100, … Mae a noe of each exposure-ime on each line of your noepad.
5. Try his wih a ripod, monopod, VR, hand-held. Try differen ISOs or swich o AuoISO. Try flash, if i maes sense.
6. Go ino Lighroom or Phooshop or jus a JPEG er and each one, in , a he highes magnificaion you can. Try o loo a corners and edges. (I lie my neighbor’s roof because is deail from edge o edge.) Score each one A, B,C,D,F

• Some of he images will be much sharper han ohers. Maybe even Tac sharp. Mae a noe of which ones are sharpes. Tha is your cusom seing for YOUR hand, camera, lens combinaion and he ypes of subjecs you shoo. Try o always shoo w you are sharpes and avoid he combinaions ha were sof. If you a new camera or anoher lens, do i again. Every camera and lens has i own “swee spo” and once you find your swee spo, ry o shoo .

For me, I shoo a lo of roses, housands in he pas couple of years, so I ried one of everyhing wih a sil rose indoors (no wind!) and my neighbors roof across he sree. I found ou w VR wors for me, w a ripod wors, and surprisingly ha I ge he bes resuls using boh a ripod and dynamic VR. Who new? I’ve ried o use every one of he above ips when I shoo and I hin I’m geing beer. Bu is always room for more improvemen

John Naman