35
votes
Accepted
What makes the difference on partially and fully visible moon?
What makes the difference on partially and fully visible moon?
In a word: shadows.
I cannot understand why the IQ is extremely diminished when doing the same with an almost fully visible moon.
...
- 32.3k
35
votes
Accepted
Why can't I shoot with a fast shutter speed with my continuous light at max power?
There is no reason whatsoever that you need to shoot a static object from a tripod with 1/100s or 1/200s shutter speed. The shutter speed has nothing whatsoever to do with "soft focus": it just has ...
- 406
19
votes
Do I really need a US$1500 rig for crisp sharp photos?
As im researching now it seems to me that to make decent photos i need atleast a $1000 camera.
So sayeth the gear collectors. Photographers are out shooting, and say otherwise. Many of us, myself ...
- 20.5k
18
votes
Why is Nikon 1.4g better when Nikon 1.8g is sharper?
1) Sharpness is complicated.
Lens sharpness is just one aspect of the overall resolving power of a camera system. The appearance of crispness is separate from the rendition of detail. And a lens can ...
- 143k
16
votes
Accepted
How to take sharper photos
The first image was shot wide open with what is essentially the lowest cost Canon lens (50mm f/1.8), in demanding low light conditions, and at ISO 1600. I'd say your results are exactly what I would ...
- 46.5k
15
votes
Do more megapixels mean sharper images?
Higher megapixels do not add to lens sharpness.
This has been found by many Canon EOS 90D owners. It has 32.5 megapixel APS-C sensor. Its pixel density is the same as 83.2 megapixel full frame camera....
- 6,598
14
votes
Accepted
How to avoid the grainy background in sunset picture?
As to the trees being unsharp:
It is very difficult to tell, but I think that the autofocus decided to get the house, not the trees in focus. It really is best to specify a certain AF point (p. 61 in ...
- 6,467
14
votes
Accepted
Under what circumstances does f/22 cause diffraction?
Under what circumstances does f/22 cause diffraction?
Pretty much all of them. All apertures cause diffraction due to the interaction of the wave nature of light with the edges of the aperture.
But ...
- 175k
13
votes
Do more megapixels mean sharper images?
Not necessarily. Each lens can only produce a certain amount of detail, which means at some point it doesn't make sense anymore to increase pixel count because the given lens is not good enough for it....
- 1,608
12
votes
Accepted
How to improve image sharpness on Canon 700D?
The best way to improve image quality?
Learn how to get the most out the gear you already have
Please don't misunderstand the following as flippant or taking a cheap shot at a budding photographer. ...
- 175k
12
votes
Accepted
Why is Nikon 1.4g better when Nikon 1.8g is sharper?
What did the reviewers say about why they chose one lens over the other? They have their own priorities and biases. You should evaluate the information they present and decide for yourself whether you ...
- 26.9k
11
votes
Do I really need a US$1500 rig for crisp sharp photos?
In short, No.
Be very wary of anything suggesting that you throw money at the problem for the newest and latest gear to solve your photography issues, as while the newest gear makes solving the ...
- 2,315
11
votes
Do more megapixels mean sharper images?
It depends on the lens and the aperture at which it is used. Even a theoretically perfect (diffraction limited) lens can only generate an average of ~16MP at f/11 on a full frame sensor, and it goes ...
- 14.9k
11
votes
Accepted
What can cause double-vision effect in slightly out of focus areas?
A cheap filter (uncoated or poor coatings) can reflect some of the light which is always reflected off of the front element surfaces.
The primary reflection (blue in the drawing) will be stronger than ...
- 14.9k
10
votes
Accepted
How can I improve the sharpness for tabletop still life of photography?
It's not you, it's the lens.
The kit lens is extremely soft wide open and remains noticeably soft until F/6.3 at least. Around F/8, it gives better results but never gets tack-sharp. Stopping down ...
- 103k
10
votes
Accepted
Why do images sometimes look "softer" at higher focal lengths (like 300-500mm)?
Several focal-length-related factors can influence sharpness:
It is usually harder to manufacture long focal lens, so at constant cost, expect a 50 mm to be sharp, a 200 mm to be not-so-sharp, and >...
- 1,683
10
votes
Accepted
Do cheap filters have an effect on image quality?
Does cheap lens filters (UV, ND, CPL) affect on image quality, color reproduction, sharpness and etc.?
All filters affect image quality in some way or other. Some effects are desirable, and these are ...
- 31.7k
9
votes
Why are some photos sharp in the center, but soft on the edges?
The job of the camera lens is to project an image of the outside world on the flat surface of film or digital sensor. What we want is a faithful image. To achieve, the lens projects a minuscule circle ...
- 38.7k
9
votes
Why are my sports team pictures fuzzy?
I do not think your photos are fuzzy,I think they are noisy. You will get the best quality image by shooting as close to the 'native' ISO as possible. For most modern dSLRS that is typically ISO 100 ...
- 14.7k
9
votes
Why are my product photographs not sharp?
I see very little to no noise in the example provided with the question. What is evident from looking at the example is blurring that can be attributed to the effects of diffraction by using an ...
- 175k
9
votes
Why my DSLR is not as sharp as my smart phone?
You're looking at two different magnifications.
You took the dSLR picture from farther away, and then cropped to a smaller area. When you resize that to the same size as a similar crop from an image ...
- 51.4k
9
votes
Can you determine if focus is sharp without diopter adjustment if your sight is imperfect?
The image in the viewfinder is focused on the ground glass screen. The focused image converges on a 2D plane. (It's not like binoculars.) When you look through the viewfinder, your eyes focus on the ...
- 143k
9
votes
Why can't I shoot with a fast shutter speed with my continuous light at max power?
Not sure what your subject is, but as was mentioned, you don't need fast shutter for a stationary subject with camera on a tripod. However, human or animal subjects can move.
But the obvious key word ...
- 12.9k
8
votes
Accepted
To what extent, and how, does light source affect sharpness?
The light doesn't affect sharpness. However, too much light in the wrong place can appear to reduce sharpness due to bleeding.
If you take a picture of someone inside a room against a window looking ...
- 17.4k
8
votes
Why can't I shoot with a fast shutter speed with my continuous light at max power?
Here are some suggestions:
Move your light source closer to the subject or get a brighter light source.
Since you are using a tripod, and your subject is stationary, there is no need for fast ...
- 12.2k
8
votes
Under what circumstances does f/22 cause diffraction?
All apertures cause diffraction... what you are asking is when does diffraction limit resolution.
The moment the airy disk (lens projected point of light) is larger than the photosite (pixel) ...
- 14.9k
8
votes
Under what circumstances does f/22 cause diffraction?
Diffraction:
When we study the behavior of light, we discover it sometimes behaves in a similar way as water and sound waves. It is well known that a hill or a building shadows sound, we can hear ...
- 38.7k
7
votes
Accepted
Getting a completely sharp bird when it is up close
but the body, wings and tail are blurry, as if there's not enough depth of field
Using a depth of field calculator like DOFMaster, it's easy to plug in numbers and determine how much depth of field ...
- 31.7k
7
votes
Accepted
Why do white flowers always have a weird surrounding "glow"?
You applied surplus of sharpening. Sharpening means for a computer to find a lightness transition and make the dark part of it darker and the lighter part lighter. If you apply disastrous amount of ...
- 4,790
7
votes
Why are some portraits so sharp and others not
Camera quality?
To a certain degree, yes. A camera with better UI allows you to explicitly control things like the ISO setting, focus point, aperture, and shutter speed for what you want.
...
- 51.4k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible