Resized and sharpened

[Hans]

Just wondering how these look for sharpness. Still working out my own "magic formula." Thanks for your feedback...

I think the resized photos look sharper when I open them on my computer than they do here...is that possible?

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Hans,

The web page code that does the attachments in the pop up window will only make them as big as your browser viewing window allows, this means it will almost certainly (very crudely) downsize them on-the-fly.

I have now made them inline images, this means they will still show by default downsized to 600 (I think) width, but it does give the opprotunity to click the bar immediately above the image top edge and expand them to full size.

When I do that, even though I am not on my normal monitor, I would say they look sharp.
Which is better than they did when viewed in the pop up.

"Problem solved" I hope, let me know what you think now.

Cheers,

[ashooor]

please I just wanna ask you a question:
what is your camera and lens used in this pic? I like them a lot ... amazing shots

[Donald]

Hans

Glad Dave came in on the sizing/sharpening question. He understands and explains these things so clearly and straightforwardly.

As for the images, both but particularly the first, are absolutely brilliant. What a picture of happiness and joy. It just fills you with pleasure and, indeed, optimism to see what seem to be such happy people. A total joy. Made my day.

The portrait specialists will no doubt come with any relevant comments on skin tones etc. That's an area I'm not competent to comment on (read - totally ignorant!!)

ps - And the sharpening looks right to me

[Dave Humphries]

please I just wanna ask you a question:
what is your camera and lens used in this pic? I like them a lot ... amazing shots

Hi Ashooor,

The EXIF data is blocked on the colour shot, but for the monochrome one it shows a Nikon D90 and a lens at 105mm. Shot at 1/250s at f5.6, iso 200. PP with Nikon CaptureNX 2.2.

To be honest, with suitably good lighting, same low iso, etc. and (crucially) good PP, I'd be fairly surprised if you couldn't make the 10MP from your H20 look pretty close to this quality.

I don't know the H20, but unless the lens is soft, the difference in resolution between the 12MP D90 and your 10MP H20 is negligible.


Hi again Hans,

They do look nice and sharp at home too
As Donald says, the colour shot is a real cracker, well done.

Looks like someone may have got a dolls house for Christmas

Regards,

[Hans]

Thank-you all for your very kind and motivating comments. It is a real privilege to be part of this community They were very excited when they learned that cooperation with the Xmas portrait would result in a piece of chocolate (85% cocoa of course)! If used wisely and conservatively, bribery is a very useful tool when parenting

I took around 25 photos of various poses that they thought were just sooo cool, but this reaction occured when I asked if my camera had a 'bottom.' That word just strikes a cord with toddlers, doesn't it?

Ashooor, the camera is D90 (Nikon).

The top photo was with my Sigma 105mm f2.8 EX macro on a tripod, inside with natural light through the window. Got this lens second hand about 8 yrs ago in Japan when I was working there, so its not a new lens. However, it takes pretty sharp portraits per se (best result with colour transparency). I closed it down to f5.6 to take full advantage of this. Can get softish around the edges if you look too close at f2.8 so they tell me, but I haven't really noticed.

The second was with the kit lens I bought with the camera. 18-105mm VR (which makes it around 27-150mm on the D90 (its not a full frame camera). It's ok for what it is and is a great cary around lens. I took this snap as I was coming inside from taking some product photos for my wife's web store. I wasn't thinking technically, actually wasn't thinking much at all

When I was shooting for the Army competitions, my mentor used to say "the most important component that makes your rifle more accurate is the little nut behind the butt" (meaning me). I guess the same applies with photography to a large degree. The D90 has 12.3 effective MP. The D80 has 10MP but performs better in pixel to pixel sharpness making the D90 look soft in comparison. But in the real world, who is gonna know. BTW, the only photo comp I've ever won was with a photo taken with a compact camera (Canon A630 8MP).

I have now made them inline images, this means they will still show by default downsized to 600 (I think) width, but it does give the opprotunity to click the bar immediately above the image top edge and expand them to full size.

Dave, am I doing something wrong here? This is the second time you had to do that for me.

The portrait specialists will no doubt come with any relevant comments on skin tones etc

I hope so. These blown highlights are doing my head in.

Thanks again, and kind regards to all and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! ARRRGGHHH! More party food!

[Dave Humphries]

Dave, am I doing something wrong here? This is the second time you had to do that for me.

Not wrong, just missing a bit, here's the answer (it is a common question )
How to make attached photos appear bigger

Thanks for all the other info too

Happy New Year,

[Hans]

Let's get this inliine thing right...





Darn! I only get 'copy' and 'copy shortcut' as options when I do that. This time I tried copying the address from the address bar when I opened it, but to no avail....Maybe I'm not holding my mouth right!

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Hans,

In the step that says

2) With mouse over picture; Right click and select Copy Image Location from the pop up menu (this puts the image URL on the 'clipboard')

It is just a right click menu option, you don't need to manually select a url anywhere.
Just right click, get the menu, move mouse and left click on the Copy Image Location (or "Copy Shortcut" in IE) option, it may not appear to have done anything, but it has, so just continue with step 3) onwards.

If you still have problems knowing the above, please advise which Operating System and Browser you are using, in case it is called something different, or even not available in what you have. (Which would explain a lot).

Sorry it's causing grief, if I were to place a bet, I'd say it is because I hadn't given the IE equivalent "Copy Shortcut", naughty me

EDIT: I just tried this in IE8 and the "Copy Shortcut" option is greyed out - Anyone got any ideas why? It worked last time I tried (a few weeks ago).

Use Firefox instead, it's a better browser anyway!

Cheers,

[Hans]

Good on you, Dave.

Mate, I'm uploading from my PC if that makes a difference.

I'm off to bed now, and back at work so will investigate this further in a week or so.

Thanks again for you help and advice.

[Blazing fire]

I love the first shot. Simply the right moment. You're born to be a wedding/portrait/kids photographer. I believe that's where your niche is.

Anyway, the photos are sharp.

I think the resized photos look sharper when I open them on my computer than they do here...is that possible?

Yes, it's possible. Downscaling makes it look sharper in most cases. If the picture on your computer appears soft, it is possible they are less than perfect (techincally). It can be caused by motion blur, soft lens, out of focus, noise reduction to name a few. Look at it 100% to spot such imperfections.

[Hans]

Yes, it's possible. Downscaling makes it look sharper in most cases. If the picture on your computer appears soft, it is possible they are less than perfect (techincally). It can be caused by motion blur, soft lens, out of focus, noise reduction to name a few. Look at it 100% to spot such imperfections.

Yes, this sharpening caper is a technical afair, but I have come a long way since poking around this forum. Thanks for the advice.

Also, thanks for you comments, at my level I appreciate the unexpected affirmation (and constructive criticism). Portraits have been something I've been working on since my first attempts really sucked. Life is learning.