what gives sharpness to a photo

[Catalina]

I have not placed the new lens on the camera but next week I am going to separate a day to take photos, I am thinking about going to the botanical garden to take pictures. On that day I am going to use my new lens.

Thank you very much Grahame for your mails.

Cordially,

Catalina

[Catalina]

I have not placed the new lens on the camera but next week I am going to separate a day to take photos, I am thinking about going to the botanical garden to take pictures. On that day I am going to use my new lens.

Thank you very much Grahame for your mails.

Cordially,

Catalina

[Catalina]

I want to thank all for your teachings, Thank you Ikanyenzi, streds, polarol, Beam, ABC26 ( André Burger) Richard, ajohnw, Jcukunz but specially to Grahame.
I am going to make a purpose of having a photography day, every week. The difficult thing is being there at the "golden hour" because, my husband mostly leaves the office by five and I have to send the chauffeur to pick him up at that hour, but we can negotiate that. If he allows me to go at that hour to the botanical gardens, I am sure I can show you new and improved photos.
Cordially,
Catalina

[Stagecoach]

Hello Catalina,

It's good to hear that you are going to try and devote some time with your photography with a trip to the botanical gardens. With regard to the 'Golden Hour' whilst this is an advantage especially for landscape photography a disadvantage is that the light will not be as strong of which the consequences can be that you require slower shutter speeds or higher ISO values. Slower shutter speeds can be assisted by using a tripod.

I would also like to emphasise the importance, value and knowledge that can be gained by the practice of taking pictures of subjects that are all around you without having to travel anywhere.

Below are four pictures which I took in a few minutes with my camera on exactly the same settings I have suggested to you for practising of which demonstrate such things as;

a) Are they sharp (in focus) where I want them to be?
b) Are they exposed reasonably well?
c) What DoF (Depth of Field) I will get at the Aperture used and distance from the subject?
d) Were the Shutter speeds adequate for hand-holding?
e) What could I do with my camera to change the appearance of the image?

No 1 : Note how the DoF is shallow but sharp where I wanted it to be


No 2 : Note how the background is very bright as the barbecue was in shade


No 3 : Note the shallow DoF and how I almost missed getting a good target in the focus box


No 4 : Even refuse bins are useful for reasons other than rubbish


The images also show the 'Focus Box area' as seen in the viewfinder and show that in each case I have placed this so that it is over an area that has good contrast change which assists the camera 'Auto Focus' and is where I want sharpest focus to be.

By taking practice images such as these you will learn from the results and their settings and it will give you confidence and knowledge for when you approach scenes and subjects that you want to capture perfectly.

Grahame

[loriacaraveo]

Yeah, It was true. Perfectness is not dependent only on holding the camera.

PR Photographer London

[PicBackMan]

I keep trying with different settings. The trick that does best for me is; a faster shutter speed, a short exposure and maximum flash does the magic.