Overall dissatisfied with my shots. Need advice for improvement, thanks

[SergeTheBlerge]

Been shooting with my Canon Rebel T6i for some time now, and while I've had SOME nice shots, too many I'm just far too dissatisfied with and really don't know what kind of techniques to try at this point. Really, my issue is with sharpness quality in landscape shots. It may just be the hardware, but typically my landscape shots come out far too soft meanwhile any closeups of objects tend to be far better. I shoot with both RAW and JPEG, but since the majority of my shots are taken in high light, I don't typically carry around a tripod and have been using Photoscape Pro for basic photo editing. Adjusting the sharpness in Photoscape improves a bit, but there is still, what I perceive to be, too much softness. Since Photoscape also edits in RAW, I have tried that route but honestly have not seen any significant difference (if any at all) in image quality when editing in either RAW or JPEG with MY own shots, so I just stick to JPEG because it makes images easier to share (editing in RAW seems more fitting for shots in lower light or areas where certain details are blown out are too dark).

My settings are basic and even when trying as many techniques I've read about I still have not seen an improvement in quality. ISO is always kept as low as possible - 100 in good light, and 200 to 400 in shade or shadows. Indoor shots in lower light I could try anywhere between 800 to 1600, and adjust shutter speed accordingly so camera shake won't be an issue. For landscape shots I keep my f stops high, about 18 to 20, and my shutter speed is adjusted to best keep my histogram even. I keep in Manual mode, make my focus point 1/3 of the way up from the bottom in virtually every shot. I take multiple shots per scene (3 or 4) and pick the middle or best pic. I don't use flash typically because virtually all my shots are taken in the daylight. I own a basic attachable flash but don't usually use it as it never feels needed. Most photos are also taken in "sunlight" mode as it keeps a cooler tone I prefer and a good base for editing later.

Here is an example of a landscape photo and the "softness" I am referring to, using ALL the techniques I have mentioned, completely unedited. Photo was taken at f/20, ISO 400, 1/60 sec, handheld:

[IMG][/IMG]

Editing sharpness helps somewhat, but image softness is still visible and the photo still looks too unprofessional (at least for a JPEG using a cheaper photo editor). The website is not allowing me to upload the edited photo because I think it's too big.

Here is an example of a closeup shot with a low f stop, handheld again for comparison, unedited (f/5, ISO 200, 1/160 sec):

[IMG][/IMG]

As you can see, the closeup of the fire helmet is far better than the buildings in the first pic. Using the sharpness tool on my editor again, does help, and it helps significantly better in the 2nd closeup pic than it does in the first pic.


Both of these shots were taken with my standard 18-55mm stock lens.

If I can improve these images with a better lens (I also own a 75-300mm Canon lens) please point the way with the best choices. I wish to purchase Lightroom 6 soon but not sure if it will make much of a difference considering the hardware I'm using and if my photos are still going to come out the same because something is just missing in my technique. Not sure what else I can really improve with my basic landscape shooting at this point. i'm wondering if it would be better to invest in a new lens AND perhaps a new laptop or computer BEFORE I go and start with Lightroom 6. Thank you all very much again.

[Mike Buckley]

I think you'll get more helpful advice if you post both images in their full-size raw versions at a free file-sharing site such as DropBox and provide links to them. Once you've done that, people can download them and perhaps work with the sharpening.

Especially when you are so concerned about sharpening, I strongly recommend that you address it in raw files rather than JPEGs. That's because whatever sharpening is applied by the camera is "baked" into the JPEG and, thus, unlike the raw file, is irreversible.

[DanK]

Serge,

At the risk of repeating what several people told you in response to earlier posts: unless you have a defective copy, this is not an issue of equipment. The body is fine, and the lens--while a budget lens--should be capable of crisp images if shot at a reasonable aperture. I think the problems are technique.

For landscape shots I keep my f stops high, about 18 to 20

Given that camera body, keep the aperture in the range of no smaller than f/11 to avoid diffraction. f/8 or f/11 would be best for sharpness, with your equipment. However, this is probably a minor issue, not the core of your problems.

Re point of focus: 1/3 of the way in makes sense for deep landscapes in which you want everything in focus, but in the case of your first image, I would focus on the nearest of the buildings.

In theory, handheld should be fine at shutter speeds at least as fast as 1/(FL*1.6). Your first shot was at 32 mm, so the rule of thumb for a minimum shutter speed would be about 1/50. Your 1/60 should be enough, assuming you have good technique--that is, you are bracing the camera well and not moving it much when you press the shutter.

Given how persistent these problems have been for you, I strongly suggest you find a local camera club or some such where you can find an experienced person to go out shooting with you once or twice. It is really hard to figure out what the problem is just from a few very small, low-resolution images.

If you do have an equipment problem, it's much more likely to be with the lens than the body. Going out with someone experienced could help to resolve this. Let her or him take some shots with your equipment, and keep track of which ones her hers or his. If an experienced photographer can't get sharp images with your equipment, then you probably do have defective equipment. If he or she does get sharp images, then the problem is certainly your technique.

To illustrate that this is not a problem with your camera body--unless you have a defective camera, which is extremely unikely--I'll post a couple of images. First, here is a photo taken with a 50D, which has an older sensor that is inferior to the one in your camera:



And here is a macro shot taken with a Canon XTi (450), which has a much lower quality sensor than yours:



Dan

[Mike Buckley]

+1 to everything Dan mentioned

In theory, handheld should be fine at shutter speeds at least as fast as 1/(FL*1.6). Your first shot was at 32 mm, so the rule of thumb for a minimum shutter speed would be about 1/50. Your 1/60 should be enough, assuming you have good technique--that is, you are bracing the camera well and not moving it much when you press the shutter.

To clarify that for others reading the post, the factor of 1.6 is used because the camera in question has a crop factor of 1.6. As an example, when using a full frame camera, the factor would be only 1, not 1.6.

To put that into perspective, I realized years ago when I upgraded to a better quality sensor that my technique wasn't as good as I thought or hoped. Once I began using a guideline of 1/(FL*2) on my camera that has a crop factor of 1.5, I immediately and consistently noticed that my photos were sharp.

[Manfred M]

Sergio, I agree with what the others have written and also feel that your issue is with technique, rather than with equipment. Dan has already covered the issue of diffraction at small apertures. I would like to address the issue of focusing 1/3 of the way to your subject.

Any camera lens will only sharply focus on a plane. Depth of field is simply a way of saying that the image is "sharp enough", and there are a number of assumptions that go into how we define that. CiC has a very good article on Depth of Field, that you might wish to look at here:

https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tu...h-of-field.htm

The one thing that you will find when you read it is that the "1/3 rule" is a special case and applies only to very wide angle lenses. As your focal length increases, this number gets closer to a "1/2 rule". This would suggest that this is part of the reason for your softness. If you are assuming that doing so will mean that 1/3 of the foreground and 2/3 of the background will be in focus, whereas in reality it's more like a 45:55 ratio, then the background will be too soft. The other "rule" that I use when shooting to a range like you are doing here is to shoot at one f-stop smaller (i.e. larger number) than the tables suggest to cover for any "errors".

The last piece of advice I will give you is that most landscape photographers shoot using tripods. That maximizes the chance of a sharp shot too. As others have mentioned, we don't know your shooting technique and a bit of an unintentional jerky motion when you press the shutter release can result in motion blur. Hold the camera with a strong posture and roll your finger to release the shutter, rather than using a pressing motion.

[rpcrowe]

I have not a lot to add to the excellent advice given above but, have two question and perhaps some suggestions?

#1... When shooting, do you use the eye level viewfinder or do you use the LCD to compose your shots? If you use the LCD, I suggest that you only do so when your camera/lens is tripod mounted. Holding a camera 12-18 inches away from your face while viewing the LCD is not conducive to a steady hold. I use the eye level viewfinder when I am not on a tripod and hold the camera firmly against my face while shooting. Speaking about shooting... Use the same technique in pressing the shutter button that a target shooter uses in pulling the trigger on the weapon - press gently, do not jam the release button. Along that line, shoot in bursts of three shots because often, if pressing the shutter button is moving the camera, there is less movement evident in the middle shot than in the first or last shots.

The way to tell if poor focusing or camera shake is causing the lack of sharpness problem is to view your images with this in mind. Usually when poor focus if the culprit, there are some ares in the image that are in focus while other areas are not sharp however, when camera shake is at fault there will be no area in the image that is sharp. Of course, that is when your camera and lens are working correctly. However, technique, rather than equipment is at fault in the majority of cases when the images are not up to standard. But, renting another camera for a day (or borrowing a friend's camera) and shooting identical shots with both cameras would certainly target whether it is the "Indian or the arrow" at fault.

#2... I am not familiar with your camera but, I assume that you can select the focus point at which you are shooting. Choose center point focus for a while. Letting the camera choose the focus point can give you less than sharp photos because the camera may decide to focus on other than the wanted subject. In your first shot of the cars and houses, it seems as if the focus point may have been the tree at image right (which is the closest and most contrasty area of the image. Therefore the tree and the white arrows on the street seem sharper (on my monitor) than the houses and cars across the street. Viewing the image in a larger size could tell me more.

Good luck and post some more...

[Stagecoach]

Really, my issue is with sharpness quality in landscape shots. It may just be the hardware, but typically my landscape shots come out far too soft meanwhile any closeups of objects tend to be far better.

Sergio,

If you have a concern about sharpness, either possibly due to gear or technique I would do the following;

a) set the camera up on a tripod, use every method available to eliminate camera movement, mirror up, timed delay, remote shutter, wind etc. Set the lens to its sweet spot that will be somewhere around f/5.6 to f/8. Take pics of something that will have some fine detail in it. And shoot in non harsh bright light.

b) decide what image size you want to produce for the majority of your work. For me I produce images for viewing on screen at 1600/1800 px width. It's pointless aiming for gear/technique that will give good IQ for 20 ft wide prints if that's not needed.

Then come back with an example at that size if you are not happy.

Edit : based upon your concern being 'sharpness' and not one of 'DoF'

[Mike Buckley]

Another thought about the focus point and depth of field: When photographing scenes that have only inanimate objects, check your depth of field after capturing the image by reviewing the scene from front to rear in your camera's LCD magnified to view the image at 100%. If everything you want to be sharply in focus isn't, use a smaller aperture and/or a different focus point.

[Polar01]

Sergio, it is not the gear it is you, the first one f/20 what were you thinking and the second on f/5 again what were you thinking? Learn what f-stops do as per depth of field and what setting you need to use at what distances or effect that you are looking for. That I bet that you did not roll our finger over the shutter release but pushed it down causing the camera to move, resulting in the image being soft, real beginner mistake. If you are pushing the shutter button down you are not ready to hand hold anything slower that 1/120th let alone 1/60 or slower.
It all comes down to proper technique to hand hold a camera at any shutter speed. I am adding to links to two youtube videos that helped me a lot, still watch every now and there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_a6XaQ16aaE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLBs3BqjT7Q

Cheers: Allan

[IzzieK]

I cannot help much with your problem because I use a different camera system, but if I were you, I will invest in learning your camera inside out. I use Creative Live and just went there to see if they have a class for your particular camera. If you do not want to invest in it, wait and see when they will give a free online class.

https://www.creativelive.com/courses...t-collection_9

You can also watch (and download in HD) the free intro.

[george013]

Sergio, it is not the gear it is you, the first one f/20 what were you thinking and the second on f/5 again what were you thinking? Learn what f-stops do as per depth of field and what setting you need to use at what distances or effect that you are looking for. That I bet that you did not roll our finger over the shutter release but pushed it down causing the camera to move, resulting in the image being soft, real beginner mistake. If you are pushing the shutter button down you are not ready to hand hold anything slower that 1/120th let alone 1/60 or slower.
It all comes down to proper technique to hand hold a camera at any shutter speed. I am adding to links to two youtube videos that helped me a lot, still watch every now and there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_a6XaQ16aaE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLBs3BqjT7Q

Cheers: Allan

And keep the weight of the camera in your left hand. With long lenses move the hand forwards as in the video's and let it carry the weight.. I think without noticing people let the right hand carry the weight.

George

[JBW]

Please don't get depressed. The simple truth is that you have entered upon a journey that is part science and part art.

The science is the easy part. The art is the tough part.

There is one and only one way to get better and that's to take a lot of shots and try lots of settings.

A few years back I came into this group as a newbie. A few months back I was awarded first place in a monthly competition.

I started off shooting full auto, moved into aperture priority and ended up shooting in manual. This journey has taken between 30 and 40 thousand shots. With close to 10,000 being posted here for critiques and comments.

There are many excellent mentors in this group. They were able to get me moving in the right direction and if you will allow them to, they will help you too.

[Madhav Bodas]

At f/22, the image is diffraction limited as per this very site :

https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tu...hotography.htm

Suggest you to try out similar capture at f/8 (usually this is the sweet spot for most kit lenses).

[sachtjen]

Sergio, as someone new to photography and new to cambrigeincolor I want to thank you for starting such a great thread. Lots of great advice in the responses which have given me a lot to think about next time I'm out shooting.