Board index PBase Show and Tell Help with image sharpness

Show and Tell

Help with image sharpness

Announce and discuss your photos.
areid
 
Posts: 55

Help with image sharpness

Post Wed Aug 06, 2003 1:58 am


Please check out this image:

http://image.pbase.com/u14/areid/large/ ... .field.jpg

For whatever reason I couldn't seem to get it as sharp and crisp as I would have liked. I tried getting the shot a variety of ways and this was as good as it got. I shouldn't have to tweak it in Photoshop, should I?

I'm still learning a lot about my new G2 so maybe I'll figure it out sooner or later.

Thanks in advance for any pointers.

sheila
 
Posts: 1303


Post Wed Aug 06, 2003 2:42 am


I went into your gallery and noted that the EXIF has not been uploaded but my guess is that you are using the Program setting rather than Av or Tv settings. Shots were you want everything in focus should have an aperture (Av - aperture value) of at least f/11 but preferably f/16 to f/22. You will lose some light because you are shutting down the lens but you can always up your ISO (can't remember if you can do that in the G2 - which I had before I bought my D60 a year ago) or put it onto a tripod or monopod. The G2 has pretty good depth of field as I recall. I also recommend that you buy Fred Miranda's actions (http://www.fredmiranda.com) but these can only be used with Photoshop 6 and up. These save a heap of time in Photoshop. Check out his Actions page on his site. You will also get a load of info from the members who are very helpful and polite.

Cheers and hopes this helps.
Sheila
Sheila Smart
Canon 5D Mark III; 17-40L; 24-70 f/2.8L; 70-300 f.4-5.6 L USM; 135 f/2L; 100 f/2.8 macro; 8-15 f/4 L fisheye

Blog: http://sheilasmartphotography.blogspot.com/

areid
 
Posts: 55


Post Wed Aug 06, 2003 3:07 am


Sheila,

Thanks for the reply. I'm not sure of my exact setting. I do know that I tried taking the shot in both "landscape" and "portrait" mode just to experiment.

Even if I had shot it in "auto" shouldn't it have been sharper? As I mentioned, I still have a lot to learn...hopefully sooner than later.


Thanks again.

sheila
 
Posts: 1303


Post Wed Aug 06, 2003 4:39 am


You should, it is said, focus about two thirds into the viewfinder for landscape shots. I never did trust the landscape or any of the pre-programmed modes for taking any G2 shot. As an experiment, take several shots in Av mode using a rule of thumb f/4 or 5.6 for close shots and f/11 or more for landscapes. You will see a dramatic difference in the sharpness of your images. I rarely use any other mode but Av on my D60 and on occasion use Tv when I want control over the shutter speed.

BTW, (and you probably know this already) the EXIF on the G2 should show in the Properties section of the image. If you use Zoombrowser (or Doombrowser as its also called!), you can see exactly what the camera data was at the time of the shot, even down to the ISO, shutter speed and what colour shoes you were wearing :lol: .

Cheers
Sheila
Sheila Smart
Canon 5D Mark III; 17-40L; 24-70 f/2.8L; 70-300 f.4-5.6 L USM; 135 f/2L; 100 f/2.8 macro; 8-15 f/4 L fisheye

Blog: http://sheilasmartphotography.blogspot.com/

areid
 
Posts: 55


Post Wed Aug 06, 2003 12:30 pm


Sheila,

Here's the info, do you see anything that sticks out?

File Name
803-0345_IMG.JPG

Camera Model Name
Canon PowerShot G2

Shooting Date/Time
1/8/2002 4:27:58 AM

Shooting Mode
Pan Focus

Tv( Shutter Speed )
1/400

Av( Aperture Value )
5.6

Metering Mode
Evaluative

Exposure Compensation
0

ISO Speed
Auto

Lens
7.0 - 21.0mm

Focal Length
7.0mm

Digital Zoom
None

Image Size
2272x1704

Image Quality
Fine

Flash
Off

White Balance
Auto

AF Mode
Pan Focus

Active AF Points
[ Center ]

Parameters
Contrast Normal
Sharpness Normal
Color saturation Normal

File Size
1412KB

Drive Mode
Single-frame shooting

areid
 
Posts: 55


Post Wed Aug 06, 2003 12:50 pm


Also, are the jagged edges of the powerlines common with quality digicams? I thought that would go away once I upgraded from my 1.3 Cybershot.

procyon_g
 
Posts: 20

jaggies

Post Wed Aug 06, 2003 2:49 pm


I think that the jagged edges are compression artifacts from when you resized the picture. That will always happen to a certain extent, but powerlines and such are more noticeable. Your EXIF info says "Pan Focus". What is that? f-5.6 should have given you enough DOF at a 7mm focal length. Was the original picture sharp? Anytime you resize a picture you will always need to tweak it with Photoshop or something. Just think of it as your dry darkroom. After resizing you will almost always need to apply Unsharp Mask at a minimum.

sheila
 
Posts: 1303


Post Wed Aug 06, 2003 11:57 pm


Your Av was at 5.6 - try the same shot again (if possible) at f/11 or more. And as before, take the camera off Automatic for several shots. You will see the difference.

Cheers
Sheila
Sheila Smart
Canon 5D Mark III; 17-40L; 24-70 f/2.8L; 70-300 f.4-5.6 L USM; 135 f/2L; 100 f/2.8 macro; 8-15 f/4 L fisheye

Blog: http://sheilasmartphotography.blogspot.com/

areid
 
Posts: 55


Post Thu Aug 07, 2003 5:15 am


ok...I uploaded 2 new images I took earlier. Overall I think they look better. I used a tripod on the stadium shot but not the seat shot. Also, I did notice that I lost some of the "sharpness" on the upload, or so it seems comparing the shot to the original in the Canon zoobrowser. Maybe I lost it when resizing but that was the only thing I used Photoshop for. How could I lose the sharpness by just resizing the image and posting it here?

Here's the link again:

http://www.pbase.com/areid/another_day_with_my_new_g2

Here is the EXIF info on the stadium shot:

File Name
803-0365_IMG.JPG

Camera Model Name
Canon PowerShot G2

Shooting Date/Time
1/9/2002 7:46:32 AM

Shooting Mode
Auto

Tv( Shutter Speed )
1/160

Av( Aperture Value )
4.0

Metering Mode
Evaluative

Exposure Compensation
0

ISO Speed
Auto

Lens
7.0 - 21.0mm

Focal Length
7.0mm

Digital Zoom
None

Image Size
2272x1704

Image Quality
Fine

Flash
Off

White Balance
Auto

AF Mode
Continuous

Active AF Points
[ Center ]

Parameters
Contrast Normal
Sharpness Normal
Color saturation Normal

File Size
833KB

areid
 
Posts: 55


Post Thu Aug 07, 2003 3:02 pm


I just uploaded a sharpened stadium shot for comparison. Better or worse?

http://www.pbase.com/areid/another_day_with_my_new_g2

procyon_g
 
Posts: 20


Post Thu Aug 07, 2003 5:52 pm


Yes, the sharpened upload is much better. Because the JPEG compression algorithm is an approximation of the raw image, whenever you crop or resize your jpeg image, you lose digital information. That's why you should always use the Unsharp Mask as the last thing to do before uploading the image.

areid
 
Posts: 55


Post Thu Aug 07, 2003 7:13 pm


procyon_g wrote:That's why you should always use the Unsharp Mask as the last thing to do before uploading the image.



Aha! I had misread some of the posts about the unsharp mask and uploading. I will certainly give that a try. Btw, where do I find that mask?

sheila
 
Posts: 1303


Post Mon Aug 11, 2003 12:43 am


areid wrote:
procyon_g wrote:That's why you should always use the Unsharp Mask as the last thing to do before uploading the image.



Aha! I had misread some of the posts about the unsharp mask and uploading. I will certainly give that a try. Btw, where do I find that mask?


The Unsharp Mask is found in Photoshop under Filter >Sharpen>Unsharp Mask. I found it a bit tricky and haven't used it since buying Fred Miranda's actions - US$15.00 and worth every cent, let alone the time saved at your PC when you could be out shooting!
Cheers
Sheila
Sheila Smart
Canon 5D Mark III; 17-40L; 24-70 f/2.8L; 70-300 f.4-5.6 L USM; 135 f/2L; 100 f/2.8 macro; 8-15 f/4 L fisheye

Blog: http://sheilasmartphotography.blogspot.com/


Board index PBase Show and Tell Help with image sharpness

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests