Out of Focus

[Kaye]

I would appreciate you giving me your opinions on what i'm doing wrong that seems to prevent me from getting good focus alot of the time. I took this picture yesterday and it just does not seem clearly focused to me. You notice it more if you will look at the large version on my fickr account. This photo has not been edited except to be cropped. Any advise would be appreciated.

Some of the other photos I took yesterday are also on my flickr account and none of the horses seem to be exceptionally clean to me. I'm having even a harder time forcusing people unless it is a closeup portrait type of shot.

Thanks for any help.



Camera: Nikon D80
Exposure: 0.01 sec (1/100)
Aperture: f/9
Focal Length: 240 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0/6 EV
ISO Speed: 200

Software: Nikon Transfer 1.0 W
YCbCr Positioning: Centered
Exposure Program: Aperture priority
Metering Mode: Pattern
Color Space: sRGB
Contrast: Hard
Saturation: High saturation
Sharpness: Hard
Compression: JPEG
Colour Mode: COLOR
Quality: FINE
White Balance: AUTO
Sharpening: HIGH
Focus Mode: AF-S
White Balance Red, Blue Coefficients: 52993/1, 29697/1, 1/1, 1/1
ISO Speed Requested: 200 (May be different to Speed Used when Auto ISO is on)
Tone Compensation (Contrast): HIGH
Lens Type: 2
Lens Min/Max Focal Length, Min/Max Aperture: 70/1, 300/1, 4/1, 56/10
Bracketing & Shooting Mode: Shooting Mode: Continuous AE/Flash Bracketing Off White Balance Bracketing Off
Tag::Nikon Type 3::0x008A: 2
Colour Mode: MODE3a
Lighting Type: NATURAL
Image optimisation: MORE VIVID
Saturation: ENHANCED
Tag::Nikon Type 3::0x0E10: 2658
Image Width: 3872 pixels
Image Height: 2592 pixels

[Elmo]

Several thing that might possibly help. The first is the area of interest is very low contrast which can cause some issues with auto focus.

I also wonder if camera movement might be an issue. I noticed the 240 mm focal length used on a 1.5 crop sensor giving a usable focal length of 360mm. Rule of thumb says minimum shutter speed should be 1/360.

I also notice all camera internal controls set to maximum values. This extra processing COULD possible cause some loss in overall quality. I might suggest trying to shoot raw and doing the corrections in post processing.

And last but not least the lens could be a little soft or slightly out of focus.

[Kaye]

Internal controls set to maximum values. I hate sounding stupid, but could you please explain. Are you talking about color, what?
Thanks for advise. I appreciate your taking the time to try and help.

[jiminyClickit]

Kaye,

This is one of those few times the EXIF tells us more than usual, as Elmo noticed:

-Contrast: Hard
-Saturation: High saturation
-Sharpening: HIGH
-Tone Compensation (Contrast): HIGH
-Image optimisation: MORE VIVID
-Saturation: ENHANCED

Your settings are emphasizing all the slight differences in tone, light/dark, and color difference throughout the image. You might try resetting all to normal levels and shoot some experimental subjects to see what difference it makes.

[inkista]

Also, as Elmo mentioned, the shutter speeds aren't fast enough to eliminate camera-shake blur. I'm not sure you have to work the crop factor in. The general rule of thumb is that you want to be shooting at 1/focal_length or faster, so if you're shooting at 300mm, you want to be at 1/300s or faster to eliminate camera shake.

Another thing to consider is whether or not you're using a single autofocus point, and choosing a focus target, or if you've got the entire matrix activated, and letting the camera decide what to focus on. Using a single focus point gives you more control. You also want to aim for areas of high-contrast.

Remember that with longer focal lengths and the larger sensor of a dSLR, you have a smaller depth of field than you would with a P&S camera, so there will often be some parts of the photo that will be out of focus.

[Kaye]

Thanks for all your advise. I'll try some practice shots tomorrow with normal/default settings.
I do have a question. It I set my Op. Image to: Vivid, is the camera still using the +saturation, contrast: hard, sharpening: high, etc settings I have under custom?

Thanks

[jiminyClickit]

Nikon manual says: _______ (fill in blank)

[Elmo]

Elmo is old, Elmo is shakey. Elmo need all he help he can get so adding in the crop factor cannot hurt.

On the serious side I feel that the smaller pixel size and increased pixel density of a reduced crop sensor is better able to detect motion. Therefore I like to include the crop factor.

[jiminyClickit]

Elmo crack me up.

[inkista]

Elmo can haz monopod? Yes, certainly, adding in the crop factor can't hurt. I always refer this whole 1/focal-length thing as a "rule of thumb"--it works a lot of the time, but not always.

One other thing to mention, just in case, is that this limit also assumes mastery of basic handholding technique and no stabilization.