Boat not focused

[Kaye]

Here's a picture I took of a boat today. It's just not right. Not clear and out of focus. Please give me your thoughts.



Optimize Image: More Vivid
ISO: 110
White Balance: Auto +2
Tone: High
Sharpness: High
Metering: Spot
Shutter: 1/30
Aperture: F22
Ex Mode: Shutter
Exp. +/- : +0.3
Focal Lenght: 70mm
No flash

I had been trying my hand at panning and didn't change the shutter speed.

Thanks

[jiminyClickit]

Kaye,

When I looked at the large Flickr version, it's not as unsharp as 1/30 sec. might have been expected to cause. Did you use a tripod?

Sometimes a whole boat looks better than a crop like this. If the rigging went as high as I believe it does, you'd have to go Portrait-orientation, making boat a little smaller in the photo. You got the interesting parts here.

Overall, a fairly good photo. You'll do better soon.

[lputman]

I bet a tripod would have helped in this situation. If you used autofocus, just make sure the actual focus has been set.

[clockdoc]

Hi. I think it is more a matter of camera movement at 1/30 second than an issue of focus. Do you understand the relationship between aperture and shutter speed? For example, your could have shot this at f/16 and 1/60 sec. or f/11 and 1/125 sec. and so on allowing for a faster shutter speed without sacrificing the need for extra depth of field.

An interesting test to see how steady you are is to fasten a small mirror to the front of your lens with rubberbands (with the lenscap in place for safety). Aim a flashlight beam at the mirror and have it reflect onto a wall 10-15 feet away. Then as you release the shutter , note how much the beam moves around.