Why are my further distance pictures not sharp?

[SilverBullet07]

I would like some help in pointing out to me why my images that are shot from a longer distance are not sharp like I would like. It seems that photos I take that are shot from 10' or greater distant are not very sharp. I'm wondering if it is the lens or my camera settings.

If I capture a nice tight, closeup photo, I can zoom in close on the photo and it is nice and clear, crisp. But once I start getting some distance between me and the subject the sharpness starts going away.


I added two photos. The first not being sharp as I would like and the second nice and sharp. The difference is focal length, aperture and iso speed. At first, I thought the ISO speed was causing it, but the second one has higher ISO and is sharper.

The second one is a diffferent lens - 55-250mm but the same issue with this lens further distance I get.

I captured the first photo with my kit lens 18-55mm lens. I should have been focused on the bride or at least I thought I did.

Just hoping someong can shead some light why the difference and help me improve the longer distance shots.

Thanks



Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/4.5
Focal Length: 34 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: On




Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/5.0
Focal Length: 96 mm
ISO Speed: 800
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: On

[OsmosisStudios]

Where, exactly, do you see a lack of sharpness?

To be honest, they're both a bit soft.

[SilverBullet07]

They were both captured in portrait mode. That might be where the softness is coming from. But look at his ribbons on his chest, they seem really blured.

[archersdad]

Are you using a tripod or monopod? 1/60th of a second is plenty of time for handheld vibration to rear it's ugly head. Maybe open the aperature a stop so you can shorten the shutter speed.

[SilverBullet07]

No tripod was used. Hopefully that is the problem. I'll try to increase the shuttter speed. I did not want to wast a lot of time so I was running the camera on program mode during the wedding. Hoping the camera would do better then me taking the time to adjust settings.

[Dianna M]

If you stop down your aperture (shutter opening) you will get more depth of field. A common aperture for group portraits is 11. A 5.6 or wider like you used on these portraits, is fine for a single person portrait. If you are using auto modes than nothing you do is really going to change that as the camera is making all the decisions for you. You need to use manuel or Aperture modes.

[kaypea]

I just wanted to say I have the same problem! I have an Xti and can take wonderful closeups but when it comes to distance I get blurry shots. One thing I've been paying attention with lately is the AF. It has to have something defined to focus on. A face isn't real good and the further back you go the harder it is to find something to focus on. I also think Camera shake has something to do with it. I'm not sure but wanted to let you know I have the same problem. It drives me bananas!

[kirbinster]

I would guess it is the slow shutter speed for hand held shots. Go back to the "rule" that your shutter speed should be no less than one over the focal length.

[rediguana]

Originally Posted by SilverBullet07

Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Focal Length: 34 mm

Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Focal Length: 96 mm

The first image had a shutter speed ( (1/)60 ) > focal length (34).

The second image had a shutter speed ( (1)/60) < focal length (96).

A good rule of thumb is that the shutter speed (ignore the 1/) should be at least as much as the focal length. The second image really should have had a shutter speed of at least 1/100 - 100 being greater than 96.

Something else you may want to try is putting it on multiple frame mode, and firing off 2-3 frames at the same time. You'll often find that even if the shutter speed is a little slow, at least one of the frames will be usable.

If you're shooting in Portrait mode, the camera may be smoothing the output photo slightly meybe? Have you tried shooting in manual (M) mode with the same settings and seeing if the resulting image is any sharper?

[Mr Guy]

Obviously hand holding technique and shutter speed have been mentioned, but I want to through out another possibility. Are these out of camera jpeg?

They aren't all that soft in the first place, and the softness you do see in the fine detail is a combination of Canon's denoising, hand holding technique, and possibly some edge softness inherent in your lens.

Look at the bouquet, it doesn't look soft at all.

Try doing a somewhat controlled experiment in similar lighting, if you can, with the in camera noise processing turned off or at least cranked way down, then crank it up without changing the environment.