What do you think?

[jax314]

I am pretty new to photography, but learning quickly. I recently got a D3000 and am hoping it is not too simple for how much I love this new hobby. I do like the camera and the shot it takes, but pictures seem soft.

Is this relatively normal?

I know I can turn sharening up in the camera, but I was curious....what percentage of the great shots I see here on this site have been post processed?

Are most of the "awesome" shots post processed, either for coloring, sharpening, etc.??


Thanks,

Jax

[OsmosisStudios]

Posting examples of what you consider "soft" will help us determine why that might be. There are tons of reasons why an image can be soft, from the lens itself down to the settings you used. Posting an example (or two or three) with the necessary EXIF information (camera, lens, shutterspeed, aperture, iso, exposure compensation, etc) will help us greatly.

[jax314]

Here is an example taken at 1/30sec at f/5 with ISO 640 and no flash. I may consider this to be a bit soft. I was using the kit lens 18-55 VR (turned on). Maybe it is because 1/30sec is too slow?

BTW, is there a fast way to copy and paste EXIF info?

Thanks for the response,

Jax

[jax314]

Here is another soft one. I was suprised how well Photoshop sharpened it.

Should I have been?

Should I be disappointed that my camera is not sharper by default? I could turn it way up in the camera settings I guess.....but I'm just curious if "normal" settings should be this soft.

This one is at f/5.3 at 1/25sec at ISO 450. Again, this is the kit lense.

[GadgetRick]

I think it's more about the lens than the camera but I could be wrong. Seems to be in good focus but the kit lens isn't going to give you those tack sharp shots you see around here. Many pics here are taken with a fixed focal length lens which are, typically, much sharper.

The optics in the kit lens are, "good enough," but not incredibly awesome if you know what I mean.

But I like the pics. The, "softness," imo, doesn't detract from the image. Also, many portrait photos are softened a bit anyway.

[OsmosisStudios]

Your shutter speeds are too slow. The photos themselves arent bad, but your shutterspeed is long enough that youre capturing movement (often of the little girl) which is coming off as blur. At these sizes it's almost imperceptible, but im sure that at anything closer, it's much more evident.

Kit lenses arent "bad". In the right hands (and under the right conditions), they're actually excellent. But you need to know what those conditions are.

[jax314]

Thanks for the responses guys. I am being shipped a prime lens as I type, so hopefully that will help...better glass and should improve shutter spped times in lo light conditions. For what its worth, I spent a lot of time reading D3000 reviews and most say that by default, this camera has its in-camera sharpening set lower (perhaps on purpose to be able to do more in PP). They simply suggest to up the sharpness by +2 and than it is on par with other cameras in its class, such as the XS (I really wanted an XSi but they were out of the lens).

We'll see what happens as I learn more.

BTW, do you think most shots posted here are PP in some way???

Thanks,

JAx