Learn how to take tack sharp photos!

One of the most common questions I receive in the comments and via email concerns sharpness. Readers are not satisfied with the quality of their pictures and seek advice. It is not surprising, considering that blurry photographs are nearly impossible to salvage and can ruin an otherwise exceptional shot.

In this article series, we will investigate the most common causes of blurred pictures:

• Camera Shake: Caused by long exposure times. Image stabilization can only do so much; learn what you can do to avoid it.
• Motion Blur: Fast moving subjects can cause blur. Learn what to do about it.
• Wrong Focus: What are the focus techniques that will give you sharp pictures?
• Depth of Field: What you need to know about it to get sharp shots.
• Wide-angle Lens Focus: Some points you should know if you decide to go wide.
• Telephoto Lens Focus: And the other way around.
• Camera Issues: Many blame their tools for poor artistry. Sometimes the gear really is to blame; find out how to test your camera.

Which of these do you like best?

Confronted with an unprecedented range of software programs and sliders, digital photographers sometimes struggle finding the right balance. Browsing through the websites of my esteemed photography colleagues, I get the feeling that the opinions on color treatment seem to diverge, rather than converge. New software companies, like Topaz Labs, satisfy the need of the extreme end of the spectrum, while purists contest the unnatural appearance of these pictures. Composition and lighting alone used to make good photographs, but today it seems that color treatment becomes just as important. Since all our senses are overloaded every day, it becomes harder and harder to make a visual impact. Attracting a viewers attention may require a bold statement, but how bold is too bold and how much is too much? 

Train your perception and improve your compositions.

We are born with the capability to see and we hardly contemplate about it unless we lose or eyesight or our focus. Yet the way we see greatly determines our “talent” as photographers. Low-level subconscious brain functions filter the information our eyes capture, before it reaches the slower and more complex areas of our brain where we make conscious decisions. Sometimes we must learn to un-filter information so that we can grow our talent and go beyond our previous capacity as photographers.

How we see

We are incapable to process all the information our eyes capture. Most of our senses have filters, that pre-process and classify information.

While you are reading this, you will not feel your left foot, until you start concentrating on it. This is of course assuming your foot did not send out alarm signals (pain) before.

Perception happens only in a very small field in the center of our vision. While you are reading this page, your eyes follow the words, despite the fact that your field of view is broader than this page. This is because your brain only recognizes things that you focus on.

We also have peripheral vision. In the peripheral vision, we quickly identify movement, but we have no clue what moved. We need to focus our attention, the center of our vision on the moving subject to identify it.

Our brain processes information from the center of our vision different from the peripheral vision. Our camera does not discriminate between the center and the edge of the frame.

It is all about options, or why I really like SilkyPix Pro.

I have been using SilkyPix, and recently SilkyPix Pro, for a while now and always loved the sophisticated control and ingenious options that the converter offered. Resisting Change is natural and lies within the nature of all things. We have to invest some energy to dissipate on the learning process. Maybe that is the explanation for the monoculture of Aperture and Lightroom, but I am glad I made the effort.

Adobe Camera RAW 3, my previous RAW converter of choice does not support my new Canon EOS 7D camera. I decided not to upgrade Photoshop CS3 and skip a few versions, mostly due to Adobe's funky licensing policy. I ate up my licenses when I had trouble with my raid and re-installed a few times (with and without raid). Photoshop saw a new computer upon each installation and eventually claimed I had too many licenses in use, offering no recourse or help.

SilkyPix Pro does not seem to have this problem. I re-installed numerous times due to computer crashes until I finally got a new machine last fall. The people at SilkyPix (Roberto) are exceptionally easy to deal with in contrast to the call center reps I get at Adobe. I also downloaded the Lightroom 3 beta, but the support for the 7D isn't very good. The white balance looks off and the noise reduction for high ISO noise is insufficient. I assume that Lightroom 2.5 works well with the 7D, but I am not going to buy it and rather evaluate version 3.0 when it comes out.

Amazingly, the support for my 7D was there in SilkyPix Pro, even though I got my 7D when it had just come out. I had the same experience when my 450D had just come out. There was no update for ACR yet, but Silkypix 3 already supported it. Silkypix seems to be Japanese and they appear to have close ties to Canon.

With the new EOS 7D, Canon introduced a camera with APS-C sensor and positioned it above its previous top APS-C lineup, the XXD series. With this strategic move, Canon has once more the best available APS-C camera on the market. The 7D outshines all other crop factor cameras and even manages to score points against its more expensive full frame rivals. Canon manages the tightrope walk of combining some of the best features of APS-C cameras, such as more reach and a super fast shutter, with the superior image quality and resolution of full frame cameras through its advanced new CMOS sensor.

Learn the skills to get the shot, no matter how fast your subject moves.

In Part 1 of this tutorial, I explained the connection between Shutter Speed, Aperture and ISO sensitivity. In this part, I will elaborate on some practical applications and show you how to set up your camera to achieve the effects you want.

Whether you want to freeze action or blur the lights of a car at night, motion is a primary concern of many shooters. Many questions I receive relate to motion. Some readers of Part 1 suggested that I continue my series, elaborating on different scenarios to help guide you through many possible photography scenarios you may encounter.

Freezing Motion in Action Shots

An example of a subject frozen in Motion is this photograph of a rock jumper in Maui.

The successor to HDR Photostudio has arrived. Read my reviews of HDR Expose to find out what has changed and learn more about the new software.

In the fascinating world of technology, nothing is ever static. Once more, a company from the San Francisco Bay area set out to change the world forever.

Unified Color have just released new software, HDR PhotoStudio, which promises to satisfy color fanatics and bring HDR to the masses. Unified Color invited me to review the software and write an honest review.

As always, I will update this page as new updates become available and I will try to answer your questions if I can.

I found a better way to back up my photographs in the field.

Since laptops are too heavy to carry around all day, I used to rely on image tanks for backup outdoors. That strategy works very well for me, but it did lack the capability of viewing images. That is where expensive image tanks with RAW viewer such as the Epson P6000 come in. Since the P6000 costs about $600 at the time of this writing and this photographer is always looking for better deals, I never bought one.

I ended up carrying my laptop on many trips so that I could connect to the internet and manage my websites. Outside, I simply swapped flash memory cards and back in the hotel room, I ran backups to my laptop and my image tank. I carry the image tank into the field, in case I run out of memory.