What causes softness in photos?

<p>What would cause your photos to result in softness? lack of light? would any know what causes softness in photos taking pictures of nature?</p>

<p>I would say that 95% of soft photos is due to faulty technique on behalf of the photographer.</p>

<p>Angel is correct, but to be more specific...</p>

<ul>

<li>Camera shake (caused by unsteady hands, a flimsy tripod, a lack of IS, using a shutter speed that is too slow for a given focal length or just plain having a shutter speed too slow to hand-hold at any focal length). Although, this isn't technically softness and can be used to effect.<br /> </li>

<li>Diffraction caused by using small apertures (typically starts around f/13 - f/16 on crop and 35mm cameras) </li>

<li>Using apertures that are wider than what a given lens is optimized for. For example, an 18-55 kit lens is probably noticeably soft at f/3.5 (18mm) or f/5.6 (55mm), but stopping it down to f/8 or f/11 (respectively) makes a big difference. Some lenses work very well wide open, typically only high-end, expensive models, though (think 70-200/2.8 IS)<br /> </li>

<li>Some lenses are just plain soft, but not many.<br /> </li>

<li>High ISOs and noise-reduction (though mutually exclusive) can smudge over details.<br /> </li>

<li>Piling on lots of cheap filters, which can lower resolution.</li>

</ul>

<p>That said, it is mostly down to user error by means of being unaware of how to use their photographic tools to their optimum. Now you're aware :)</p>

<p>Printing on cashmere.</p>

<p>Excessively soft grey matter.</p>

<p>Just to add to Epp B's excellent list of reasons...</p>

<p>Poor light. In good bright light you get great sharpness (assuming you know what you're doing). In poor light, even with wide aperture you can get softness, not all the time but quite often.</p>

<p>If you have a fetish for sharpness this is a serious question. Basically two reasons are contollable by the photographer.<br>

First focus is incorrect. It can be difficult to get this right under conditions of low light, crop cameras and eyesight like mine. In good light your camera AF should get it pretty close. In poor light AF is a lottery, and I prefer to manual focau if I can.<br>

Second reason is movement. Movement can be ameliorated by using higher shutter speeds but once again this is not allways possible. Try photographing something moving in pre-dawn light, very hard to get it sharp.<br>

As a general rule (all rules are meant to be broken) if light is poor go for the highest ISO number you are comfortable with, and then some. Open up the lens to a stop over its minimum. Hold that camera still!<br>

If the light fades so that the exposure is getting to be ISO1600, below 1/100, F4 I find it better to go to my tripod (I hate tripods), reset the camera to ISO100, set Av to F7 and let the shutter go where it will. I trip the shutter using a 10 sec time delay.<br>

Hope this helps. Once you have found a technique that works for you then think about getting sharper lenses if you still seek sharpness.</p>

<p>Some of the softness you see is imposed by the camera itself. The cameras today do an 'anti-alias' when storing the image on your memory card. This is to help with the stairstep effect.</p>

<p>Open a photo in your favorite editor - try the "sharpen" feature - be careful and don't over sharpen.</p>

I bought an L for my 40D and decided to take a step back and assess my techniques

I read thru many basics and played and one key item was aperture!

Shooting a 3" wide flower with a DOF of 0.8" is a sure way to soften or ruin a shot

I now shoot 80% in Av mode and the quailty difference is amazing

I'd allowed semi-auto cameras make me lazy and thus sloppy

Let the subject determine your f stop, not lighting conditions

<p>a soft focus filter ?</p>

<p>a dirty lens ?</p>

<p>Greasy fingerprints will definately do it.</p>

<p>Fungus makes for a great soft focus lens ;-]</p>

<p>Umm.....<br /> <br /> How about Diffused light? Its not all about the equipment and camera setting you know.</p>

<p>I once had my daughter picture printed on her birthday cake. It was really soft, yummy though. Sorry couldn't resist :)</p>

<p>Now we understand what causes the softness. They best way to fix this is using the nix software plug called sharpen works like a charm and you will see a big difference. Lots of times when you look at your photos and they may looked out of focus but they are not, is just that the photo is to soft. This can be fixed using the correctly software and plugs in with a imaging program. I now shot in either av and tv mode. P mode is really not that good and sometimes is way off especially on overcast days. On sunny days p works pretty good, but av or tv mode works even better. You can use p mode to get an idea how to shot in av or tv, but always try to find your sweet spot mostly f/8 - f/11 depending on the lens. </p>

<p>Marc, sharp<em>ening</em> will <em>never ever</em> replace sharp.</p>

<p>I can get silly-sharp bird images from my 40D and 100-400mm, handheld at 400mm, wide open, and I don't need to go anywhere near Nik Sharpen.</p>

<p><em>But I know how to use my gear.<br /> </em></p>

<p>The best way to fix "this" (<strong>and don't you think it might help us if you told us what "this" is?</strong> ) is to learn to use your gear properly; learn to analyse problems properly; and then learn how to ask for help properly, with a clearly-stated question supported by examples and shooting details.</p>

<p>Otherwise every single word on this thread is a waste of time, and it - and every similarly vague thread you've started - will be pointless until you do your bit and contribute something of value to the "discussions" you raise here.</p>

<p> </p>

<p><em>" On sunny days p works pretty good... [sic]"</em></p>

<p>P mode for "Pro", right?<br>

<em><br /> </em><br>

<em>"They best way to fix this is using the nix software plug called sharpen works like a charm and you will see a big difference... [sic]"</em></p>

<p>Wow. I had no idea. One learns something every day. To think I don't use Nik and all my photos are so soft -- for shame!</p>

<p>One thing that has not been mentioned is that high contrast can make an image look sharp to the human eye even if the image is not really sharp. The photo below was taken with a 5D at about 1/700sec F7.1 at 400mm. Since the 100-400 lens I used is not a macro I severely cropped the RAW image. I then had to increase the resolution significantly to for a club project. I made no other adjustments to the image. I didn't sharpen it. Cropping and then increasing the resolution can significantly soften an image, and in fact it did (if you examine it very carefully against the original at high magnification. However it has gotten a lot of complements for being sharp. </p>

<p>People preceive it as sharp because it has black right next to white or yellow. It has a lot of contrast in critical places. The human mind reads that as being sharp. You can also do everything right, but if there is little or no contrast in the image, people will see it as soft. </p>

<p> </p><div></div>

<p>For once, Keith and Ken, your belligerence is bang on. Why does this confused (and confusing) guy continue to waste our time on this forum? Do you think it's soft-headedness, or deliberate obfuscation?</p>

<p>Mark Pierlot, thanks for pointing out that Mark Felber started this forum by asking the question and then says later the way to fix it is sharpening the image.</p>

<p>Mark Felber, I don't agree that sharpening is the way to fix an image. If you make a mistake, shutter speed too low, slightly out of focus, etc. sharpening in most cases does little if anything. Unless you over do it, and that causes easily seen artifacts. I consistently use a tripod, take care to insure the camera is in focus and consistently get very good images that need little if any work.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>would any know what causes softness in <strong>photos taking pictures of nature</strong>?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Earthquake?</p>

<p>Not hitting the sweet spot of the lens...ie. Wrong aperture.</p>

<p>Aside from what has been said, if you are taking photos of insects and flowers it is best if you use a ring flash and a tripod.</p>

<p>G`day Ken, I always thought `P` for pretend, darn wrong again ;-(</p>

<p>Marc.. where are your before and afters?</p>