Ultra Clear

[mdaddyrabbit]

I see a lot of photos here and other places, some really are so clear that it looks like I could be standing there. I have seen people using the kit lens, the L lens and all in between. What if anything can be set on my 20D that would give me an advantage. I know its the light and focus but I am not sure being new with the SLR if I have my stuff set correctly.

[Chazs]

I see a lot of photos here and other places, some really are so clear that it looks like I could be standing there. I have seen people using the kit lens, the L lens and all in between. What if anything can be set on my 20D that would give me an advantage. I know its the light and focus but I am not sure being new with the SLR if I have my stuff set correctly.

I think an eye for lighting (or sheer dumb luck in my case) is far more important than settings on the camera. Lighting can make a picture pop, or go completely flat and boring. Practice practice practice. I think every 1000 pictures make me about 1% smarter and better. I'm up to about knowing 8% more than when I started this silly hobby.

[Jesper]

Like Chazs says, the most important thing are the circumstances when taking the photo. If the light is dull, it's not going to be a beautiful and clear photo.

Properly post-processing your photos on the computer is also important. You can make almost any photo that comes right out of the camera, doesn't matter if it was made with an L lens or not, better by tweaking it on the computer. You'll need to learn and experiment, play with your photos and try out different things, to get a feeling for how to make the most out of your photos with Photoshop.

Have a look at the post processing tutorials etc. mentioned in the sticky topics in this forum.

Here's a start:
Understanding Local Contrast Enhancement (http://luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/contrast-enhancement.shtml) - this often works to give your photos more "pop"

[grego]

Everything mentioned above is very useful, but also having clean equipment can't be stressed enough. Keep your lens clean and scratch free, and you should be good to go.

[PhotosGuy]

If you're shooting jpgs, you can adjust some processing parameters in the menu. If RAW, then try this:
RawShooter
http://www.outbackphoto.com/artofraw/raw_18/essay.html

[12345Michael54321]

Keep your lens clean
Good advice, to be sure. But I would caution people that this doesn't mean frequent lens cleaning is necessary or desirable. Almost without exception, cleaning the lens every time a speck of dust can be seen on it is a big mistake. A few specks of dust will rarely impair the quality of the photo in any meaningful way. But frequent cleaning of a lens can damage it, in ways that soon become quite visible.

Not saying lens cleaning is wrong. If your lens is dirty, clean it. What I am saying is, don't clean it unnecessarily. And when you do clean it, please be careful to use the right materials - not, if you can avoid it, a paper napkin from Taco Bell, or a shirt sleeve - and a little care.

When it comes to cleanliness, there's a fine line between godliness and obsessive/compulsive disorder. :)

[scottbergerphoto]

The major reason for soft pictures is too slow shutter speeds. Keep your shutter speed at least 1/lens focal length including crop factor, at a minimum. That means for a 100mm lens on a 10D or 20D, a minimum of 1/160 hand held.