Bright Sunlight Pictures

Quick question: Why does it seem like whenever I take pictures in bright sunlight the photos don't look "smooth" and really sharp. It is not camera shake or focus issues, it's different than that. This seems to happen frequently in sunshine photos. Can the sun cause your pictures to be too sharp (if that makes sense). Do I need to compensate for bright sunshine and underexpose a bit to get my photos sharper?
Any advice is appreciated.
Thanks,
Randall

Do you have any sample pics that demonstrate the issue you're having?

If you are trying to take long range pictures air shimmer and evaporated moisture can have an affect. Even though you may not see them with your eyes either or both can screw up your photo. Sample pictures would help.

Mike

Bright sunlight can also exceed the dynamic range of your camera. The difference between bright and dark are too much so you either lose highlights or shadows, and thus you loose the sense of smoothness. Most good landscape photography is done early and late. Portrait photography too for that matter.

Pics in bright sunlight may also force very small apertures, which creates diffraction and resulting softness.

Thanks for the replies.
Randall

True too, but usually pictures taken in bright light (which often is sunlight) are of subjects showing a very high contrast, and a large range between brightest and darkest point.

A soft light, filtered through clouds or something, will illuminate much more evenly, and thus make the images look soft and flat.

TRACER wrote in post #14832168
Quick question: Why does it seem like whenever I take pictures in bright sunlight the photos don't look "smooth" and really sharp. It is not camera shake or focus issues, it's different than that. This seems to happen frequently in sunshine photos. Can the sun cause your pictures to be too sharp (if that makes sense). Do I need to compensate for bright sunshine and underexpose a bit to get my photos sharper?
Any advice is appreciated.
Thanks,
Randall

If you meter the subject correctly, and avoid the glare, there is no reason why the picture will be less sharp. I usually use an off-camera flash for my sun light pictures...

Try a CPL or maybe a ND filter ... If possible- move the subject out of sun if possible. Shoot earlier in the day or shoot later in the evening. Shoot in Manual or AV modes- avoid the dreaded green box and fully automatic modes.

Lots of good comments. What are you usually shooting where you notice this? In such situations shoot with ISO 100 and use higher shutter speeds if possible to keep from using those really small apertures that cause diffraction. As stated above, see if you can move subjects to shade or use reflectors to fill so you can reduce contrast and drop exposure without losing the shadows. If you are doing landscapes, try doing multiple exposures bracketed so you can create an HDR image and increase dynamic range. ND filters can help but have to be used carefully to prevent flare and you can't use cheap ones because you'll get distortion and color casts. Bright sunlight is generally a royal pain in the rear which is why most of us try to avoid it if at all possible.

Could it be chromatic aberration?

Do you notice cyan or magenta color fringes in some high contrast areas? A good description of CA is here:
http://en.wikipedia.or​g/wiki/Chromatic_aberr​ation

Try using a smaller aperture.

After reading all the replies, the sharp contrast seems to make the most sense. It's as if the lines (i.e. a person's face as it seperates into the background) is not sharply defined. You have to look close (not necessarily pixel peep), but there just isn't the clearly defined seperation at the edge of objects. Not softness or out of focus, just ......maybe "harsh" is a better word. I notice it more with people's faces than anything else.
Make sense?
Randall

TRACER wrote in post #14840951
After reading all the replies, the sharp contrast seems to make the most sense. It's as if the lines (i.e. a person's face as it seperates into the background) is not sharply defined. You have to look close (not necessarily pixel peep), but there just isn't the clearly defined seperation at the edge of objects. Not softness or out of focus, just ......maybe "harsh" is a better word. I notice it more with people's faces than anything else.
Make sense?
Randall

Try fill flash on faces in bright sunlight...I think you will see some improvement.

TRACER wrote in post #14840951
After reading all the replies, the sharp contrast seems to make the most sense. It's as if the lines (i.e. a person's face as it seperates into the background) is not sharply defined. You have to look close (not necessarily pixel peep), but there just isn't the clearly defined seperation at the edge of objects. Not softness or out of focus, just ......maybe "harsh" is a better word. I notice it more with people's faces than anything else.
Make sense?
Randall

Yeah. Sounds like you have a bad case of contrast. As others have mentioned, samples would tell us a lot more. Without samples we're stuck with guessing.