How do I get my subjects sharper?

either have your camera sharpen them or do it in post but all digital images need to sharpened

stanclark wrote in post #14975088
either have your camera sharpen them or do it in post but all digital images need to sharpened

Yea, I do understand that a lot of professional looking pictures have some PP and are sharpened, but I've seen SOOC pictures that have looked quite a bit sharper than my pics, so whatever I can do to improve my technique can only then help the PP result as well imo.

Thanks for all your advice!

mannetti21 wrote in post #14975080
I table or counter-top will work just fine for that simple test. You just need to take the possibility of hand shake or body sway out of the equation. Also a good idea to set the camera to the 2 or 10sec delay timer so you don't accidentally move the camera when you're pressing the shutter.

Great, I'll definitely try this out. Thanks!

use the picture styles in the camera just change the settings, you can sharpen,adjust contrast, saturation.... will save editing time if you set it right

Depends on how you are resizing for web display. There is some sharpening that you can apply in camera but your software is more important for how it will appear on a computer screen.

stanclark wrote in post #14975200
use the picture styles in the camera just change the settings, you can sharpen,adjust contrast, saturation.... will save editing time if you set it right

But isn't that only for a jpeg image? It's my understanding that picture styles don't get applied to raw images, only to the embedded jpeg within a raw file for preview, and the output jpeg. If he's shooting raw, then the styles won't matter.

I'd check thru your Flickr pics and decide which ones meet your expectations and than work to bring those photo choices to the portraits.

The Dark Knight wrote in post #14975071
No, both are SOOC outside of some cropping.

SOOC as jpeg or RAW? If jpeg, what is sharpening set to in your camera? If RAW then you must apply a bit of sharpening to overcome the softness introduced by the camera's AA filter.

By the way, ALL SOOC jpeg images are sharpened, even if sharpening is set to the minimum setting.

Bob_A wrote in post #14979828
SOOC as jpeg or RAW? If jpeg, what is sharpening set to in your camera? If RAW then you must apply a bit of sharpening to overcome the softness introduced by the camera's AA filter.

By the way, ALL SOOC jpeg images are sharpened, even if sharpening is set to the minimum setting.

thanks Bob, the first pic is in RAW, second is a jpeg

The standard focus points are smaller in the viewfinder than they are in reality. It doesn't surprise me that it focused on the bracelet. Spot focus, if you have it, is smaller and may not focus on the bracelet.

f/8 is going to give you more margin for error than f/5 or f/2.

Your 2048s on flickr are plenty sharp, displaying every wrinkle and facial peach fuzz. it is your resizing to 1024 via flickr that is causing a mushiness in web display.

The Dark Knight wrote in post #14981376
thanks Bob, the first pic is in RAW, second is a jpeg

Unless you've told it to do so the RAW processor doesn't add sharpening, or the defaults won't necessarily add enough. In an old white paper Canon recommended adding USM of 300, 0.3, 0 in Photoshop as a starting point to overcome the softness introduced by the AA filter. However, the real amount of sharpening required depends on the camera since the AA filter doesn't necessarily have the same strength across the entire model line for each brand. The amount required also depends on things like the output size of the image.

The Dark Knight wrote in post #14975061
Auto focus, center point focus. Sorry I wasn't clear.

Did you focus and recompose ?

Kirill wrote in post #14985817
Did you focus and recompose ?

On the second picture, yes. On the first one, no. I picked the focus point closest to her

The Dark Knight wrote in post #14986563
On the second picture, yes. On the first one, no. I picked the focus point closest to her

If you focus and recompose - you are forcing camera to missfocus:
http://digital-photography-school.com …he-focus-recompose-method