how do you make shots look so sharp and vivid?

how the heck do you guys make your pictures look so sharp?? Here's my best ones and these aren't even anywhere as good. anyone have tips? And plus, all the pics are AFTER post processing. Shot with Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 DC EX Macro

1.

There are several aspects that depict the quality of sharp images, kind of glass is one aspect....but you can still do well with lower end lenses.

A few of your images are quite sharp.

Remember the shutter speed focal length ratio. My rule of thumb is if I'm using a 1.6 crop, my shutter speed is at least 1.6 times my focal length. I.E 50MM means I need at least 80 shutter speed. but I usually push for higher, especially with a lens that does not have IS this minimizes camera shake. Also you can consider a tripod or in some cases a monopod.

Another aspect is understanding AV, and dof, which indicates how much of the image you want to portray as sharp. Subject photography ranges from F 2.8-5.6 depending on distance. Landscape and scenery is different F 8-11

Car info here, https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=70290 Work on your DOF as broncobear suggested.

Use a tripod, ISO 100, min aperture for max DOF, shoot RAW, convert to TIF, use smart sharpen in photoshop. That's the way I do it.

BTW love the RS4 wheels

well, i liked these!!

^^Me Too.

scot079 wrote in post #7760900
Use a tripod, ISO 100, min aperture for max DOF, shoot RAW, convert to TIF, use smart sharpen in photoshop. That's the way I do it.

BTW love the RS4 wheels

what is smart sharpen?

I use unsharp mask. Filter-->Sharpen--->Unsharp mask --> 100%---Radius 3 or 4---Theshold 0


edit: I see where it is now in PS. seems to work about the same way

DutchOven wrote in post #7760204
Here's my best ones and these aren't even anywhere as good.

Pretty close..

sharp & vivid are 2 different things... for vivid images lighting is important, and many ppl process their photos to bring out the best in them before they post in here so consider that their SOOC originals may often not have the pow that you expect

all the pics you posted look fairly similar to me in colour intensity & contrast

Hi there, just a quick thought is the Radius a bit high? Newbie myself so perhaps someone more knowledgeable will come along and enlighten me?

bensherman2 wrote in post #7768440
Hi there, just a quick thought is the Radius a bit high? Newbie myself so perhaps someone more knowledgeable will come along and enlighten me?

Not that my pics are the best but I usually set radius @ 0.6 for web size photos and 1.0 for full/print size photos. Then adjust the amount til the photo looks good. The "smart sharpen" in PS (see above) has a live preview window that shows what effect the sharpening has on the photo.

They all look sharp and vivid to me. Nice exposure on all of them.