Free Cheat Sheet: Sharper Photos in Camera

1. FOCUS IN THE RIGHT PLACE

• Make sure that you have your focus set to the most important part of the photo. For people subjects, choose the eyes as the spot to focus. If your subject is not a person choose the area of your frame that tells the story of your photo.

2. FOCUS POINT: CHOOSE WHERE YOU FOCUS

• Which brings us to our next tip—choose your focus point instead of allowing the camera to choose it. Set the camera to single point focusing. If your camera allows it, move the focus point around as necessary to ensure the focus is just where you want it.

3. GOOD LIGHT ALL THE TIME

• The camera needs good light in order to grab a good focus. The more light you have the better. Use any light that makes you happy—just make sure that the eyes are well lit on your people subjects (catchlights are a good way to judge this) and that there is enough light avail- able for the AF to grab a good focus.

4. KEEP THE SHUTTER SPEED FAST

• Keeping a fast shutter speed will help keep your photos sharp. When photographing kids, try to keep the shutter speed above 1/200 whenever possible. For other shots, keep your shutter speed at least the same as your focal length (i.e. focal length 100mm = 1/100 shutter speed.

5. DEPTH OF FIELD

• It takes practice to shoot at open apertures like f/1.8. When first shooting at these apertures, some think their photos are out of focus. The reality is generally that something in the photo is in focus— but it isn’t what you intended. Practice and being specific about where you are focusing will help get your focus right.

6. SAY NO TO FOCUS AND RECOMPOSE

• Whenever you are shooting at an aperture f/2.0 or wider and close to your subject DON’T lock in your focus and recompose the shot. With such a wide aperture there isn’t any room for error. You’ll get better results by moving your focus point over the closest eye.

7. ISO AS LOW AS POSSIBLE

• ISO doesn’t really affect sharpness, but images shot at high ISOs often don’t look as sharp because of the noise/grain that high ISOs show. Keep your ISO as low as possible without sacrificing a good exposure.

8. LENSES CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE

A nicer lens will generally give you sharper photos. Kit lenses (i.e. an 18-55 f/3.5-5.6) are made with inexpensive glass. Exceptions are the Canon 50mm 1.8 and the Nikon 50mm 1.8. Both are sharp lenses with an inexpensive price tag.