Please help me get better pictures before my honeymoon

Hi all. I am a fairly new A70 owner and I am trying to get some better images from my camera before going on my honeymoon in a few weeks. My biggest concern is that some of the pictures I take seem out of focus, but I am not sure if that is really it or if I just need more post processing to sharpen them up. I have already turned off the AiAF and am doing a spot focus on my subject then composing the picture, but it still doesn't always turn out right.

here is a gallery of sample pictures that I have taken

http://www.schelmbauer.com/galleries/categories.php?cat_id=12

If anyone has suggestions on what I can do to get better pictures out of my camera please let me know.

do this:

use F at f5.6/f8.0 and use a tripod or keep it steady and you will have great sharp pictures...it works!!

One more thing is...the white cast it produces in images...as i've been seeing in my images, all of them sufer of this problem wich i think it can be reduce...by pushing down the exposure to -1 (at full bright sun) -2/3 (sunny) and -1/3 (at common daylight)

for landscapes manual focus on infinity or things above the 10 meters

JDF

I concur with the previous poster. A tripod is the top thing that will advance anyone's photography. Take the camera off 'auto' (I like Av) and shoot at higher f stops. This slows the shutter speed and brings on camera shake ... thus the tripod. Even flash pics at 1/60 are dificult to take off a tripod. 1/125th is actually the slowest most can hand hold and you have to be steady to get this.

Faster speeds ... thus lower f stops ... bring on shallow depth of field and the plane of focus must cut your subject right down the middle. At f/3 if you take a pic of somebody's face from close up ... the nose can be sharp and the ears blurry. At f/8 the DOF is much much deeper. Although if one gets into hair splitting f/8 in a digicam can bring on diffraction. Slight fuzziness if you kick the image up to 100% and above. Drop down one stop or two for maximum sharp.

--
http://www.pbase.com/sfleming

Too many cameras ... not nearly enough photography.

Jon S. said:

Hi all. I am a fairly new A70 owner and I am trying to get some
better images from my camera before going on my honeymoon in a few
weeks. My biggest concern is that some of the pictures I take seem
out of focus, but I am not sure if that is really it or if I just
need more post processing to sharpen them up. I have already
turned off the AiAF and am doing a spot focus on my subject then
composing the picture, but it still doesn't always turn out right.

here is a gallery of sample pictures that I have taken

http://www.schelmbauer.com/galleries/categories.php?cat_id=12

If anyone has suggestions on what I can do to get better pictures
out of my camera please let me know.

Click to expand...

you shouldn't need to process your photos in order to get them sharper if you have focused right. just try to make sure you get a proper high contrast area to focus on. i suppose the most annoying thing about digital cameras is that the lcd screens are so tiny you can't really see if something is in focus or not.

but anyway. to take good photos. you need good ideas i imagine. think about what you want to capture before you shoot anything. the exception of course is when you see something beautiful in which case you'll know what to shoot.

when approaching my subjects deliberately, i always try to have an image in my mind of what i'm capturing. i think about the mood, and the emotions that i want to evoke with the photo, blah blah.

just keep your eye open. look around you. think about what makes a beautiful image beautiful. and then apply it in your own shooting.

hope that helps.

w.kai

http://pat.themoffatt.com/~wengkai/index.php

i don't see the problem, with the exception of that cat, they look pretty sharp. some sharpening is done afterwards anyway.

when in doubt always use the screen, you should be able to tell if it locked onto something and is sharp or not.

---Mike Savad

Jon S. said:

Hi all. I am a fairly new A70 owner and I am trying to get some
better images from my camera before going on my honeymoon in a few
weeks. My biggest concern is that some of the pictures I take seem
out of focus, but I am not sure if that is really it or if I just
need more post processing to sharpen them up. I have already
turned off the AiAF and am doing a spot focus on my subject then
composing the picture, but it still doesn't always turn out right.

here is a gallery of sample pictures that I have taken

http://www.schelmbauer.com/galleries/categories.php?cat_id=12

If anyone has suggestions on what I can do to get better pictures
out of my camera please let me know.

Click to expand...

--
http://www.pbase.com/savad/
http://www.photosig.com/go/users/view?id=9050
http://www.artsig.com/go/users/view?id=52

jdf said:

do this:

use F at f5.6/f8.0 and use a tripod or keep it steady and you will
have great sharp pictures...it works!!

Click to expand...

the problem with this advice is, if the light is low, the shutter will be slower. and therefore camera shake will be the cause. for portait a shorter depth is wanted, as you can get a blurred shot on f8 as well.

jdf158673 said:

One more thing is...the white cast it produces in images...as i've
been seeing in my images, all of them sufer of this problem wich i
think it can be reduce...by pushing down the exposure to -1 (at
full bright sun) -2/3 (sunny) and -1/3 (at common daylight)

Click to expand...

this is correct to an extent. all the canons i've seen so far over expose the shots. however a white haze over the whole picture is light across the lens. in which a hood or a shade is needed.

---Mike Savad

--
http://www.pbase.com/savad/
http://www.photosig.com/go/users/view?id=9050
http://www.artsig.com/go/users/view?id=52

Mike,

I have no issue taking sharp pics w/s45. However I have never been able to tell if an image is sharp using the LCD. Even when I zoom in max (I should know this zooms to actual pixels or not, but it seems it doesn't)
sharp pics look blurry and blurry ones too.

Al

mike savad said:

i don't see the problem, with the exception of that cat, they look
pretty sharp. some sharpening is done afterwards anyway.

when in doubt always use the screen, you should be able to tell if
it locked onto something and is sharp or not.

---Mike Savad

Click to expand...

Thanks for all of the suggestions everyone. I am going to try and do some more experimenting and see if I can learn some more in the next few weeks.

Jon S. said:

Hi all. I am a fairly new A70 owner and I am trying to get some
better images from my camera before going on my honeymoon in a few
weeks. My biggest concern is that some of the pictures I take seem
out of focus, but I am not sure if that is really it or if I just
need more post processing to sharpen them up. I have already
turned off the AiAF and am doing a spot focus on my subject then
composing the picture, but it still doesn't always turn out right.

here is a gallery of sample pictures that I have taken

http://www.schelmbauer.com/galleries/categories.php?cat_id=12

If anyone has suggestions on what I can do to get better pictures
out of my camera please let me know.

Click to expand...