Poor Image Quality in Snow

[Maine60d]

I just bought a Canon 15-85mm. My first day with the lens, I tried to take some pictures of my dog playing in snow. Granted, a black dog in snow can be difficult to expose properly, but I was very disappointed with the image quality. In the below pictures, the side of his face was the focal point. There really doesn't appear to be any area in the photo that is in good focus. All the snow pictures that day were similarly poor quality. Indoor, the lens seems fine. Am I missing something technique-wise, or could it be that reflected light was wreaking havoc on image quality? I have a nice Hoya UV filter on at all times. The pictures below are from the same image, the one of his mouth is cropped to show what I mean about poor image quality.

Shutter speed was 1/160, aperture 7.1. Servo AF if I remember correctly.

 

[Maine60d]

Here is another shot, focal point right on his eye. 1/160 f/7.1

Forgot to mention, these were taken with a 60d

 

[Apewithacamera]

Your shutter speed is too low and it really shows in the close up you provided.

 

[Maine60d]

Even with IS? I figured 1/160 could easily be hand held. Maybe I wasn't holding the camera as still as I thought. He was stationary in both shots.

 

[Apewithacamera]

You holding the camera with IS on would be great with a very stationary target at that SS. The simple action of your dog breathing maybe even panting was fast enough to cause all those motion induced ghost images.

Do see the ghosted images (the highlights of the fur) in your close up photo?
Try again at twice the SS and see what you get.

 

[barmaley111]

Your shutter speed was too low for the action shots, IS doesn't help when shooting fast moving targets. Try turn it off and set shutter speed at least 1/400s, actually the faster the better. for moving dog it should be 1/500 - 1/1000 to get images that are free from motion blur.
--
Kind regards,
Alex.

You are welcome to have a look at my gallery:
http://alexsukonkin.com

 

[jenbenn]

1/160 of a second is certainly NOT too slow for a stationary subject at 59mm focal length. However, are you sure that the dog war really stationary? He might have been shaking the snow off his fur? In that case a higher shutter speed could have led to a better result.

In any event, test the lens oudoors for focussing accuracy with the central af point pre-selected and one shot AF mode . Make sure the camera has a clear view of the focuiing target (no snow or rain).

Some further advice on Af usage: The 60Ds Af system is not perfect in continous mode (particularly with an all black subject). Always shoot more than one image when in continous mode and make sure the active focus indicators is placed over a high contrast area of your subject, for example the eyes instead of the fur. Pre-selecting the center focus point in continous mode also improves accuracy greatly.

If focussing is spot on, you may have to adapt yourself to the image stabilizer. In my experience, the stabilizer can cause slight image blur if the shutter button is pressed too quickly. SO my advice would be (if an AF error can be excluded). To half-press the shutter to engage the IS , wait for half a second, while keeping the shutter half pressed to allow the IS to settle and only then take the picture. If shooting moving subject in continous AF mode it may even be necessary to switch the IS off, depending on conditons. Report back, if none of my advice solves your issue.

 

[Apewithacamera]

Here is a photo of a stationary dog at twice the SS of the OP's dog.



All movement was satisfactorily frozen.

 

[photonius]

I just bought a Canon 15-85mm. My first day with the lens, I tried to take some pictures of my dog playing in snow. Granted, a black dog in snow can be difficult to expose properly, but I was very disappointed with the image quality. In the below pictures, the side of his face was the focal point. There really doesn't appear to be any area in the photo that is in good focus. All the snow pictures that day were similarly poor quality. Indoor, the lens seems fine. Am I missing something technique-wise, or could it be that reflected light was wreaking havoc on image quality? I have a nice Hoya UV filter on at all times. The pictures below are from the same image, the one of his mouth is cropped to show what I mean about poor image quality.

Shutter speed was 1/160, aperture 7.1. Servo AF if I remember correctly.

I concur with the other comments, looks like motion blur. IS only helps against you shaking the camera, it will not hold your dog still In the first picture, it looks like the body of the dog may be sharper (can't really tell at provided size), because the body is not moving???
And you have to let IS settle for 1/2 sec or so.

Also, you used AF servo. This will take pictures even if the subject is NOT in focus.

There is no focus confirm like with single shot. I don't know how the AF servo algorithm works, but it seems to work best with objects moving towards or away at constant speed. Erratic movements will not be predicted well.

--
Life is short, time to zoom in ©

 

[Zeee]

Even with IS? I figured 1/160 could easily be hand held. Maybe I wasn't holding the camera as still as I thought. He was stationary in both shots.

IS has nothing to with a target that is moving. IS only stabilizes the person holding the camera.

 

[Maine60d]

Thanks for all the comments. I just went outside to try to take another few test photos. I was able to get a picture with him standing still this time with one shot AF. Manual Exposure. Unfortunately, its overcast so I could only get 1/60 but that shouldn't be too slow with him standing still I wouldn't think. The 2nd picture is a manual exposure with 430EXII flash, hand held at 1.3 seconds (accidentally set), and it is TACK sharp. I am thoroughly confused what could be causing such poor image quality outside. I was able to get off 3 shots while he was standing still and they were all poor quality.

I did let the IS settle on the first picture, as well.

 

[Maine60d]

Sigh I'm new to these forums. In the above message, I swapped the 2 images... I meant to say I handheld the FIRST tack sharp photo and let IS settle on the 2nd (poor, outside shot.)

 

[Maine60d]

Thanks, I guess I didn't account for his even very slight movement. I would have thought 1/160 could sufficient freeze such slight action.

 

[RedFox88]

Hi, it looks like you are new to an SLR camera, right? If so you have a learning curve ahead of you. Taking photos of a black dog with snow on the ground on a sunny day is a bear for a digital camera for exposure and focus. An SLR camera focuses differently than a P&S digicam does. A black dog is low contrast (solid color) and the same goes for white snow.

Good luck learning the SLR camera system and over time your photos should improve. And ai-servo on a black dog will be trouble for accurate focusing because of the low contrast of the dog.

 

[Maine60d]

Sadly, I am not that new to SLRs. I have had my 60d for a little less than a year now... I am however fairly new to shooting snow. It has proven very challenging for me. Shooting a black dog in snow is indeed very challenging. I have some great action shots of him in the summer. I was afraid that the 15-85 didn't handle snow reflection very well, but looks like it is my technique that is poor.

 

[Peter too]

If you push the ISO up to at least 400 and open the lens to f5.6 that should allow a shutter speed of around 1/500 sec and avoid most problems caused by movement of hand or dog.

 

[Dave Peters]

The flash shot is effectively the exposure time of the flash - very short and not the actual shutter speed. So you still don't know if the problem is shatter speed or something else.

What I would do is raise your ISO so you can take an outside shot at high shutter speed. If that solves your blurr problem then you know its down to shutter speed - even though you may not like the additional noise of the high ISO.

--
Dave Peters
http://www.dpphotoimages.com

 

[Apewithacamera]

Your welcome and good luck to you.

 

[photonius]

Sigh I'm new to these forums. In the above message, I swapped the 2 images... I meant to say I handheld the FIRST tack sharp photo and let IS settle on the 2nd (poor, outside shot.)

Well, it still looks like motion blur. But as long as you are aware of all possible issues, settle IS, shutter speed, AF mode, AF point, you should be able to get handle on it.

As mentioned, with the flash image, the flash freezes any motion, a flash may last only 1/10000 to 1/1000. So, a long hand-hold shutter speed will not interfere, AS LONG as the long exposure is not long enough to contribute ALSO to the total light of the image. If you get weird ghost-like images, it's often when you combine flash with enough background light and a sufficient long shutter speed.

(PS: you can edit your post ONCE, if you notice some mistake, as long as you do it within 15 minutes)

--
Life is short, time to zoom in ©

 

[Zeee]

You can even go higher than that with these new sensors. 800 or 1600 if needed to keep that shutter speed up. I have shot 12,800 at low light sporting events with my 7D. No reason the 60D can't match that performance.