Nature Photography How To

One of the most common questions inexperienced photographers ask themselves is, “why aren’t my images sharp?” When this frustrating dilemma occurs often it may actually discourage shooters from pursuing their hobby.

Fortunately there are ways to diagnose and solve this problem once and for all. In the eight-minute tutorial below, one of our favorite instructors explains how to quickly determine what you’re doing wrong, and then he shares his favorite tricks for consistently obtaining precise focus with the lenses you already own.

Simon d’Entremont is a professional nature and wildlife photographer based in Nova Scotia, and he makes a pretty bold claim: “By the end of this video, I’m confident you’ll take sharper pictures that show off the clarity and details to reveal the full splendor of your subject.”

The “sharpness checklist” Simon provides is easy to master, and the techniques work great for just about any outdoor photos you shoot. He begins with the importance of shooting in the best light. And by “best” he means both the quantity and quality of illumination. As he explains, “sharpness if often perceived as the difference between sharp bright and dark areas of micro-contrast.”

To capture this contrast you need directional light that will make sharp edges well lit compared to adjacent areas of sharp shadow. Simon says, “This is best achieved with direct sunlight or an external light source like a flash or LED panel.” He displays a beautiful image to demonstrate how this works.

Simon also discuss how shooting at high ISO setting in poor light may result in noisy images with less apparent sharpness, why an insufficiently fast shutter may be the culprit with certain types of subjects, and the importance of choosing your camera’s optimum focus mode for the task at hand. In the latter case he explains the difference between One Shot and Continuous autofocus modes.

He notes that One Shot mode is great for photographing static targets, while Continuous AF is a must if you want sharp results of subjects in motion. There are several other topics of importance, so be sure to watch until the end.

If you want more solid advice on improving your outdoor photography, just visit d’Entremont’s popular YouTube channel.

We also encourage you to watch an earlier tutorial we posted, explaining the finer points of using shutter speed with intention for either maximum sharpness or creative effects.