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If the light isn’t perfect, if you are shooting action – everything that might go wrong will go wrong if you aren’t prepared. Aim of this series is to give you understanding of the digital camera and how it interacts with photographer to produce images you like so much. In this article I will cover common photographer mistakes that result in blurry images, or lack of sharpness in photos. This is the basics of photography that will help you deal with tricky situations such as low light and action photography.
Have you properly sharpened photos?

Using proper post-processing technique can greatly improve quality of your images. Since many digital SLRs on the market incorporate mild in-camera sharpening, you might find this tip very useful.

Try to sharpen your photos with Photoshop. I use USM (un-sharp mask filter) with following settings: 300%/0.3/0 (Read more about my basic work flow here: Processing jpeg). If you don’t have Photoshop you can use software that came with your camera, almost all photo editing programs have sharpening feature.


Soft focus or motion blur?
It’s important to understand distinction between soft-focus and motion blur. While soft focus could be result of defective equipment, motion blur is strictly a user error. It can be a result of: camera shake during exposure.

There is a simple rule that will help you deal with motion blur. It goes like this; you have to keep your exposure setting higher than: (focal length of a lens) multiplied by (Size of sensor).
For example: If you are shooting with telephoto lens, let’s say at the long end 200mm, and you use crop 1.6 camera – then, to avoid handshake, you have to shoot at the exposure equal to 1/320 or faster (200mm multiplied by 1.6 = 320).

This is a handy rule, and personally I use it all the time. So make sure you remember it, in tricky situations it will save you a photo or two.

Are you shooting in the dark?
If you are low light shooter, get a tripod!

As I already mentioned in the previous section, slow exposure can be a serious problem if you want clean and sharp images. So, if you shoot predominantly in low light (clubs, events, inside house, sunsets) try to get a tripod. Tripod will minimize handshake, and will let you shoot even the darkest scenes. If you use tripod, long exposure isn’t a problem anymore, you can shoot few minute exposure and expect crisp images.

Is subject moving?
Tell him/her to stay still!
Fast moving subjects need higher shutter speed to capture images without motion blur. This is closely related to the previous sections of the article. If you are photographing kids that run around, or a moving car, anything that isn’t still, you need fast shutter speed (or quick exposure) to freeze action. Try to use higher ISO even in daylight to boost shutter speed.
What are you shooting?

Is your subject low in contrasts? Is it all one color? Camera AF system has problems grabbing focus in high contrast scenes. It also has problems when most of the frame is one color. For example if you are photographing white wall, focus will most surely get confused – in this situation try to find spot that stands out; in case of a wall, it could be a nail or something of diverse texture and color.

Do you know what is DOF?
DOF stands for depth of field. Increasing depth of field improves image sharpness, sometimes considerably. This is more pronounced when using cheap lenses. For example canon kit lens 18-55 IS that comes with entry level SLRs produce fantastic results when stopped down. Stopping down means increasing DOF. You can control this in your camera through aperture setting. Read more about this here: Depth of field explained.

Center focus point vs. Automatic focus point selection
There is reason why professionals prefer to use Manual mode of the camera. Modern digital camera is an advanced piece of technology, but it isn’t as smart as a human photographer – there are situations when camera can be fooled, focus point selection is #1 on that list. Camera doesn’t know exactly where you want to focus, so it’s better to give exact instructions. Besides giving exact instruction, I only use center focus point; it’s the most sensitive area of my Canon EOS 50D AF system.

Conclusion
Image sharpness is a critical element of photography. Camera manufacturers know this, and they provide excellent tools for us. So if there are problems with image quality, inconsistency of AF, etc. you can be sure that it’s due to photographer mistake. My advice is to stop blaming equipment and instead practice more!