Sharpness question

[clutchkiller]

Do any of these images look sharp? I know a lot of pictures that I post on this board are soft, but I'm not sure if it's me, or my camera/lens. Thanks for any answers... and please do not be afraid to hurt my feelings... I want to improve the quality of my shooting and I will not be able to do that if people are just being kind.

I've posted a couple before, sorry for the repeat.

Snow bunting and dove @ 600mm (300mm with 2X TC)

Male downy and mallard @ 420mm (300mm with 1.4XTC)

Female downys @ 300mm

 

[DEERSLAM]

The dove and the mallard are nice and sharp...the others are alittle off. Still like all your pics

 

[leod]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (DEERSLAM @ Feb 23 2007, 08:12 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

The dove and the mallard are nice and sharp...the others are alittle off. Still like all your pics

[/b]

Ditto, I too often have pics that are not as sharp and as colorful as I want, but as I am so new to the DSLR's, and have not got the best lens available I feel most of my problems are correctable ...


I subscribe to the "blind hog technique" of taking pics

I am very glad we have a forum here that is so acceptable of our attempts, so many are not

 

[clutchkiller]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (leod @ Feb 23 2007, 06:31 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

I am very glad we have a forum here that is so acceptable of our attempts, so many are not

[/b]

Thanks for the replies DEERSLAM and Leod.

I agree with you Leod. Most of the photog boards have people on them that have been doing it for years... it can be very intimidating to post your pics there.

 

[foulshot]

Paul, Just looking at your shots I'd say for most part they are sharp. It's just a matter of the DOF to me(through my eyes)
#1 is sharp below the birds feet at the rock. Seems to have a shallow DOF.
#2 looks sharp all around with nice bokeh!
#3 slightly soft, but good comp.
#4 looks pretty good with sharpness on the mallard
#5 same as #3
#6 also same as #3. I looked at your exif, F/4 is going to give you a narrow DOF, so your sharpness may only be in a small area.
It looks like you were shooting in less than great conditions if you had the ISO up to 800. I wouldn't get discouraged. You are taking some great shots!!

 

[clutchkiller]

Thanks Zach,

I posted a few bird shots on FM to be critiqued, all of the replies were... they're too soft, and the advice given was to increase my ISO and shutter speeds. I was flipping-out a little thinking it might be my gear, I would much rather have the problem be me.

I don't like using high ISO speeds, but if that's what they suggest, I'll give it a try.

 

[billkay]

Considering the amount of glass you are using, is it possible that some of the "softness" could be attributed to camera shake? With that much lens you would need to be shooting in the 1000/sec range to be totally free of the problem. Also, are you shooting digital or film? Many digi cameras have a built in teleconversion factor of about 1.3. Thus a standard 200mm lens is actually pulling about 260mm. Comp. looks good. Keep working at it. There's no better teacher than experience.

 

[clutchkiller]

Thanks for replying Bill, I'm pretty sure (I hope) that my focus was off. I think for most of the images my shutter speeds were over 1/1000th of a sec, except for the dove and maybe the snow bunting. I've only been shooting my DSLR since October of last year so I know I shouldn't expect to be shooting like a pro yet, I was just hoping for a bigger improvement than I've experienced so far.