In summary to take photos as sharp as possible you need to do the following:

Make sure everything you want is in focus

• Focus on subject
• Small apertures

Avoid camera movement

• Hold the camera properly
• Use faster shutter speeds
• Use a tripod
• Use flash

Avoid Subject motion

• Use faster shutter speeds
• Use flash

Get the best resolution you can

• Use 6 megapixel or better digital camera (or 35mm film camera)
• Use low IOS setting or film
• Use fine quality setting and highest file size on digital cameras
• Use good lenses (avoid cheap plastic)

Do these things and you'll find your pictures will turn out sharp. Try to follow as many recommendations as regularly as possible so that the once-in-a-lifetime photo you take, turns out nice and tack sharp when you want to enlarge it. Just like you saw it!

This may seem like a lot to remember, but start with one or two things at a time. As you practice, your find more and more of your photos turn out sharp.

Usually, we think only digital camera's have resolution, but film has resolution too (some think that digital cameras are a revolution but we are just concerned with resolution right now). I am also going to tie film grain and digital noise into resolution, even though they are different from resolution because the end result in the real world is the same (less grain or noise will appear to be a higher resolution in many cases).

Resolution is the amount of information your camera records when you press the button. With a digital camera the light causes an electronic process in the camera. With a film camera the process is a chemical one. It is most easy to understand in digital terms. 

A six megapixel camera will produce a file of about 18 megabytes in Photoshop.

In a digital camera, the sensor chip is made up of little circuits that change when light hits them (to put it very, very simply so I can understand it). Each circuit records a speck or pixel of information about the light hitting it (again, this is a very simplified, inaccurate way of describing it but you get the picture). The number of pixels (basically dots) that make up the picture equal the resolution. The first digital cameras had a sensor with about 640×480 rows of pixels or dots. This equals about 307200 pixels or  about .3 megapixels (this was loudly proclaimed photo quality by the manufactures – a term they used for several generations of digital chips which still tends to give digital a bad name around some professionals). This is also typical of many mobile phone cameras today. The size of file this actually about 921600 pixels when you open with Photoshop in a computer. A six megapixel camera will produce a file of about 18 megabytes in Photoshop.

A good 35mm negative shows about 24 megabytes of information

By comparison, a good 35mm negative, when scanned into a computer, shows about 24 megabytes of information. You'll find that a 6 megapixel camera will produce quality that is equal to a 35mm. This is why I recommend if you are looking for a digital camera you start looking at 6 megapixel cameras.

It is amazing how often that "once-in-a-lifetime" shot occurs

It is true that most people will never make anything larger than 4×6 or maybe 5×7 prints from their photos with maybe an occasional 8×10. A 2 megapixel camera will give an ok 8×10 and is just fine for 4×6's. Why do I recommend a 6 megapixel camera if all you want are 4×6's for your scrapbook?

Chances are, sooner or later, you will take a picture where you just cannot get close enough to the subject (maybe you don't really feel like getting into the swamp for a close up of that alligator).

If you want to crop around that alligator you will actually be using a smaller number of those pixels. If our alligator takes up a quarter of the original picture, your 4×6 will already be more that equal to that 8×10 in actual information. What are the chances that photo will also be the one you really want to make 8×10 for the starting page of your vacation scrapbook? Because we view smaller photos more close up, you may not have as much detail when you crop as you would like (those sharp teeth may look more like dull white blobs up close). I can't tell you how often I saw situations like this in the film processing business. It is amazing how often that "once-in-a-lifetime" shot occurs.

A 6 megapixel camera will provide a level of quality equal to 35mm

The standard in photo quality that most are used to has generally been the 35mm photograph. A 6 megapixel camera will provide that level of quality that we have become used to in terms of resolution. If you are really into photography one of the 8 megapixel cameras will make you happy for years.

What about grain and noise? Do they have an effect on resolution?

While a bit different than resolution, grain will make a difference in how much detail you see in a picture. Grain shows up as speckles in a photograph. It is very dependent of film speed. 100 – 200 ISO film speeds (or less) show very little grain. A 400 ISO film will show moderate grain. High speed films such as 800 ISO and higher show excessive grain. Again, at 4×6 size grain (even in high speed films) will not bother you much. As soon as you crop or enlarge those photos, that grain will become very apparent.

The film companies can charge a lot more for an 800 ISO film than a 100 ISO film

A few years ago, many film companies started to suggest higher speed films as do everything films (or even calling them "self adjusting" films – an extremely liberal use of the term – I won't say dishonest, but….). While higher speed films do have an advantage when it comes to exposure latitude (the amount your camera can goof up the correct exposure) and stopping action (remember those high shutter speeds we wanted to eliminate movement), you may be sacrificing useful resolution for speed.

Not to mention. the film companies can charge a lot more for an 800 ISO film than a 100 ISO film.

I personally recommend not going above 400 ISO unless you are trying to shoot indoors without flash (and without a tripod). If you are looking for the absolute best photos you can take, and it is bright and sunny, use 100 ISO film. If your shooting fast subjects (sports like Grandpa in the Olympics mentioned above), or it is cloudy out, use ISO 400. Many point-and-shoot cameras are really designed for ISO 400 and if you need one film that will work in almost all situations use ISO 400.

What is noise anyway? (I don't hear anything from my photos)

With digital cameras we have something that acts just like film grain only it's called noise. Ever try to watch a television program on a channel that did not tune in good? Those little specks of color (the "snow") are noise. Noise is almost exactly like grain, the faster the ISO setting on the digital camera the more noise you get. For the moment, just like film, you'll see little noise at ISO 100 -200.

Most consumer digital cameras lose out to film at ISO 400 and higher

This is where things change very drastically between digital and film. As I write this (early 2006), most consumer digital cameras lose out to film at ISO 400 and higher. In fact, combine a 400 ISO and a lower resolution camera or file setting (maybe 4 megapixel) and things will look more like that out of tune TV than a photo. This is very dependent on the camera. High quality new SLR cameras like the Canon D20, D30, 5D, and the 1D and 1Ds actually do better than film at higher ISOs. Typically the smaller chips used in point-and-shoot cameras are more sensitive to noise (even higher resolution models). While they are currently a little behind film (for the most part), I expect that within the next year we will see this change as the new cameras will improve on noise even at high ISO settings. Very soon I believe ISO settings will not matter at all as far as noise is concerned and will be an additional creative tool.

Always, always use the highest quality (jpeg) setting you have 

One other difference between digital and film is the quality setting on a digital camera. Always use the highest setting you have. Something that I can never figure out is why someone would spend hundreds of dollars more for the latest gigapixel camera and then use the lowest quality setting so they can fit more on a memory card. Buy a cheaper camera! (Sorry I feel like screaming.) Then spend the extra money on memory cards.

One last, minor factor on resolution is lens resolution and image size 

A lens also has a resolution or at least resolving power. A cheap plastic lens with simply not give you as much detail as a high quality lens from a top camera company will.

As we increased film resolution and began to use smaller formats the importance of having sharp lenses increased

In the early 1900's camera lenses were no where near as sharp as current lenses. Photographers used larger sized film to help make up for this (along with the higher grain film had back then). The larger film formats would be less sensitive to lens imperfections. As we increased film resolution and began to use smaller formats the importance of having sharp lenses increased. Almost all digital cameras today use a sensor the size of an APS film format (about 1/3 the size of 35mm) or smaller. The only exceptions to this are very expensive professional level cameras.

This is something I have not seen mentioned in most digital photography discussions

What this smaller image size means is the quality of the lens is very important. It will actually have to be sharper than the lenses used for 35mm film cameras to produce the same level of detail. This is something I have not seen mentioned in most digital photography discussions. For the most part lenses today are extremely sharp but I suggest staying away from consumer electronic brands that so not have a reputation for optics, although many have lenses made by well known lens makers,like Zeiss.

Some manufacturers may do this to make their camera appear to make sharper pictures vs. a manufacturer that doesn't sharpen as much but has a camera that produces more detail

Some digital cameras also tend to over sharpen the image when the camera is processing the image. This is something you won't notice till you have an enlargement made and the halo around object is noticeable from over sharpening. Some manufacturers may do this to make their camera appear to make sharper photos vs. a manufacturer that doesn't sharpen as much but has a camera that produces more detail. Some cameras will let you set the amount of sharpening done to a file. All digital photos will need to be sharpened at some point. It is usually best to go with moderate sharpening in camera and let the real sharpening be done as the photo is printed.

Here is the conclusion to this guide to taking sharp photos.

You used a really good tripod and a remote release so the camera was rock steady. Still, your daughter looks like she has four eyes and three arms (and she doesn't wear glasses). What happened? She moved. When it comes to subject movement, you will not have too many choices. You can use a faster shutter speed or get a slower subject. 

A sitting subject may look sharp as slow as 1/15th

You will find adults a bit easier to get to sit still than children or pets (at least sometimes). A sitting subject may look sharp as slow as 1/15th of a second. That same shutter speed will make even Grandpa look like an Olympic runner if he is walking.

 Obviously the faster the subject, the faster the shutter speed you will need

It will also make a difference what direction the subject is moving. If the subject is approaching or receding directly to or from the camera or traveling across the camera's field of view. If Grandpa (as long as he was so kind to let us use him in the above paragraph we'll use him a bit more- maybe he was an Olympic runner) is walking toward you, you won't need as fast a shutter speed as if he is walking past you. Keep in mind that his arms and legs will be moving even faster than his whole body and may be blurry even though the rest of him is sharp. Obviously the faster the subject, the faster the shutter speed you will need.

 When there is any concern about subject movement, you always want to try for higher shutter speeds

For a slow person walking towards you (like good old Gramps) 1/30th to 1/60th of a second may be fast enough. A faster subject such as someone on a bicycle (or Grandpa in his Olympic days) will need a much faster shutter speed like 1/250th or 1/500th of a second. Something like a Formula 1 racing car will take speeds like 1/1000 of a second or faster. Unfortunately there are no exact numbers; it is something that takes a bit of trial and error, plus a camera (most likely an SLR of some sort) that will let you choose a shutter speed. When there is any concern about subject movement, you always want to try for higher shutter speeds.

 Again, you may not own a camera that lets you select the shutter speed.  You are then stuck with whatever speed the camera chooses. To make sure the camera chooses a fast shutter speed you can:

• Only take pictures when there is lots of light
• Use a faster ISO setting or film
• Wait until the subject stops moving
• Use the subject movement to tell the story

 How can you use a photo that is not completely sharp?

Some subjects actually look good with subject movement.

If you want to show the strength of the ocean as it crashes against the rocks you may want to use a high shutter speed to stop it sharp

Water, for instance, can look good if it is tack sharp stopped with a high shutter speed. If you want to show the strength of the ocean as it crashes against the rocks you may want to use a high shutter speed to stop it sharp.

A longer shutter speed will blur it and make it look soft and gentle

Water can also look great blurred. A longer shutter speed will blur it and make it look soft and gentle. This technique looks great for rivers and waterfalls. It depends on what kind of story you are trying to tell.

Panning is following a moving subject with the camera during the exposure

Another kind of blur that can tell a story is caused by a technique called panning. Panning is following a moving subject with the camera during the exposure. Just follow your moving subject with the camera (try to keep the same speed) and press the shutter button as it goes by. Make sure you continue to follow after you press the button (kinda like the follow through on your golf swing). This will cause the subject to look sharp and the background to blur. This is a great way to show motion and demonstrate the feeling of speed in a photo.

Panning whenever you think you may have lower light levels (an overcast day) will help you get a picture with a sharp subject. When done right; panning trades camera movement for subject movement in a way that makes a picture look sharper.

Next we'll look at how important resoluton is to sharp photos and what is resolution anyway.

Usually, everything looks like it is in focus but nothing looks really sharp or you start to wonder if you need glasses (or new glasses and yours are only a month old). You spent all that money for that latest gigapixel camera, but honestly, it doesn't seem to take pictures any sharper than the old one you gave to your spouse.

Worse, you cannot even tell which person was Julia Roberts in the photo you took when you ran into her at the supermarket (even worse, your insurance agent can't tell if the picture is of the dent in your car or her's).

Just taking a breath or the beat of your heart will cause enough movement to blur your photo

Even when we are standing still, our bodies have a tiny amount of movement to them. If you are really excited (like you just ran into Julia Roberts) that little movement is probably not even little.

As the shutter in your camera is open for a longer period of time, it becomes more sensitive to that tiny movement

Just taking a breath or the beat of your heart will cause enough movement to blur your photo in many situations (personally I'd rather have a beating heart than a sharp picture, given the most likely reason for no heart beat). Camera movement can be controlled two ways: faster shutter speeds or stabilizing the camera.

 Length of your lens will affect the amount of camera movement

A faster shutter speed will stop blur from camera movement (later we'll talk about subject movement which is also helped by faster shutter speeds). Again, length of your lens will affect the amount of camera movement just like it does depth-of-field. A good rule of thumb is to use a shutter speed equal to the length of your lens. I prefer twice that speed for safety.

Most people can take sharp photographs with a 24mm wide angle lens at 1/60th of a second. Try to hand hold one of those huge, expensive 600mm lenses the sports photographers use, and you will need a shutter speed at least equal to 1/600th of a second, plus you will need a second mortgage and a good chiropractor. A safer speed might be 1/1000th of a second. The bad news again: if your not using a SLR or DSLR you may not be able to choose your shutter speed anyway because most of the cameras people buy choose the shutter speed for them just like it chooses the aperture.

 If you cannot set the shutter speed and you think you may have problems holding the camera steady enough to get a sharp picture, what should you do?

Lets look and steadying the camera.

Start by making sure when you hold it, you are holding it properly

Almost all cameras now are designed to be held in your right hand with your right index finger used to press the shutter button (sorry lefties). Brace your left elbow against your chest and use your left hand to hold the weight of the camera or cradle the lens. I have even seen a camera manual that suggested foot placement with a diagram (yes, those manuals do even show you how to hold the camera-were you already doing it right?). Just like an Olympic sharp shooter, you want to squeeze the shutter button when you take the picture. You can use a good solid wall or tree to brace the camera or brace it on any solid object you find usable.

Flash has a duration that is extremely short, acting like a very fast shutter speed

Your flash can also eliminate camera movement. Flash has a duration that is extremely short, acting like a very fast shutter speed. The only problem is that there are times you can't or don't want to use a flash (museums or that really dark church your daughter decided to get married in). Flash will also not help much if you are far from your subject.

A new technology that can help get rid of camera movement is image stabilization

Canon calls it IS, other manufacturers have different names. This technology moves lens elements to compensate for camera movement. Initially only available on those expensive lenses the sports photographers use, it is being included on many much more affordable lenses. It is even included now on some point and shoot cameras. This technology can allow you to shoot 2-3 shutter speed settings slower than you could hand hold without it. It still has limits and does add to the cost of the lens or camera.

A very inexpensive but very sturdy way to stabilize a camera is a bean bag.

You can mold the bean bag to a shape to hold the camera in many different positions. You can even make your own out of an old sock, (please wash it first) sown shut and filled with rice.

 The single most valuable accessory for your camera is a tripod

Perhaps the single most valuable accessory for your camera (if you are serious about taking great pictures) is a tripod. Because they need every photo to be as sharp as possible, you will almost never see a professional photographer without a tripod nearby. In fact, a good, sturdy tripod is a professional photographers best friend (it's a lonely life).

Unfortunately, most tripods available in consumer electronic or discount stores will not do a good job of holding your camera still. You'll find most photographers use a tripod by Gitzo or Manfrotto (formerly known as Bogen). While there are other good brands, these two seem to be the most trusted and popular. They are a bit more expensive than most of the flimsy, cheap models (sometimes flimsy, cheap models are sold expensively) but they are worth the extra cost since they actually do the job.

 A tripod that is convenient to use, is more likely to get used

Two disadvantages of a tripod are that they are heavy to carry and cumbersome to use. You can now get carbon-fiber tripods that are extremely light and still strong. Carbon-fiber tripods also cost more than the standard models but if you ever have to carry a tripod on a hike you'll start thinking they are worth twice the cost. In the ease of use department, Manfrotto has the Neotec tripod with a pistol-grip head. The Neotec is extremely fast to set up and easy to use. A tripod that is convenient to use, is more likely to get used.

 When you use your tripod it is also important to remember, that for long exposures, the action of your finger pressing the shutter button will also cause camera movement.

When you purchase that tripod, order a remote release for your camera. Most cameras now use an electronic or an infrared remote. Just make sure it is for your make and model. If you do not have a remote release (or left it back home on the kitchen counter), you can use the camera's self-timer. By the time the timer triggers the camera, any movement from pressing the shutter will have subsided. It will, however, take a really good sense of timing to get a photo of Junior sitting still using the timer. He probably will not sit still that long.

Junior not being able to sit still brings us to our next tip to taking sharp photos – Subject Movement

Seems simple enough? Well, there are several reasons this can happen, most of which have nothing to do with the camera being broken but all have to do with taking sharp photographs.

Too close the the subject

I have seen literally thousands of pictures ruined because of this one cause. A large portion of these are of newborn babies. Why? While we are trying to fill the frame with those tiny faces, we simply get too close to the subject to focus. Different cameras have different minimum focus distance (how close you can get).

The first step to fixing this problem is finding out how close your camera will focus.

For this we check that little book that came with your camera known as the instruction manual (you may see this theme repeated a lot here). You can usually find it (the distance – I can't help you figure out where you left the manual) in the section that tells you how to focus the camera or listed in the camera specifications at the back of the manual.

After you know the distance, it can help to use a yardstick (or meter stick for those of you used to the metric system) or tape measure just to get a good idea how close that is and how it looks in your viewfinder. You can also use it to measure baby's current height while it's handy and you may want to write it down in your scrapbook next to baby's picture. This has nothing to do with focus but you may appreciate it a few years from now. Anyway, it can be a little easier to know if your too close once you have a good idea what is too close.

Most, but not all, autofocus cameras will give you some kind of confirmation if it is focused or not or maybe if you are too close.

I know, now I tell you after you had to go search for a tape measure. Again, check your manual to find out.

The camera has focused on the wrong subject

A second reason pictures are out of focus (not sharp) is the camera has focused on the wrong subject. A common situation when this occurs is trying to take a picture of two people and there is a space in the middle between them.

Most cameras focus (or most reliably focus) on a spot in the center

Most cameras focus (or most reliably focus) on a spot in the center of the viewfinder (the little window you look through to “compose” you picture. If that spot happens to be a different distance than your subject (perhaps distant mountains), your subjects will be out of focus.

Lock focus by holding the shutter button halfway down

“So,” you say, “what's the trick this time and do I need to look at that silly manual again?” Most cameras will let you lock the focus on a subject by holding the shutter button down halfway and recompose (fancy word for moving the camera) before pressing the button all the way to take the picture. And yes, you may want to check your manual and see what it says (besides they usually have a picture to demonstrate). Some cameras can sense if you have a subject not centered (maybe your friend is just too-way-out-of-line in which case this may not help). Maybe they use “the force”?

Some cameras have a mode that will force the camera to only focus at a farther distance

A very similar situation is when you try to take a picture through a fence or window and you have a sharp fence (or sharp reflection of you) and your subject (that million dollar horse in the field behind the fence) is not sharp. This can be a bit trickier of a situation. If you can use the recomposing method you are ok. If not, you may have to jump over the fence or break the window (I suggest to try opening it first-and don't blame me if someone gets angry at you, I am not advocating vandalism just good photography). Some cameras have a mode that will force the camera to only focus at a farther distance. This may even make that fence magically disappear (you'll need a magician to make the horse disappear-if you broke the window, maybe he could help you disappear). This is usually symbolized by a little picture of a mountain (but not always, sometimes the mountain picture means a wider depth-of-focus range which I'll talk about in a second-don't you wish we could all be more consistent with these symbols). This is definitely something you want to check that good old manual for!

One more note on recomposing. In most cases, the little changes in camera angle required to recompose will not make a difference in your focus distance. If you move too much though (step forward or backward) you may change the distance and move out of focus. It is important not to move too much when you do this.

Depth-of-field

A final focus related problem to sharp pictures is called depth-of-field. Depth-of-field refers to the total area that is in focus. This is a complicated subject that has to do with: focal length of the lens, aperture, focal distance and planet alignment (ok, planet alignment has nothing to do with it or with anything else for that matter, but focal distance does have a lot to do with physics, which is kinda like rocket science, which may have something to do with getting to planets). I'll try to make some simple instructions.

Lens focal length refers to the length of the lens. Ok, what does that mean? Simply, a telephoto lens (or a zoom lens when you “zoom in”) has a long focal length and a wide angle lens (or a zoom lens “zoomed out”) has a short focal length. At long focal lengths, less area will be in focus

At long focal lengths, less area will be in focus. A good example of this is the lenses sports photographers use when they cannot be close to the action. The athlete or part of the athlete (lets say a close up of a baseball left fielder catching a game winning out) is in focus while the background is out of focus (fortunately we can't see the overweight fan who is not wearing a shirt). At short focal lengths, larger areas can be in focus (allowing the photographer about to stepped on by a basketball player to have almost everything in focus (and a footprint on his forehead because everything looked so far away in the camera). If you want to have a subject close and a subject far away in focus a wide angle lens will help (in case you want that fence and the horse both in focus).

 Aperture has to do with the size of the opening of the lens. This is measured in something called f-stops and to confuse you more smaller f-stop numbers mean a larger opening and larger f-stop numbers mean a smaller hole. A larger f-stop (smaller number) will mean less is in focus. A smaller f-stop (larger number) will increase depth of field and more will be in focus. Unfortunately (or fortunately, if you find this confusing), unless you have a SLR (single lens reflex) or DSLR (digital single lens reflex) you probably cannot adjust the aperture of your lens directly anyway.

 If there is lots of light your camera will choose a smaller f-stop and you will have more in focus.

What will affect the aperture is how much light is available. If there is lots of light your camera will choose a smaller f-stop and you will have more in focus. If there is not a lot of light (brightness-while technically 40 candles on your birthday cake is more light, it probably is still dim compared to the sun) less will be in focus.

 That pretty much covers how focus affects sharp pictures. Next we'll look at how camera movement causes blurry pictures.

Probably one of the biggest reasons photos do not turn out like we want is because they are blurry or not as sharp as they could be. My goal with this guide is to give you advice on why this happens, and how to take sharp photos.

If you have been disappointed in results from your camera, it may not be the camera.

Just changing a few things in the way you use your camera, can make a huge difference in the quality of your digital photos or film photography and get you sharper photos. Even pro photographers need to keep these in mind when they take pictures or else they cannot rely on getting sharp photos to sell.

You may not need to run out and buy a new digital camera.

First, try a few of these techniques for sharp photos and see if they help. While a more expensive digital camera will have a higher resolution, if your 4×6 photos look unsharp with a 3 megapixel digital camera, they will look just as blurry with an 8 megapixel camera. You will see a difference with an 8×10 enlargement with more detail from a camera with a higher resolution.

If you try the techniques in this guide and still are not getting sharp photos, then it may be time for a new camera

There has been a great improvement in photographic technology over the past 20 years in lenses. It may be hard to accept but even better quality cameras and lenses are not a match for today's computer designed lenses from Nikon and Canon. If you are still using a film camera you may want to think about buying a digital camera.

Most of these suggestions work the same for your digital camera as well as film but I will let you know if there is difference.

The main culprits are:

• Focus
• Camera movement
• Subject movement
• Resolution

A couple are closely related but I will try to tackle these reasons for blurry photos in order. First is focus.