my images have a soft, unreal look to them

[Venzy001]

After browsing through photos on this site for sometime now, ive noticed that the photos i am taking have a really soft look to objects. You can really tell they are digital images because they just really lack something... the colours are not intense and definate, they have a cloudy appearance to them.

im wondering if this is something that is a problem with most digital shots and i need to learn to edit the photos better. or could it be that the sensor needs cleaning... since the moment i purchased the camera it has had the same lense on it all the time so i dont see how the sensor could have got dirty.

Its getting really annoying because i see all these great shots on here, and not so great ones, but my shots to me appear like they have been taken with a primitive camera or something..... im not rulling out that i may just not be using the camera right, but i have had a fare bit of pratice with it now, and my film shots come out fine.

[Mchilly]

It would be nice if you also learn editing the pictures you've taken. I think not all of the pictures here are real some of those pictures are already edited. In this world their are a lot of fake photos...Maybe you should also invest to a better camera.

[Buddy4344]

I went to your gallery. You have a really good eye for composition. The Canon 30D is also known as a great camera. With these two elements, you are on your way. I am not sure if your images are not in focus or are not sharp, but I think the latter. I suggest you search "unsharp mask" tutorials for your photo editing software. This tool really helped me post process my shots. Good luck.
Buddy

[shootem]

Digital cameras are not prone to softness, any more than a film camera/lens combination of the same quality. When you reduce your images for posting on the web, you lose sharpness. Sharpening should always be the last thing you do... don't edit, sharpen, resize. Rather, edit, resize, sharpen.
Are you using a tripod, mirror lock’‚’‚…‚’‚‚‚‚�up and a cable release? These all factor into the sharpness of an image. If you try to hand hold, at a shutter speed of lower than ’‚’‚…‚’‚‚‚‚� say ’‚’‚…‚’‚‚‚‚� 1/125s, you will probably not get as sharp an image as you would with a higher shutter speed. If you are hand holding, and your techniques are not perfect, doesn't matter how fast you shoot.
Lens quality also plays a part. L lenses will be sharper.
The more sophisticated the camera, the less room for error.
Hope this helps.
Carolyn

[Venzy001]

thanks for the tips guys. I will attempt to put them into pratice and post some new photos up soonish. Actually i completely forgot about the fact that i am using a pretty poor lense at the moment, the one that came with the camera.

thanks again!

[SMcEvoy]

The Nikon D50 (and other digital SLR's) has a feature in it where you can set it to a sharper contrast. I keep mine on that setting all the time, but even with kit lens, my photos are pretty sharp. I don't do a huge amount of post processing either (like my shots as natural as possible), but if I resize for posting here then I do run an unsharp mask over it because it does lose a bit of quality.

[Andrask]

Originally posted by Venzy001
Actually i completely forgot about the fact that i am using a pretty poor lense at the moment, the one that came with the camera.

Yes, the stock or kit lenses are not made to the highest standards as they are there to make the dSLR offerings as economical as possible.

There is definitely a noticeable difference between those and the L series e.g (although they tend to be really expensive).

Try and shoot in AV mode so that you have control over the depth of field (dof). Also my 400D has a dof preview button - yours would probably have one too and that is also a helpful aid.

I endorse the earlier suggestions about using a tripod for maximum sharpness and the prudent use of unsharp mask to further enhance the clarity.

Happy focusing!

[metroside]

From experience and from some reading I have been doing (had the same sharpness problems) there are a number of different elements that effect the sharpness of photos.

The quality of lens is probably the biggest factor. I have a stock lens on my D60 (28-80mm) and found that my shots weren't as sharp as I hoped, I found by setting the f stop to around 4.5 to 9 is when the lens performs the best and is the sharpest. Also shooting in the middle of day with the sun at it's highest sometimes impacts things such as shadow cast, tone and texture. This some time causes photos to lack definition and not look as sharp. At the same time of day dust particals and pollution is most visable and is often shown up in photos and also causes definition issues...

It is also probably worth playing around in your favourite photo editor to do some image sharping, primarily using the unsharpen mask. The sharpen feature works differently in different programs, Paint Shop Pro renders then unsharp mask differently the Photoshop for example.

My 2 cents worth

[Aladyforty]

Originally posted by Mchilly
It would be nice if you also learn editing the pictures you've taken. I think not all of the pictures here are real some of those pictures are already edited. In this world their are a lot of fake photos...Maybe you should also invest to a better camera.

The photos on here are as real as any film photo. All photography goes through an editing process, even those processed at the local 1 hour photo shop.

[Aladyforty]

Originally posted by Venzy001
After browsing through photos on this site for sometime now, ive noticed that the photos i am taking have a really soft look to objects. You can really tell they are digital images because they just really lack something... the colours are not intense and definate, they have a cloudy appearance to them.

im wondering if this is something that is a problem with most digital shots and i need to learn to edit the photos better. or could it be that the sensor needs cleaning... since the moment i purchased the camera it has had the same lense on it all the time so i dont see how the sensor could have got dirty.

Its getting really annoying because i see all these great shots on here, and not so great ones, but my shots to me appear like they have been taken with a primitive camera or something..... im not rulling out that i may just not be using the camera right, but i have had a fare bit of pratice with it now, and my film shots come out fine.

Hi, I have the same camera as you. To start with what you can do is go though the picture styles in your camera menu if you do not do a lot of editing. Also set the cameras sharpening up one notch (In the camera menu). It is all in the editing with many DSLR. They tend to come out of the camera quite bland if the basic settings are kept and you can edit them yourself. It all takes time and practice. Just keep playing around with editing programmes and you will get better at it all the time. The 30D is an exellent camera.