Sharp Focus

[Scorps]

I took this photo at the recetn Williamtown Air Show. Lens used was an EF 75-300mm, What I would like some help with is the sharpness of the photo. I have already used an unsharp mask on the image but it is still too soft for my liking. Any suggestions on how I can improve my focus ability for future photos? Any hints are appreciated. The image was taken hand held whilst trying a panning technique, AI Servo mode utilised with Evalutive Matrix focus turned on.

[I @ M]

The first part of your problems are that you were using a shutter speed of 1/60 and a focal length of 105mm.
The golden "rule" is to use a shutter speed no slower than the focal length in use, in your case a shutter speed of 1/125 and above would have given you a more satisfactory result.

Secondly, your camera has chosen an aperture of F/22 and for the subject matter on the day it is a very very small aperture to use.

I would suggest that you investigate running your camera in aperture priority, around F/8 looks as though it would have been reasonable on the day, and making sure that your shutter speed stays high to freeze the action.

[Scorps]

I@M
I feel like an idiot...I know all you have said to be correct and it seems so obvious right now. Thanks for giving my brain a kick...will be a bit more thoughtful next time...cheers

[Wayne]

Just to add to Andrew's post, if using A priority @f8 or a similar mid aperture you find that you can't get a fast shutter speed (I would be aiming for close to 1/1000 for a jet on a fly by) remember to up the ISO a stop or 2 that will double and quadruple your shutter speed. Just be careful of noise depending upon which body you have.

[Art Vandelay]

It's OK to feel like an idiot. There's plenty of us around here.

Another thing, with Jets, there's no need for a low shutter speed. What you've maybe got in your mind is several articles suggest a low shutter speed for air shows due to prop driven aircraft. In that case you'll need a lower speed (around 125 to 250 max) to get propellor blur rather than freezing it still.

For Jets, just wind it up.

[kiwi]

Panning would work to blur the background, but hard to do when learning and with the plane not travelling directly left to right