Hi Everyone,
I'm relatively new to photography as far as playing with apertures, exposures and ISO settings goes. Although I'm comfortable with the theory, I seem to be constantly having trouble with my photos, particularly getting sharp images.
I have a Canon 40D with a EFS 17-55mm F2.8 USM IS lens, which I understand is a reasonable combination for someone of my limited experience.
I primarily kick around wetlands and lakes, and mostly take photos of plants, wide angle landscapes and the occasional animal.
I generally flick between the automatic settings and Av (aperture priority?) when taking photos, and normally leave the auto focus and IS on. In most cases, I can see why many of my dodgey photos have not worked, ie, too low F setting, incorrect ISO selection etc.
One thing that has concerned me is that my photos seem to lack focal sharpness when I bring them up to 100% resolution on my computer. This is particularly the case for vegetation shots and landscapes.
I'm not sure whether I'm expecting too much from my camera combination, whether my camera settings are constantly wrong or whether my lens is dicky. When I use the flash, most of my closeup photos turn out reasonably sharp, indicating that it is likely to be me that is the problem.
I've pasted a number of photos below to illustrate my problem. I've read a number of other posts which have mentioned calibrating the camera and lens, but I'm not whether this is the reason for my lack of sharpness. The photos taken using the flash tend to be reasonably focused which suggests that it must be something that I'm doing which is mucking up my photos.
1289.jpg
F16 1/25 ISO200 - sunny conditions, lizard head not sharp
1529a.jpg
F7.1 1/400 ISO400 - overcast but bright light
1495.jpg
F8 1/500 ISO400 - overcast
I would be very appreciative of any suggestions. I'll post a couple more photos later when I have a bit more time.
Cheers
Jase