SqBear Loc: Kansas, (South Central)

All, I too have many photos that were taken a week prior.
During the process I was really disappointed with the overall outcome!

Are the photos our of focus, wrong settings or camera shake?
D7000, 18x105, aperture setting.

What is your opinion?

There was a same question in yesterday's postings, I did not want to post my photos in their post and a members said to start a new post with my photos.
Here are just three.
I did some PS processing only and reduced the overall size of the photos from the mega mgs to a more manageable size.

Thanks
Dave

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swartfort Loc: Evansville, IN

I downloaded one of the images, but I could not pull up any of the EXIF data. Since I don't know the settings of the camera, I am not able to help figure out the issue. When you posted the images, did you check the box "store original"?

Best of luck

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Though I don't see any really obvious blur, #1 at 1/100 second shutter speed and #2 at 1/80 second could be too slow. Your subjects would all have to be perfectly motionless at time of shot in order to avoid blur.

A bigger issue for me with these photos is the dappled light. You probably had no other options, but that kind of lighting is not conducive to flattering portraits + creates a lot of distraction in the surroundings. Possibly it was affecting your focus; have you gotten sharper images with this lens at other times?

SqBear Loc: Kansas, (South Central)

swarfort, yes, I made sure that I clicked on the Store Original Box.

Let me do this. I'll send one of the original photos.
Let me know if the data you asked about is there for your review.

Dave

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justhercamera Loc: NW Michigan

I looked at all 3, including their EXIF data. As pointed out, shutter speed may have been a bit slow (2 of them were at 1/80, the other was faster). I don't know what focusing method you used, or who you focused on, but looking at your focal length and aperture, I would suspect that is some of the issue. You shot them at f/5.0.. a rather narrow DOF. A group like that.. f/11.0 or so would have been my choice.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

I checked depth of field using

http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

Because he was using a lens at wide angle, there should have been sufficient dof at f/5.

SqBear Loc: Kansas, (South Central)

Thanks justhecamera!

I set the priority on "A", thinking that the camera would select the correct shutter speed?
Thanks for the suggestion too.

Dave

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

The camera sets a shutter speed for what it "thinks" is the correct exposure, which doesn't take into account potential motion blur or focus issues. The camera doesn't know whether your subject is stationary or moving, nor whether you are a bit shaky hand-holding.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

I used the bottom image for analysis. Everything about the exposure and the VR-enabled lens should have created a sharper image, at least at the point of focus. That is: using a focal length of 22mm and a shutterspeed of 1/125 is more than fast enough. The choice of f/5 is probably too wide to capture the faces of every individual in sharp focus as they are seated in a slight arch with some members closer or farther from the plane of the sensor.

But, the issue is that no one individual is in sharp focus anywhere in the image. The seated boy in the hat to the left seems in the best focus. Given the narrow plane of focus at f/5, the girl in the B&W dress and sandals seems to be the only other participant on the same plane of focus and she seems sharper than the participants standing behind her or seated beside her.

I can't tell from the EXIF data what AF mode the camera was using nor where the AF point was located. That data appears to have been removed by CS6 used to create this image. Can you determine these values from the image? The file appears to have started from RAW, can you make the original RAW file available or capture a screen print on your end where this data is displayed?

If the AF information is too difficult to obtain, can you comment on how this image was captured?

The Exposure Mode reports Auto in Aperture Priority. What focus mode do you use? Was the lens set to Auto Focus? Do you select individual focus points or groups? Or do you let the camera decide? Do you shoot in single shot or continuous auto focus? Do you focus and recompose?

mizzee Loc: Boston,Ma

Any chance the lens/filter was smudgy? Going for the obvious here

cameraf4 Loc: Delaware

Used to be an ad years ago: "Is it Live or is it Memorex?" Here, if you think the images are not as sharp as they should be, you might ask "Is it ME, or is it my lens/camera?" For me, I would never check sharpness by shooting people. With people (except models, movie stars, etc) images are often more pleasing if they DON"T show every detail. My suggestion: Find something with fine detail in/about it. Take two images, the first - "hand held" using your very best technique. The second - with camera on tripod using timer delay, critical focus, all techniques that will eliminate motion blur. Compare them. If there is no difference, then ya got a "soft lens". If there is, then maybe cut back on the caffeine before a shoot.

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

Yes, when you set the camera to Aperture Priority the shutter speed is selected automatically. It does not mean it will be the appropriate shutter speed though.
To my eyes those images are on the soft side. A shutter speed of 1/80sec. with that lens should be adequate for hand holding the camera since the lens has VR. The aperture you selected is a different story and where you focused makes a difference too. In low light levels many times we forget that the ISO speed also makes a difference. For images like yours I think selecting ISO 400 could be a good start along with a small lens opening for depth of field.
I had a 18-105 VR and for one reason or the other I was never very happy with the optical quality of that lens.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

The fill flash worked fine and the camera selected a fast-enough shutter at 1/125 for this light and lens focal length. However, the camera is judging exposure, not how fast the shutter should be based on your lens or your ability to hold your camera steady. The camera doesn't know if you're holding the camera, or me, or whether the camera is on a tripod. The camera is calculating the shutterspeed based on the exposure needed, only.

You used Aperture Priority and set the camera to f/5. As mentioned in another comment, this aperture setting is too wide resulting in too narrow of a depth of field (of sharp focus) as needed to capture this group of people arranged in a slight arch in two rows deep.

If you manually set the ISO to ISO-100, you've now limited two of the three sides of the exposure triangle where the camera only has control of the shutterspeed. Given the available light and the fill flash, there was still plenty of "room" for the camera to manage the shutterspeed and accomplish the 1/100-ish range.

SqBear Loc: Kansas, (South Central)

Thanks camerapapi.

Good information!
The camera and lens is a heavy chunk but I've used it for some time now and really did not have any issues before... As I told a member here, it had just rained and more was on the way and one of the grand kids did not want anything to do with her in the photo. Made for a bad time for the parents and me as they yelled at her.....
Thanks again!
Dave

SqBear Loc: Kansas, (South Central)

You have a good point cameraf4,

I'd like to say "it is me" especially on this day! wit the rain and more rain coming and a child that did not want her picture taken and the parents were angry!
I did take my tripod but because of the haste, I did not set it up, regret that now!
However, I will try your suggestion on the hand-held and the tripod shooting the next time around.
All you members have good suggestions and possible remedies too!

Many thanks for your time as well as the other members suggestions too!

Dave