Ferry Boat: This was taken with a Canon Rebel T3 EOS 1100D. I am very new to the hobby (photography) so don't know much about what I am doing. This photo was taken with a 250mm lens in...

Bald Eagle Loc: Port Ludlow, WA

This was taken with a Canon Rebel T3 EOS 1100D. I am very new to the hobby (photography) so don't know much about what I am doing. This photo was taken with a 250mm lens in the full automatic configuration. Stabilizer was on and Auto Focus on. The boat was about a mile away and the background (houses, etc.) about 3 miles away.

Why is the photo so fuzzy? Seems to be very lacking in sharpness and clarity. Would a haze filter help?

TJ Loc: Austraila, Toowoomba.

It looks like auto has failed you here and over exsposed and it appers to have auto focused on the water just after the grass for ground,now for the fuzzyness with a focal lenth of 250 mm hand held it is a challange to get the camera to stay still enough so the image will be sharp,when you press ur shutter button the camera moves,a tripod will help with this and useing 2sec shutter delay...but when on a tripod turn the stablizer of as it my cause the photos to be fuzzy,yeah funny i know but true...hope this helps for now,when you get to manual there is many more answers to ur question....

glojo Loc: South Devon, England

Bald Eagle wrote:

This was taken with a Canon Rebel T3 EOS 1100D. I am very new to the hobby (photography) so don't know much about what I am doing. This photo was taken with a 250mm lens in the full automatic configuration. Stabilizer was on and Auto Focus on. The boat was about a mile away and the background (houses, etc.) about 3 miles away.

Why is the photo so fuzzy? Seems to be very lacking in sharpness and clarity. Would a haze filter help?

When you post a picture and ask for advice it would be of huge benefit to everyone if you ticked the 'Store original' icon as all we are looking at is a thumbnail and folks will be guessing as to reasons why.

Absolutely NOTHING wrong with hand holding your camera proving you are medically fit and able. The heavier, prime lens will be a challenge but this is not the case but when doing this most folks advocate a shutter speed of at least the focal length although I note you used image stabilisation which can help if you are using slower shutter speeds.

My thoughts without seeing a decent picture is that you are taking a shot at quite a distance and maybe a little software manipulation MIGHT be beneficial? (question)

It's a nice view and I would love to see a larger picture of it

Best wishes,
John from sunny Torquay

Shakey Loc: Traveling again to Norway and other places.

All the above advice is good. In short, exposure on blue sky and bright water can fool many auto cameras. You get over-exposure. Take an exposure reading from the ground and hold the button half way down to hold that setting. Bring the camera back up and with an aperture of f8 or f11 you'll have a goodish exposure with everything in focus. You may want to try bracketing your shots. (Check what your manual has to say about that.) Here's my attempt to clean up your pic.

Ferry

jimmya Loc: Phoenix

Bald Eagle wrote:

This was taken with a Canon Rebel T3 EOS 1100D. I am very new to the hobby (photography) so don't know much about what I am doing. This photo was taken with a 250mm lens in the full automatic configuration. Stabilizer was on and Auto Focus on. The boat was about a mile away and the background (houses, etc.) about 3 miles away.

Why is the photo so fuzzy? Seems to be very lacking in sharpness and clarity. Would a haze filter help?

Actually, as I see it, what would really help is a single focal point rather than the multiple points the camera uses on full auto. With a single point you would have grabbed focus / exposure on the ferry and it should have been sharp.

Also always shoot at least 3 shots (if possible) on every frame. That way you'll at least have a choice.

In that bright light you could have raised your shutter speed to 1/500 and tried a shot there. Or change your aperture to f/10 and let the camera decide the shutter speed. In either case you'd have most likely gotten a sharper photo.

Good Luck

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

Bald Eagle wrote:

This was taken with a Canon Rebel T3 EOS 1100D. I am very new to the hobby (photography) so don't know much about what I am doing. This photo was taken with a 250mm lens in the full automatic configuration. Stabilizer was on and Auto Focus on. The boat was about a mile away and the background (houses, etc.) about 3 miles away.

Why is the photo so fuzzy? Seems to be very lacking in sharpness and clarity. Would a haze filter help?

It's fuzzy because you are using 'auto' mode and the wrong focus points system. Relying on the camera to guess at what you want rarely works. Also, that kit lens is going to always be soft when shooting distant subjects. Three miles for any lens is a long way away and bound to be soft because of the heat waves given off by the light, camera shake, and lower quality lens elements and coatings. Shoot snaps with the camera in 'auto' mode and then study up on using the creative modes of the camera and one of the more accurate focus points.

Bald Eagle Loc: Port Ludlow, WA

Thank you all for taking the time to respond to my query. Now I am aware of some points to consider. Thanks to Shakey for the "clean up". I tried that using PSE but did not have nearly as good results. I will check "store original" in the future.

coco1964 Loc: Winsted Mn

Nothing better to do this afternoon so I gave it a shot to try and improve on the overall sharpness. I added some contrast, played with the lighting settings, added a bit of saturation with graduated color to the sky and topped it off with a tad bit of sharpening. See what you think........

Phreedom Loc: Kitchener, Ontario, Canada

Bald Eagle wrote:

This was taken with a Canon Rebel T3 EOS 1100D. I am very new to the hobby (photography) so don't know much about what I am doing. This photo was taken with a 250mm lens in the full automatic configuration. Stabilizer was on and Auto Focus on. The boat was about a mile away and the background (houses, etc.) about 3 miles away.

Why is the photo so fuzzy? Seems to be very lacking in sharpness and clarity. Would a haze filter help?

If you click (store original) when uploading photos, it gives us a good copy of your photo to inspect and critique. Also, it allows us to read the photo's EXIF info. to see all the details of your shot and its composition. Can't do much with only 48 KB of data.

How to...

FilmFanatic Loc: Waikato, New Zealand

It looks to me like atmospheric haze is making it fuzzy - on a warm day and a long way from the subject, that is what you can expect

Esloat

Question for the collective: would adding a polarizing filter have helped bring out the sky and water and reduce the haze caused by water vapor over the long distance of the shot?

Shakey Loc: Traveling again to Norway and other places.

Don't know about a polarizing working on haze (others may be more knowledgeable). However, a UV filter (Ultra Violet) has been my preference for distant haze. In the days of film photography no self respecting photographer would leave home without a UV filter . . . . maybe that's a slight exaggeration.

Esloat

Yes, good point. How many filters can landscape photographers stack up before it really degrades the picture? Would stacking a polarizer and a UV just not be considered good form? I regularly use a polarizer when shooting outside sky or water pics. Certainly Not becasue I know what I am doing? Hehe

Shakey Loc: Traveling again to Norway and other places.

Esloat wrote:

Yes, good point. How many filters can landscape photographers stack up before it really degrades the picture? Would stacking a polarizer and a UV just not be considered good form? I regularly use a polarizer when shooting outside sky or water pics. Certainly Not becasue I know what I am doing? Hehe

In my opinion a stack of two is the maximum. Anything else will probably cause degradation. Perhaps high quality glass filters may allow a third. I've only used polarizers on water or glass but such a filter had to be rotatable for the best effect.