Gary57 Loc: Georgia

I like all outdoor photography, whether wildlife, landscape or just random scenes that catch my eye. I've owned a Canon Rebel 2 for quite sometime. Without buying a camera and lens that cost me 8-10 grand or more, is ther a better way to get professional results? I have taken thousands of pics and have been complemented on many but I just don't see that stand out sharp crisp clear image I see in other photos. I don't photo shop or any of the fancy stuff. Kinda of old school I guess. Could it be an f2.8 lense, tripod, filters, etc. needed or just some training or classes from someone. Even if composed well I still think it can be better than what I'm doing. This may be too lengthy of an answer for me. Any suggestions would be appreciated

Grahame Loc: Fiji

Post a picture of yours for which you "don't see that stand out sharp crisp clear image I see in other photos" that you want. This will vastly increase the chances of others being able to give advice.

Ensure you tick the 'store original' box when loading the file so that the shooting data is there.

tradio Loc: Oxford, Ohio

Check your lens calibration to verify that sharp images are possible with your equipment. I'm not sure if that is an option on the Rebel or not.
Post processing can be a big part of photography. You may want to look in to it?

Orphoto Loc: Oregon

Usually it takes either a tripod or really high shutter speeds to achieve a high sense of crisp clarity.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Consider all the applicable ideas presented in this post: How to obtain sharp images in digital photography

Consider also creating a <Reply> to this thread or starting a new thread and attaching some examples, being sure to store original / unedited JPEGs that demonstrate issues you've encountered. From the EXIF data of the digital images, we can see much of your camera and lens configuration and can provide actionable feedback specific to your camera, lens, and shooting situation(s).

RichardTaylor Loc: Sydney, Australia

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

1. Always have a shutter speed equal to the length of your lens. ie. if you have a 100 mm lens, your MINIMUM shutter speed should be 1/100 sec.
2. You should stop your lens down 2-3 stops for MAXIMUM overall sharpness. ie. if you have a 2.8 lens, stop down to 5.6 or f8.
3. Take a breath in, as you release it, slowly press the shutter button.
4. Hold your lenses just behind the lens hood for maximum steadiness.
5. Always use a lens hood. Avoid clear filters, you do not need them. Let the lens hood protect your lens.
6. When possible, shoot with the sun behind you for landscapes. Shoot between 10 am and 2 pm, that's when the color temp. is close to perfect.
7. Stand with your legs slightly apart, have your elbows touch your chest, and breath out, and slowly press the shutter button, don't stab at it.
8. Always be in a learning mode, find the shots you like, study the rules of composition, practice, practice, practice.
9. A virtuoso does not become excellent by practicing once a week.
Good luck and keep on shooting until the end.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Nice rules of thumbs but not completely accurate in all situations.

Here's my take:

1. Reciprocal of shutter speed does not take into full consideration image magnification. A 100mm macro lens at or near 1:1 is hard to hold steady at less than 1/500 sec. A 600mm lens has the same problem at a distance of 15 ft. Optical stabilization is a game changer - I've shot a subject at around 20 ft with a stabilized 600mm lens at 1/25 sec (see below) and the image is perfectly sharp and crisp.

2. Some lenses do better stopped down 2-3 stops. Longer lenses - pretty much any prime over 300mm do not necessarily do better when you stop down, and some do worse. Such was the case with my 600mmF4 - the sharpest aperture was F4, F5.6 was still excellent, but F8 started to show a bit of softness. The moral here is test your gear.

3. As in shooting a long gun, breathe normally and press the shutter at the end of an exhale not as you release your breath.

4. Another hack from shooting rifles - stand with your feet shoulder distance apart, left shoulder leading, pointed at the subject, left elbow tucked against the ribs, camera should be lightly pressed against forehead for additional stability.

5. Lens hood does not usually contribute to sharpness, unless there are sun rays falling on it. But they do help in some situations. Keeping the front and rear elements clean also help tremendously to reduce flare. The jury is out on front filters - an optically good filter will not have an impact on image quality, but a crappy one will.

6. Sun position is not relevant to taking good landscapes. But if you do shoot between 10 am and 2 pm, the sun will be mostly overhead, in which case a circular polarizer would be of immense value.

7. Good advice

8. Good advice.

9. Good advice.

10. Try and shoot at the exposure (shutter and aperture) combination that can give you the lowest ISO and still avoid camera movement. Higher ISOs can get noisy and rob image sharpness and detail capture.

11. Take multiple images - in a set of 5, one will often stand out as the best of the bunch. If you have the time, experiment with different settings.

12. Avoid coffee, soft drinks, tea, energy drinks or any other stimulant that will "charge up" your nervous system.

13. Test your gear with a static subject to ensure that the camera is focusing correctly. Test with the viewfinder and with live view - if live view is always sharper, then have the camera and lens checked.

14. With some subjects, a little motion blur helps to better tell the story - an example is a car at a race track - panning the car as it moves across in front of the camera using a slower shutter speed will blur the background and the spinning wheels, while keeping the car crisp and sharp, emphasizing the perception of speed. Another example is shooting propeller driven planes or helicopters - images when the propellers are frozen do not look as nice as those where the props are blurry, yet discernible.

15. Use a good solid tripod whenever practical/possible. A poor tripod will usually make matters worse.

16. Shoot raw files - the opportunities to enhance sharpness and detail are far better than when the camera produces a jpeg. And you can adjust local sharpness and contrast (some areas and not others) to visually and perceptually separate the subject from the background, if it is that type of a shot.

600mm, F8, ISO 400, 1/25 sec - stabilization on, hand held

(Download)

crop from above

(Download)

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

Sharpness depends more on the operator than the camera or lens in use. A tripod and a means to release the shutter be the self timer of the camera or a shutter release cable are important accessories. With a dSLR body the mirror up option is a good choice.
Modern lenses are sharp and you do not need a f2.8 lens for sharpness. Kit lenses can do a great job if you do your part.

Samples of the images you make with exif information are necessary for an evaluation and give you better advise.

uhaas2009

I used the rebel 300D and I felt it’s never really sharp. When I look today the pics with this camera than I’m impressed but it’s not crispy sharp but they are sharp enough! For a short time I used t3i where the pics more crispy in sharpness.
First make sure you have sharp pics on none moving subject, literally but the camera on tripod with external trigger. If you don’t have errors in sharpness (lenses can de- adjusted and throw of focus) than you may need a faster shutter speed. For birding a shutter speed from 1200-4000 isn’t unusual. On a long run you will update to a pro body if you go birding. I got all my pro gear used (some I got out of paws-with sleepless nights....lol... and lots of learning)
Jason Odell have a good video for birding but just for Nikon high end. With his teaching I understand group focus, dynamic focus....sharp pics for birding.

cameraf4 Loc: Delaware

Technique ... technique ... technique. Listen to papi. For your scenics/landscapes, mount your camera to a STURDY tripod. Trip the shutter via a remote release or the Self Timer Delay. Focus 1/3 of the way into a scene and set the lens at an f/stop that will ensure ample DOF for what you want in focus. Using these techniques even someone with a "beginner" camera and "so-so" glass can produce sharply detailed images.
I would also suggest keeping the sun at your 4 o'clock or 8 o'clock. A touch of sidelighting can add beautiful contrast and "snap" to your images.

ELNikkor

Welcome to the forum, Gary! There have been a number of "Canon Rebel 2" cameras out there. If you have the Canon Rebel SL2 from 2017, you have a very capable camera! Somewhere in your menu will be an option to increase the sharpness, as well as contrast, brightness, etc. of your images. Find it and adjust it. Once you have followed all the advice on this site, your photos should dramatically improve. Share some of your best work with us, as well as an example of a "not sharp enough" one.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

I don't know a lot about your specific camera. But I do know that many cameras are not set up to capture clear, sharp, saturated JPEGs as they are shipped from the factory. There are a lot of reasons for choosing to do this...some better than others.

This forum is biased heavily toward post processing every picture you take (or at least every picture you keep). While that is not necessarily a terrible idea, some of us either don't have time to do that or just prefer another approach for at least some of what we do.

I would suggest that you check your manual to see whether your camera offers what are typically called "picture controls." These give you the option to control factors like contrast, sharpness, saturation, and a few other parameters. Gently increasing these may give you at least some of the improvement you are looking for without having to completely change your lifestyle. Be aware, though, that making changes that improve outdoor photographs may also cause people to appear less attractive, so remember where you started in case you want to put things back like they were some of the time.

It is possible that if this approach doesn't get you where you want to go, or if your camera does not offer these adjustments, it may be time for post processing or maybe even for a camera with more capabilities. But see if this is a possibility for you. And always remember that this is a hobby, not an initiation. It is supposed to be fun.

tcthome Loc: NJ

This a good idea & it should be done on a tripod. When & if you get hold of a tripod shoot a couple with auto focus, then a few using manual focus & see if there is a difference. Are you shooting on full auto, jpeg, raw? If you get to the point where you get a sharp focus, you need to start experimenting with your settings.(Bryan Petersen's book, Understanding Exposure is a great book with example photos as are videos on You Tube). Start with the A = Aperture Mode. Try different aperture settings (f4, f8, f11, f16) while make sure you have good exposure by using the cameras light meter.= This will make one of the biggest difference in your photos rite off. Start playing with your compositions & the light.= The light can make a big difference for outdoor photography. Golden hour, blue hour, back light side light. Also, post processing could help with your photos & can make a big part in your final photo.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

I think your use of the words "crisp" and "clear" may be a clue as to what's really needed. Sharpness is only one aspect of making images clearer and crisper. I think the quality you're looking for is vividness. Expensive gear can help in achieving more vividness but it's mainly a processing problem. It sounds like you shoot jpegs rather than doing your own processing so you're limited to adjusting the settings that your camera provides. That will never be as good an option as learning how to process your own shots. Maybe it's time to bite the bullet.....