On Image Sharpness

It is my view that there are no magic secrets to getting a good photograph and that subject matter and composition always trump technical perfection. However I commonly get clients saying they’re disappointed with the pictures from their expensive cameras and in particular they’re disappointed with the sharpness (or lack of).

I thought I’d write some posts on the subject of image sharpness, which I think is more about perception than actuality. Hopefully these will be coming over the coming days and weeks.

But never let me be accused of consistency because I was taken just now with the fantastic sharpness I got in this picture from my lovely wee M.Zuiko 14-42mm kit lens on my Olympus OMD-EM10.

This picture was taken hand-held, with the subject moving slightly in a medium breeze. I’m not just amazed by the sharpness of the lens but also the accuracy of the focus and the great image stabilisation. This was taken at 42mm (84mm in full-frame equivalent) and 1/125 second. I’ve processed in Lightroom and added my usual amount of sharpening but nothing special.

Here’s the shot, followed by a 100% crop of the centre section.

and the 100% crop. I hope WordPress doesn’t mangle it after upload.