newbie questions about focus and midday sunlight

[emanresu]

So I took my EOS XSi for some picture shoot today, but the results are rather disappointing.  One of the problem was that  I used manual focus all the time, but through the rather small view finder, I found it very hard to tell if the image was crisp, and many photos turned out to be out-of-focus when viewed at 100%.   Do you experts have any tips for me about this problem?  Or should I rely on AF given the high pixel counts of modern cameras that any slight mis-focus would become obvious when viewing at 100%?

Another problem was with the mid-day sunlight.  Many photos look washed out.  Other have way too much contrast between highlights and shadows.  I am just wondering if I should start using filters, or should I perfect my sense of exposure first.

I would greatly appreciate any suggestions and tips.  Thanks.

[KeithB]

What lens do you have?  What was the aperture on the "out of focus shots?"

But by all means use autofocus.  If you want more control you can set which of the autofocus points are used to set focus.

What software were you using to evaluate sharpness at 100%?  I would not be too con concerned if the image is a little soft at 100% after all this is the equivalent of looking at a large poster a few inches away!  To give yourself some perspective, calculate just how big the full size image is at 100% and how many inches of the image you are using at your 100% crop.

Mid day sun is pretty harsh.  Don't judge the camera's exposure by that.

[emanresu]

Thanks Keith.  I was using the kit lens came with the camera, 18-50mm/f3.5-5.6 IS.  I understand that this is just a get-started lens, but still expected the sharpness to be a little better.

for example, one of the photos that came out out-of-focus was taking in a shaded area, f/5.6, 1/125, ISO100.

The software is digital photo pro that also came with camera.  The funny story is prior to the purchase of the camera, quite a few people complained about the sharpness of the kit-lens using AF, and that was part of the reason I stick to MF.

I am not judging the camera's exposure at all.  I was merely asking if I should be using filters (or are filters too advanced for a novice like me), or if I should keep exploring with just what the camera + lens can offer without any additional components for now.

[Bob Atkins]

I'd stick with AF. If it's working properly it will be as good as (and probably better than) attempting manual focus. The screen really isn't designed for manual focusing. It's small and there are no focus aids. You can manual focus OK, but you need practice and a good eye. Most people will do much better with AF, especially if you select the focus point rather than letting the camera pick one. AF is generally very, very good. I'd only resort to MF if AF was having problems or if the lens disn't have AF or if I was using a lens+TC combination that was too slow for AF. I would never use MF "to get better focus" because 99% of the time you won't and most of the time your manual focus will probably be worse than AF!

As for shooting at mid-day in sunlight, well, that's about the worst possible lighting for most subjects. Filters won't help, changing exposure may not help either. What will help is better light and you tend to get that in the early morning and late evening, or with a light overcast to the sky. You can try lowering contrast in DPP, but there's often not a lot you can do to improve images shot in the harsh mid-day sun.

[emanresu]

Thanks Bob!  That makes sense.  You reminded me of the range-finder my dad used to have and it was easy to tell when the subject is focused or not from view-finder (different technology though).

About the best light condition - now it seems being a good photographer is really hard work, and I can't just sleep until noon and then say "hey, nice weather out there, let me go to the state park and shoot some pictures"... 

[KeithB]

Or as Ken Rockwell says, while everyone else in your party is enjoying cocktails and dinner, you are out chasing after the last fading light of the day.

[emanresu]

Or as Ken Rockwell says, while everyone else in your party is enjoying cocktails and dinner, you are out chasing after the last fading light of the day.

Well said!

[Bob Atkins]

I always thought that was a quote from Galen Rowell. I know that his image "Rainbow over the Potala Palace" was taken by him after running some distance to get the right light and composition while the rest of his party was sitting down to dinner!

[KeithB]

I imagine it can be said of most dedicated photographers!

Here is a KR direct quote:
"Most people sleep through sunrise. They lose half their potential shots. I have to get up at 3 AM, get out at 3:30 AM, get to the location at 4:30 AM, set up by 5 AM and wait for a 6 AM calculated sunrise. I'm crazy. Are you?

Sunset is as tough. Most people are eating dinner while I'm out shooting. I have to jerk around my schedule, as well as the schedule of normal people with whom I travel, to be out at sunset. Photographers have dinner at 4 PM so they can be shooting at 6 PM.

Even photographers fake themselves out. A bunch of us were photographing at sunset, and I thought something interesting might happen. The rest of my photography group took off for dinner while I stayed around in the dark. I got this shot, one of my all time favorites, while they were having dinner.

If you sleep at sunrise and eat at sunset you'll miss the only light that shows things the way I, and many others, like to see them. That's why most people have never seen colors I show and think I'm making all this up in Photoshop. If I could get these results artificially I would, however one still has to trudge out and get this from nature the hard way."

From:
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/color.htm

[emanresu]

I guess all great photographers work alike.  Learned my lesson and next time I will for sure get up early and go home late.

Really wish photographers would list the time (maybe the direction also) that they took the photo, apart from the standard camera setting metadata.

[KeithB]

Most landscape photoraphers will include that kind of info, at least in the books I have read.

If you are serious about this, here is the watch to get:
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/accessories/yes.shtml

Tells sunrise, sunset and moonrise/moonset!

[emanresu]

A friend of mine is also a photographer (he uses a view camera), and he purchased a nice little iPhone app that tells him the sunrise and sunset time for each day.