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DPChallenge Forums >> Photography Discussion >> How much is "sharpness" worth to you?
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03/28/2015 08:51:09 AM · #1
I saw this surprising comment on a photo:

Originally posted by Someone:

If this were sharply in focus, it would be an 11 from me. SUCH a fabulous capture! 7

so I now wonder: how important to you is subjects being "sharply in focus" when enjoying a photograph?

03/28/2015 08:59:55 AM · #2
I learned that tack sharp focus or sharpness is not the most important thing many years ago hence why I use a totally manual system these days.
03/28/2015 09:17:31 AM · #3
It depends so much on the type of image.
I thought that everything had to be the sharpest until I came here,but I now have a wider mind.
Folks like yourself have changed my opinion and I now am open to all different stuff.
03/28/2015 09:20:28 AM · #4
Just to blow your trumpet Mita., you are really under rated here, and that's a fact.
03/28/2015 09:38:23 AM · #5
Oh please post that photo, I want to see! Hopefully, when looking at a photograph, sharpness is not the first thing I notice. If it is, for me it's usually one of those focus-stacked HDR landscapes with all the color pure & bright, & even the very last cloud in the distance is razor sharp. It's a style that's very popular right now, but not one I admire. I see the world first as shape & form, light & shadow. Some subjects need to be in focus, some don't.

If I had to choose between "ooo that's so beautifully razor sharp" and "ooo I see something new in this every time I look at it" for a comment, I would never pick the sharp one.

***

I think it might be a matter of control. Some photographers want a lot of control, that every person who views the photograph should see the exact same thing. No ambiguity. The people who love to see sharpness in a photograph want to be sure of what they're supposed to see, without ambiguity. No surprises. Some photographers want discovery, so that each person who views the photograph sees something unique. The people who look for discovery are more tolerant of surprise & are comfortable with ambiguity. That's what I think.
03/28/2015 10:11:37 AM · #6
When someone comments on an image I've made and things like sharpness and distracting elements are mentioned, I usually pretty much tune out the commenter at that point. When that's where you're going as opposed to giving an impression of the overall image, you've no longer retained my interest.
03/28/2015 11:10:02 AM · #7
It depends on the type of image but sometimes I enjoy seeing a tack sharp image.
.
03/28/2015 11:16:21 AM · #8
I think that sharpness sometimes is important, and sometimes it isn't. I've noticed that blur photos here tend to score lower even though blur/lack of focus is what you are trying to achieve. If I take a photo of a person, or an animal, I normally try to get the eye in as sharp of focus as possible, but there are times when even then sharp focus is not important. It all comes down to what the photographer is trying to convey with his/her photo.
03/28/2015 11:48:42 AM · #9
Completely depends on the photo. But then again, THAT completely depends on what I want to say with the photo :)
03/28/2015 11:49:57 AM · #10
I think that we bring things over from how we are in real life. An example could be how we like our homes, some people like there home to be immaculate with nothing at all out of place, other people would find that that felt none lived in and somehow sterile, others like to live in what some would consider to be a mess but feel real comfortable like that. I find a home should look lived in but at the same time tidy maybe that comes through in my photos, not sure. Anyway just mumbling on to myself but I wonder if there are other correlations with life and the way we want our photos to look ?
03/28/2015 12:09:39 PM · #11
Originally posted by NikonJeb:

When someone comments on an image I've made and things like sharpness and distracting elements are mentioned, I usually pretty much tune out the commenter at that point. When that's where you're going as opposed to giving an impression of the overall image, you've no longer retained my interest.

I used to leave a lot of comments like that. I may still leave something like that when that aspect is a serious hindrance for the image. It's part of the learning process to identify such things. After a while, it becomes more instinctual.
03/28/2015 02:38:28 PM · #12
Originally posted by jagar:

I think that we bring things over from how we are in real life. An example could be how we like our homes, some people like there home to be immaculate with nothing at all out of place, other people would find that that felt none lived in and somehow sterile, others like to live in what some would consider to be a mess but feel real comfortable like that. I find a home should look lived in but at the same time tidy maybe that comes through in my photos, not sure. Anyway just mumbling on to myself but I wonder if there are other correlations with life and the way we want our photos to look ?


The inside of your house, your car, your camera, your mind--all created by you. They would have more in common than not, but can someone who keeps an immaculate house create immaculately blurry photos? I think so.
03/28/2015 02:52:59 PM · #13
Originally posted by mitalapo:

I saw this surprising comment on a photo:

Originally posted by Someone:

If this were sharply in focus, it would be an 11 from me. SUCH a fabulous capture! 7

so I now wonder: how important to you is subjects being "sharply in focus" when enjoying a photograph?


The great thing about photography is it is such a subjective art...

I find that when it comes to commenting, I am often commenting on what I see or what I think I would want to see. I am rarely leaving comments based on what the photographer sees. I am trying to change that.
03/28/2015 03:08:34 PM · #14
Originally posted by pixelpig:

Originally posted by jagar:

I think that we bring things over from how we are in real life. An example could be how we like our homes, some people like there home to be immaculate with nothing at all out of place, other people would find that that felt none lived in and somehow sterile, others like to live in what some would consider to be a mess but feel real comfortable like that. I find a home should look lived in but at the same time tidy maybe that comes through in my photos, not sure. Anyway just mumbling on to myself but I wonder if there are other correlations with life and the way we want our photos to look ?


The inside of your house, your car, your camera, your mind--all created by you. They would have more in common than not, but can someone who keeps an immaculate house create immaculately blurry photos? I think so.


Yes of course they could, I was thinking more about tendencies, surely how we are influences how we shoot and what we like to see and therfore how we vote.
03/28/2015 07:12:16 PM · #15
Originally posted by jagar:

Originally posted by pixelpig:

Originally posted by jagar:

I think that we bring things over from how we are in real life. An example could be how we like our homes, some people like there home to be immaculate with nothing at all out of place, other people would find that that felt none lived in and somehow sterile, others like to live in what some would consider to be a mess but feel real comfortable like that. I find a home should look lived in but at the same time tidy maybe that comes through in my photos, not sure. Anyway just mumbling on to myself but I wonder if there are other correlations with life and the way we want our photos to look ?


The inside of your house, your car, your camera, your mind--all created by you. They would have more in common than not, but can someone who keeps an immaculate house create immaculately blurry photos? I think so.


Yes of course they could, I was thinking more about tendencies, surely how we are influences how we shoot and what we like to see and therfore how we vote.


Yes I agree. To put it another way, the faults we see in someone else's work are what we would count as faults if we saw them in our own work. I think we vote accordingly.
03/28/2015 07:54:48 PM · #16
Originally posted by pixelpig:

Originally posted by jagar:

Yes of course they could, I was thinking more about tendencies, surely how we are influences how we shoot and what we like to see and therefore how we vote.

Yes I agree. To put it another way, the faults we see in someone else's work are what we would count as faults if we saw them in our own work. I think we vote accordingly.

Guys, this is a very astute set of observations, especially the pig's formulation of it (bolded) which I find quite memorable.

Message edited by author 2015-03-28 19:55:34.
03/28/2015 07:55:35 PM · #17
Originally posted by mitalapo:

I saw this surprising comment on a photo:

Originally posted by Lydia:

:D If this were sharply in focus, it would be an 11 from me. SUCH a fabulous capture! 7

so I now wonder: how important to you is subjects being "sharply in focus" when enjoying a photograph?


Ha! What a GREAT comment! Loving your image... and telling you how to make it even better... in his/her opinion.

:D

Actually, what I think about it now is that it needs more DOF... so both the guy on the ladder and the guy in the window are sharp.

BUT... that's just my opinion. Everyone has one. ;)

Message edited by author 2015-03-28 20:02:05.
03/28/2015 08:01:12 PM · #18
If the image had been flipped horizontally, so the person on the ladder was the first face that the viewer sees, then I think this would have gotten a higher score from me.

BUT... since the first face I see is an important face and... it's blurred, it disappoints a bit from the "get go".

03/28/2015 08:11:45 PM · #19
I'm the one that gave it the 9. Sharpness (or lack of same) didn't bother me at all. Interesting. I hadn't even NOTICED it until I saw this thread and located the image in question... For thjose who don't know what we're talking about, here it is;

03/28/2015 08:12:46 PM · #20
Oh... guess I should show the image (it was my comment):



Do you see what I'm seeing and saying? As it is (not flipped), the viewer is halfway through the image before he gets to the most in-focus part (the person on the ladder). Since he's not really sharp either, the eye keeps moving through the image... waiting for the "punchline". Then, when the viewer is finished seeing it all, he realizes that the person on the ladder is the subject and goes back over the image again to "understand" it.

Now... having a viewer go back over an image is always a good thing! But... it left me wanting more... since I didn't get that "WOW! Here it is!" part when I got to the person on the ladder.

If the DOF had included the man in the window, I'd have been thrilled with that and then ... WOW! HERE it is! about the man on the ladder if he were sharply in focus, too.

If it HAD been flipped and the man on the ladder were in sharp focus, and the WOW! Here it is! happened, then... when the viewer got to the window man... that's a BONUS! A Two-Fer! So... he doesn't have to be so much in focus to make an impression. He's secondary.

Presented as it is, the secondary gets passed over... waiting for the main event. Then, when we get finished viewing and go back to him... he's not so much of a surprise.

What do you think?

BUT... the discussion is about HOW MUCH sharpness means to the viewer. I think that each image is different. Soft focus on some things is much better than sharp focus.

In the end though... it's all in the eye of the beholder and... we can't please everyone, so... we should just please ourselves and take each comment as it is meant here on DPC.

I meant my comment to encourage. I hope it did.

03/28/2015 08:32:39 PM · #21
I don't think anyone's COMPLAINING about your comment, Lydia. It just brings up an interesting aspect of how we relate to images for discussion.
03/28/2015 08:38:58 PM · #22
Originally posted by Bear_Music:

I don't think anyone's COMPLAINING about your comment, Lydia. It just brings up an interesting aspect of how we relate to images for discussion.


Thanks, Bear. *hugs you*

I don't think the OP is complaining about my comment either... (and I appreciate his not giving away who made the comment)

I'm not trying to defend my comment... just trying to explain how sharpness relates to THIS image in my opinion... and how every image is different and requires varying degrees of sharpness to be most effective... in my opinion.

03/28/2015 09:03:31 PM · #23
I took off a point because I didn't like the blacks or the vignette. I did not see sharpness as something to look at. I like the descending rectangles of frame, window, poster, ladder. In its favor, & adding a point, I like the joke of the live people being posterized (smoothed detail esp in hair & cap), & the face on the poster not being posterized, so in this context it seems more 'real.' The pig has spoken!
03/28/2015 11:53:48 PM · #24
I did not have a chance to vote on this challenge, sorry guys, I would have given this image a 8.

Its not a huge wow for me -a personal ribbon for me (which are my 9-10), but its not avg or bad either. To me,
It makes more than avg higher than a 6-7, and more than just good because of the style and creativity it was put in hence the 8. How many faces on a wall do you see every day or in a challenge? Plus a guy being on a ladder and having that face painting on the wall looking at that guy on the ladder? I think it was well done and clever. To me, that alone makes it for higher points. Just not something you see every day.

It would have been a 9 and perhaps a special mention for me, but the reason I wouldn't give it a 9 is that, I just don't like that extra dude in the window, that to me threw it off of the image completely. With him in it, its kinda creepy like a stalker kinda of thing.

I am not a big vignette person but for this one I like it with it. Not to dark, not to light with it. I really don't like the heavy vignettes.

The focus sharpness to me would really throw this image off (I think it would) and the softer focus which this one has, gives the feel of a more and about even look to it.
For me this photo works and how it was done. Just didn't like that extra dude in the window.

Message edited by author 2015-03-28 23:56:00.
03/29/2015 12:05:31 AM · #25
Good Lord... Lose the extra "dude in the window" and the image would lose half its punch, IMO. That face is CRITICAL :-)
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