In last week’s post, I explained how to use the histogram to check if you exposed a photo properly. Another thing you probably want to know after taking a photo is whether or not it’s sharp.
Well, one way to see if a photo came out sharp enough, is to zoom in as much as possible on the LCD preview.
This won’t show you exactly how sharp the photo is, but it’ll give you a much better idea than just looking at the zoomed out preview (which almost always looks sharp).
When you zoom in, make sure you pay special attention to the areas of your photo that you want super sharp, like the eyes of a bird.
After using this method for awhile and comparing what you see zoomed in on your camera’s LCD versus what you see later on your monitor, you’ll get a much better idea of how to judge sharpness from the LCD preview.
Being able to check sharpness in the field like this will help you determine if you got a good enough shot of a subject and can move on. This is extremely helpful for subjects like wildflowers, where wind is a constant problem. You never know if you snapped that photo just before the wind came in, so zooming in to check the sharpness sure helps a lot 🙂
Make your life easier by enabling “quick zoom” on your camera
Some cameras have a “quick zoom” feature that, when enabled, will automatically jump to a certain zoom level when you zoom in (rather than progressively getting closer with each button press).
Since there’s really no point for those intermediate zoom levels, this feature can save you a ton of time by instantly zooming all the way when you need to check sharpness.
What other methods do you use to check sharpness?
Have you found another way to check the sharpness of your images, while out on the trail? If so, please share by leaving a comment below!
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About the Author: Steve Berardi is a naturalist, photographer, computer scientist, and founder of PhotoNaturalist. You can usually find him hiking in the San Gabriel Mountains or the Mojave Desert, both located in the beautiful state of California.
When doing macro shots, I carry around a Hoodman Loupe to check the sharpness on the screen. It would also work on other type shots.
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Great work on all of your posts, especially the latest on dragonfly photography.