Sharp or Soft

I know this is a big ask and will all sound a bit mysterious but bear with me.

From my PPG gallery, ignoring the grainy portrait of a girl (#2 'Carly'), tell me which ones you consider to be unacceptably soft.

I know the PPG isn't an ideal medium for this sort of forensic analysis but I'm comfortable with the sharpness of all of them and they've all been shown here larger before.

All will be revealed and the reason why, once you've responded.

link

I can't respond on the poll as it will only allow one option. Would you like a list?

I've had a look and this is the result, hope it helps! The poll does unfortunately mean only one reply, so I copied it and then deleted out the unwanted lines:

Stirling Castle - sharp


Alghero - soft

Firenze - soft
Dreaming - sharp

Light Ship - sharp
Dancers Backstage - sharp
Yainer - sharp

Chloe - sharp

Lillies - sharp

Winter seed heads - sharp
Autumn Windfall - sharp

Stirling Castle - sharp
Alghero - soft
Firenze - soft (the softest)
Dreaming - just a little soft
Light Ship - sharp
Dancers Backstage - sharp
Yainer - sharp
Chloe - just a little soft
Lillies - sharp
Winter seed heads - soft
Autumn Windfall - sharp

Stirling Castle - sharpish
Alghero - sharpish
Firenze - soft
Dreaming - slightly soft
Light Ship - sharp
Dancers Backstage - sharp
Yainer - sharp
Chloe - sharpish
Lillies - sharp
Winter seed heads - slightly soft
Autumn Windfall - sharpish

I think part of the problem is that PPG never shows the image at the size you uploaded at. Even though we only upload at 600 pixels high (e.g. about 900x600 for landscape), if you have a very large window the PPG image is displayed larger than that (about 1200x800 for me).

Stirling Castle - Slightly Soft (Perhaps the Noise)
Alghero - Slightly Soft
Firenze - Soft
Dreaming - Slightly Soft
Light Ship - Very Sharp
Dancers Backstage - Sharp
Yainer - Sharp
Chloe - Sharp
Lillies - Very Sharp
Winter seed heads - Soft
Autumn Windfall - Sharp

Does this have anything to do with apparent/perceived sharpness caused by contrast?

Sorry about the poll being flawed and perhaps the flaw, too, in the PPG as a viewing medium. To clarify, I'm not asking about softness such as oof foregrounds, just sharpness where it matters.

Tyr, no noise, its TRI-X film!

Already I'm amazed in a positive way about your comments, I'll tell the full story when a few more people can find the time to comment.

Answers are, to an extent, dependent upon a presumption of what was intended to be sharp.

Stirling Castle - sharp
Alghero - sharp
Firenze - sharp (if the crucifix is the intended subject)
Dreaming - sharp
Light Ship - soft (unless the centre of the rope is the intended subject)
Dancers Backstage - sharp
Yainer - sharp
Chloe - sharp
Lillies - sharp
Winter seed heads - sharp
Autumn Windfall - sharp

Andrew

I was avoiding looking at the camera and lens used to not somehow bias my opinion about the sharpness.

Tri-x won't have the best sharpness due to the grain but then you don't shoot tri-x for smooth small grain.

I'll be interested to see where this is going.