Sometimes they look soft

Can anyone answer my question ?. I have been looking over some photos taken on the same day using same camera and lens. Some look nice and sharp while others look a bit soft to my eyes. Can someone offer up a reason why this is.
Ian

Without seeing them it's a little difficult to offer a reason.

Are they all similar settings ? (by which I mean aperture, shutter speed & iso) & are they handheld ?

Could be down to a number of factors, but if you know the lens is capable of producing sharp results at a given aperture then the answer is nearly always down to photographer error, whether that be settings selection or handholding technique.

Higher iso's can lose a little detail especially if you are using higher noise reduction as the pixels are (for want of a lengthy & detailed description) "smudged together a little" to reduce noise.

We do need to see examples to have an informed opinion, but a common cause of this is camera shake. Sometimes we are steadier than others.

[IMG]http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/philstaff/MN.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/philstaff/mowbrayjune2009.jpg[/IMG]

You realy need to see the photos at a good size but while pic 1 looks crisp and sharp throught the flowers in pic 2 look a little lacking in detail or as said soft.
Ian

Both the images need a small aperture to ensure sharpness from front to back. I'm not sure what you are doing in terms of settings but what I would do is set a smallish aperture of say f11 or f16 and focus one third of the way into the scene. In picture 2 that would be at a point between the two flower beds.

If this meant a slow shutter speed I would use a tripod.

So that means Av mode and either manual focusing or locking the focus on the required point and then recomposing.

How does your technique vary from that? When that is known the answer might be a step closer.

Thanks John for your input I normaly set the camera on auto mode and then veiw the histogram and look at the photo. I then play arouond in manual mode around the settings the camera has read in auto mode. I have never used a tripod in this park as there can be lots of people buzzing around and also the park in the centre of town so dont relish the thought of luggy alot of kit around with me in a busy city ctr, but I do take in what you have said. As for focus I think I probably uused the first flower in the 2nd flower bed as my point of focus.
Camera settings are f,11 at 250 iso 400.
Regards Ian

There is another possibility, the scourge of flower photography is that they sway in the wind.

So even if the camera was still, sometimes the subject isn't.

It must be said that the park doesn't look that busy! Perhaps there was a crowd of people behind you all kindly waiting for you to take the shot...that actually does happen to us at times.

My suggestion would be to use Av mode so you are sure you have enough DOF, use a tripod if you can but that's not totally necessary for this sort of view, make sure the plants are still and just concentrate on the images. You don't need the histogram examining after every shot, just review them for learning purposes before you move from the location.

Hope that helps and have fun!

Thanks John will give it a whirl and post the results.
Regarsa Ian