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Jason Parnell-Brookes
Jason Parnell-Brookes is an internationally
award-winning photographer. He won Gold in the
Nikon Photo Contest 2018/19 and was named
Digital Photographer of the Year in 2014. He is also
a Masters graduate, qualified teacher and writer.
http://www.jasonpb.com.ALL PICTURES © JASON PARNELL-BROOKES
Technique STAY SHARP
H
ow many times have you
carefully set up your
composition, then dialled
in the aperture, shutter
speed and ISO to get the exposure spot
on, only to realise when you zoom in on
your shot that your subject is a little soft?
It’s happened to all of us photographers,
many, many times over. Ensuring your
images are as sharp as possible is all about
persistence and practising several key
techniques that will ensure consistency. In
this piece, I’m going to outline a number
of steps you can take to make your images
sharper more frequently and highlight
some essential camera features that will
help to banish the blur.
Portraits
Before we concentrate on anything else,
the first step towards sharper shots is to
be aware of what needs to be in focus, and
by how much. When photographing live
subjects such as people, it’s best practice
to focus on the eyes. That’s because, as
a viewer, this is where our attention is
first drawn. Likewise, if the subject isn’t
square-on and one eye is closer to the
camera, the viewer will look there first,
so this should be where we set our focus.
The next step is to determine how much
needs to be sharp – that is, how great
should our depth of field be?
As we know, depth of field is
dependent on how wide or narrowSharpness
masterclass
Get pin-sharp shots every time with these
essential techniques and hardware tips.
Jason Parnell-Brookes is your guide
Shot at the wide
end of a 24-70mm
lens. This, combined
with an aperture of
f/5.6, renders both
the foreground
rocks and distant
mountains in
sharp focus
Nikon Z 7, 24-70mm,
30sec at f/5.6, ISO 64Focused on the eyes, this
portrait is sharp where it needs
to be, while a long lens and
wide aperture de-emphasises
the background
Nikon D750, 70-200mm f/2.8,
1/160sec at f/2.8, ISO 400