Clarity in photography is a rather controversial topic because it involves equipment, software, and technique-based components. That’s why we created this guide to photographic clarity to explain things in an easy and digestible manner.
We’ll begin with defining the concept of sharpness in photography, and later we’ll explore the factors influencing sharpness in photography to ensure your images look crisp and suitable for printing.
I promise things won’t become too technical, and don’t forget that capturing the moment sometimes matters just as much as, if not more than, the sharpness of an image!
Besides, once you comprehend what is sharpness in photography, I strongly suggest verifying our article with the 30 best tips to take tack-sharp photos, since apart from the sharpness in photography definition, you’ll also need the best techniques to capture more detail in your images.
Let us now explore the concept of photographic sharpness!
Table of Contents
What is Sharpness in Photography?
Here is a basic definition of sharpness in photography: sharpness is how distinctly detail is rendered in a photograph.
That’s it! Sharpness is impacted by camera resolution, lens acuity, and more. But the sharpness of an image is simply a matter of detail in the final photograph.
What Factors Affect Sharpness in Photography?
Understanding the clarity in digital photography involves numerous aspects, all that can be controlled to varying levels. Distinctness, electronics sensor resolution, and some photography essentialslike aperture,ISO, and shutter velocity are just a few of the settings we’ll need to discuss.
I’ll be analyzing the primary factors influencing photography sharpness in a straightforward way. We’ll start with acutance and camera resolution, the key determinants affecting the perceived sharpness in an image.
Acutance and the Sharpness of a Photograph
Understanding acutance and image clarity in photography is important because they are related but aren’t entirely identical.
Acutance is a subjective perception. When abrupt transitions (or hard borders) within the image are emphasized, it generates a sense of the image looking sharper. Less defined borders between edges create the appearance of a softer image 
The acutance and perception of sharpness can be enhanced after processing the image.
Camera Resolution and Image Sharpness
Camera resolution and image sharpness are also related to one another. The resolution involves the amount of detail in an image and, therefore, how sharp it can be.
Resolution is quantified in megapixels. Generally, the higher the pixels, the more detail you’ll see (considering the equivalent sensor size, lens quality, and settings).
Often, especially when discussing smartphone photography, we rely on the camera`s megapixels to determine image quality. However, this perspective is flawed, since pixel dimensions and other factors influence sharpness, as we will see below.
Other Factors Affecting the Perception of Image Sharpness
To understand sharpness in photography, you need awareness of the additional aspects influencing sharpness and image quality, namely all other factors affecting acutance and resolution.
Camera sensor size
The size of the camera sensor is one of the key aspects that influence the clarity of an image. Larger sensors usually relate to more detail and image quality, since they have the ability to offer not only a greater number of pixels (and higher resolution) but also larger and more efficient pixels for capturing light. This is something fundamental when shooting in low light, such as in Northern Lights photography.
Northern Lights imagery captured using an entry-level Canon APS-C camera (Left) and a Full-frame Nikon camera (Right) displays more sharpness and detail with the latter.
Larger camera sensors also offer a wider angle of view, as well as a more impressive depth of field, which will translate into having a more substantial area of the image that is sharp and in focus.
The camera sensing unit size and definition of a graphic are affected by even more variables, which you can learn about in our guide to camera sensing unit size in photography.
Focus
Focus and clarity are the most commonly linked terms since an out-of-focus image has a low acutance and a consequent lack of definition in the image or part of the image.
Out-of-focus image with low acutance (left) vs image taken with high acutance and sharp focus (right)
The errors involving a lack of sharpness when focusing are usually related either to the camera (faulty design, low light conditions, etc.), or to not following the proper focusing techniques (like picking the autofocus mode and autofocus area as per the subject, checking the focus in your picture, etc.) You can learn more about this in our guide outlining focusing in photography.
The next factor is motion blur, which will be discussed next.
You can increase the vividness of your visual by doing a focus stacking. This is, nonetheless, a more complex technique that I don’t advise performing unless you have a strong basis in photography.
Shutter speed and motion blur
Sharpness and shutter speed are completely related due to motion, either from our own camera or from the subject we are photographing.
When utilizing a shutter speed more slowly than what is recommended, or when a camera is shaking due to being handheld, high winds, or other causes, the image will suffer motion blur resulting in a loss of sharpness.
A slow shutter speed can result in motion blur and reduced sharpness perception in a photograph, as seen in the left image.
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Aperture and depth of field
Image sharpness is closely tied to the aperture setting.
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- Very small iris diameters and sharpness: Moving to the extreme position, using a very narrow aperture (usually over f/16) means having a large depth of field, but the perception of sharpness will diminish because of the optical phenomenon of diffraction. The aperture that offers the greatest clarity normally around what is known as the “sweet spot” of the lens. This aperture varies depending on the lens, but it usually found by opening 2 to 3 stops of light from the widest aperture of your lens.
You can find more information in our guide to photography aperture and in our photography basics PDF guide.
Digital Noise and ISO
Your ISO setting will also impact digital noise and sharpness. When high ISO values are used, such as during Milky Way photography, digital grain increases as the camera sensor artificially amplifies the light signal, or when it overheats following long exposure photography.
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lens quality
The quality of your camera`s lenses as well as how sharp they are are also fundamental factors in understanding the clearness of photography. If the lens you opt for doesn`t have enough resolving power, your final image may not look as sharp as it can be, and you won`t make the most of your camera`s megapixels.
Basic unit objectives are incredible for most casual clients. In any case, they regularly aren`t exceptionally sharp because of a lesser optical nature.
For example, pairing a basic kit lens with a 24 MP sensor may leave you with half the perceived resolution of a genuine 24 MP image. Therefore, not solely do lens sharpness and megapixel counts matter, but additionally the lens sharpness. Both are crucial when discussing sharpness in photography.
Employing a higher quality optical component and capturing the identical image can demonstrate a drastic distinction regarding sharpness. You can plainly see this difference if you switch to a better lens and shoot with an equivalent camera.
Employing optical lens attachments or shooting through any other form of pane will likewise impact the sharpness of the final image quality.
Post-processing techniques
Post-processing techniques can enhance the sharpness and clarity of an image.
On one hand, basic editing software, like Lightroom or Photoshop, allows different methods of photograph sharpening to boost perceived sharpness. With this technology, detail can be elevated by improving edges or transitions with keener contrast between photo elements (acutance) or doing away with digital noise. Nonetheless, standard software is somewhat constrained if wanting to apply more progressive techniques. Better outcome in your image sharpening recommends the following plugins:
- Topaz Sharpen AI: The premier software for sharpening and mending fuzzy images.
- Topaz DeNoise AI: One of the industry`s top noise reduction applications.
Low acutance image with fuzzy details (left) vs. high acutance image with sharper details after sharpening the picture in post-processing
The result after applying the appropriate software improvement techniques is a crisp-looking image, despite no actual increase in resolution. If you need to heighten the resolution of an image while bettering sharpness, I recommend Gigapixel AI.
However, raising the resolution and therefore the megapixels and dimension of a picture isn`t always essential. In many situations, it is more functional to work with smaller records, for example, when uploading photos to a website or your social media (the platform will do the compression). In this case, I recommend emphasizing the distinctness, since the images lose sharpness after being compressed.
Viewing Distance
Viewing distance and photography sharpness are interrelated, and it’s very straightforward to comprehend how they function.
Briefly stated, pictures that will be viewed from a distance, like billboards, will necessitate a lower resolution compared to the equivalent pictures if they were to be seen up close. The perceived sharpness doesn’t diminish, even if the image has a lower resolution since it’s seen from a much farther length. Conversely, a print for an art gallery, even if it is small, necessitates a higher resolution, since it will be seen up close.
To have a quality print, it’s essential to have a file with sufficient resolution according to the print size. If you need to enlarge your images, I highly recommend a tool called Gigapixel AI that allows you to upscale your images without compromising quality. You can check here my review and tutorial on how to enlarge images with Gigapixel AI.
Based on this, it can be said that the perception of sharpness increases as the viewing distance of the image expands. As is evident, sharpness in photography is far more complex than simply examining the number of megapixels.
Sharpness in Photography F.A.Q
Before concluding, let’s answer some frequently asked basic questions about sharpness in photography!
Defining and achieving sharp focus in pictures
Clarity in photography can be characterized as how finely detail is rendered in a photograph. A clear image appears focused and has contrast.
Is Image Clarity an Important Factor in Photography?
Occasional moments may be more significant than precision in some genres, like documentary photography. However, in genres for example landscape photography, image sharpness is fundamentally important to aesthetic quality.
How does the Level of Sharpness Impact Visual Quality?
Sharpness is a means of including emphasis on subjects or sections of subjects. Understanding photography sharpness techniques also allows our lenses to bring out the full resolution capacity of our camera sensor.
What steps can be taken to improve the clarity and definition of images?
You have several methods available to you to enhance photographic sharpness. Maximizing sharpness using the equipment available is the preferable first step. This involves utilizing a tripod, suitable shutter speeds, depth of field, and high quality lenses.
The Sharpness and Clarity sliders in digital post-production can also affect the perceived sharpness (acutance).
You can find more details in our guide on capturing sharper photographs.
Assembling a panoramic photo of the Milky Way galaxy using PTGui software.
Only if your lens has high enough resolution for the image sensor`s megapixel count and you follow proper photograph sharpening techniques. Additionally, ensure your aperture isn`t too narrow or diffraction will soften your picture.
Can Out of Focus Photos be Fixed for Better Sharpness?
If the main focus is missed somewhat globally or in specific areas, edits sometimes can better an indistinct image. Generally, it’s preferable to either retake or use specialized software meant for out-of-focus images to improved blurred photos.
Conclusion
Hopefully, this guide has expanded your knowledge of how sharpness in digital photographs is achieved and affected.
As you can see, most of the factors affecting sharpness in photography involve getting your settings right in camera.
Fine-tuning the enhancement of your image and the perception of sharpness with some minor sharpness adjustments in Lightroom and Photoshop is a fundamental step. However, the key is to get a sharp image straight from the camera, avoiding motion blur, the lack of sharpness that comes from utilizing poor quality lenses, and the other factors we covered that will influence the sharpness of your images.
To put this into practice, I recommend checking out our , where you’ll see the finest way to increase stability, focus, use the right gear and settings, and the best post-processing techniques to capture more detail in your shots!
I hope this tutorial about sharpness in photography was helpful and it assists in understanding how sharpness works in photography.
Questions in the comments section are welcome!
