Why so many photographers are anxious about sharpness?

[Dali]

Hello all,

I don't want to open a can of worms but... I noticed so many threads in various photo forums on picture and lens sharpness topic that I asked myself: why so many people are anxious about sharpness?

I understand it can be a quality for some pictures but the buzz about it goes far beyond this point...or everyboby should shoot LF! I wonder if being at the crossroad of art and technology, some photographers want to measure their photographic skill through FTM figures... a very reassuring (but false IMO) way to deal with photography (my picture must be sharp because XYZ test says so)... I guess it is part of a general trend which want to rate everything in life (it is good, it is bad, it is better, it is worse, etc...) even if sometimes it is inapplicable (Is Da Vinci a better painter than Velasquez???). Do I miss the point?

Any constructive comment is welcome.

Thanks.

[David William White]

huh?

[wclark5179]

Here is a URL to peruse over:

http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/


For my photography, the primary feature I want in focus, sharp, (no not my mind!) are the subjects eyes. The eyes have it and we have determined they are the windows to our souls!

[jmcd]

Sharpness can be an effective ingredient in a photograph, and to translate that from operating a camera to the final print a developed skill and proper equipment are required. Unlike the artistic merit of a photograph, sharpness can be measured in a laboratory, so it is easy to get fixated on this one of many variables. Also, some lenses are just not so sharp, and efforts to produce sharp prints from such a lens are in vain.

[ic-racer]

Even an intentionally fuzzy negative can be spoiled by unsharp printing technique.


Everyone should shoot LF...at least once

[tiberiustibz]

If I'm enlarging my 35mm negatives to 16x20 I want a sharp lens or else they look like mush.

[Mainecoonmaniac]

You're right. Styles of photography come and go. When photography first came around, all the phototogs tried to make their work look like paintings. Then the f/64 group came along and started the sharpness paradigm to rebel against the Pictorialist. Things change and I try not to be dogmatic about what should be sharp or not. The craft and technique must serve the art. If not, we're just a bunch of technicians.

[Joachim_I]

For me photography is craft. It can evolve into art but still the basics of the craft remain essential. An architect will always make sure that walls are perpendicular where required even if he produces the most stunning and artful buildings. Similarly, I want to have sharpness where I think it belongs. If I don't manage this, for whatever reasons (mostly wind in my case), I will most likely throw away the result.

But I agree it is an intersting question. Many famous historical pictures are not sharp and I still can enjoy them. But probably more so because they are of a certain historical importance. Recently, I visited an exhibition at a local university which showed the photography output of a recent class of graduates from the art school. There were some good ideas but many results were unsharp. I could not enjoy these pictures. Why not learn the essentials of the craft first? It seems the art school does not care about the insufficient technical skills. I do care.

[jnanian]

some people like sharp, some people don't.
i have no problem with either.

[keithwms]

why so many people are anxious about sharpness?

Because it is probably the one thing that can be easily quantified in photography. It can be measured, directly, using methods with which most people agree. Some would say that you can even ascribe a price to it.

People generally won't agree on how to quantify tonality, bokeh, etc. Not to mention originality of the art, the aesthetics, the emotional impact, the value of the craft and so forth.... those things cannot be quantified in way that we'd all agree on. Unless you consider the prices of prints to be a good measure! But even then, it's hard to deconvolve all the factors in the price.