One of the most common questions I’m asked is “How can I get sharper photos?”. For a beginner photographer, taking consistently sharp images takes a bit of practise, but with patience and persistence, you can nail it in no time.

To give yourself the best chance of success, aim to shoot in good, natural light. Then try out some of the following tips to get those crisp, clean, sharp images you’re craving.

Single focus point

I always set my autofocus (AF for short) point to a single point of focus rather than allowing my equipment to auto-select my focal point for me. This gives me total control. If your subject isn't moving, set your focus mode to One Shot (Canon) or AF-S (Nikon). If you have a moving subject, you may want to opt for AI Servo (Canon) or Continuous/AF-C (Nikon). If you're just starting out, set your focus to the centre AF point, but don't be afraid to move/toggle your focus point once you feel more confident.

Typically when I'm shooting with my camera held landscape, I'll use my centre AF point. But if I turn my camera to shoot portrait, I'll often move/toggle my focal point so the AF point is now at the top of my viewfinder.

By doing this, I'm now using the focal point which is going to be closest to my subjects eyes. Once I have my focus sorted, there is still the small matter of composition and the more I have to move my camera from the original point of focus, the more chance I have of losing that pin sharpness.

Focus on the eye

When shooting a portrait, focus on the iris of your subject. If their head is at an angle, pick the eye that is closest to you. This can be tricky if you are photographing children as they are always on the move but if at first you don't succeed, try, try again!

Avoid camera shake

This is probably the biggest cause of unintended soft/blurred photos. My first tip would be check that your shutter speed is fast enough. For photographing my little girl, I find a good rule of thumb is to not let my camera’s shutter speed slip below 1/200. If you’re photographing something other than your children (flowers, coffee sups etc) and can afford to slow your shutter speed down a bit, a good general rule is to choose a shutter speed with a denominator (the number at the bottom of the fraction) that is larger than the focal length of the lens. For example:

if you have a lens that is 50mm in length try not to shoot any slower than 1/60th of a second
if you have a lens with a 100mm focal length try to shoot at 1/125th of a second or faster
if you are shooting with a lens of 200mm try to shoot at 1/250th of a second or faster

Use prime lenses

I find that prime lenses (fixed focal lengths) are generally sharper than zooms. I wrote a post on the joys of owning a nifty fifty which you can read here , but I also regularly shoot with my 35mm f1.4 and 85mm f1.8. I really love prime lenses. If you’re on Instagram, I have a lens choice chat saved to my story highlights, if your interested.

Try to avoid shooting at your widest aperture

Most lenses are at their sharpest one or two stops above their widest aperture. So for example, with a lens that goes as far as f1.4, try shooting at f2 instead.

Shoot at a low ISO

If you've opted for a large ISO, you’ll be able to use faster shutter speed and smaller aperture but the down side is that you'll be increasing the noise of your shots. For pin sharp images try keep it as low as possible.

Keep it clean!

Invest in a lens cleaning kit to keep your equipment at its best. Rocket blowers are good for removing dust from your sensor too but nothing beats a regular service. If, like me, you are based in London, Fixation do a really thorough job and I try to get my equipment serviced with them at least once a year.

Beautifully blurred

Sharp photos can be yours for the taking, but as you continue to develop your photography skills you may want to consider the question: will you always want crisp, sharp photos? Many seasoned photographers look for ways to satisfy their growing creativity by intentionally opting to blur their photos. This can lead to really interesting and emotive results. If you’d like some beautifully blurred inspiration to get your creative juices flowing, check out my dedicated board on Pinterest.

HOW TO TAKE SHARP PHOTOS WITH YOUR DSLR