Cherry blossom images - need critique image 1

[btaylor]

The aperture (f22) on three of the shots is extremely narrow. I am sure some of the more experienced posters on here can tell you about the minimum aperture you can use before diffraction becomes an issue.
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I'm certainly not claiming to be one of the more experienced members of the forums here but looking at the ISO 12233 Chart comparisons I can tell you this much:


At 35mm (which is roughly in the middle of the focal lengths you were using for these shots) the EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 ISappears to be sharpest at around f/4.0 and starts to get softer (albeit very manageable) at f/8.0. By f/16 there is visible softness compared to f/4.0.


So shooting at f/22 is obviously going to make things worse in terms of soft images.On top of this your shutter speed will be significantly slower so motion blur or camera shake becomes more of an issue.


I'd suggest trying to shoot at f/8.0 to get a decent depth of field while still retaining image quality. I understand that you're probably trying toachieve a deep depth of field and that's why you've stopped down to f/22. By all means, if you're happy with the potentially softer images thatmay be produced when shooting at f/22 then leave it at that. It's always a trade off between depth of field and the capabilities on your lens at narrow apertures. Certain lenses (such as the EF-S10-22mm ultrawide angle lens) have a longer depth of field by nature which might interest you, but it'll never have the image quality of the 17-55mm f/2.8 when used at the appropriate apertures.


Hope this helps.


Cheers, Ben

[DavidEccleston]

I'm pretty sure the softness from diffraction will completely disappear when resizing for web. The softness in these images is likely due to shake. A lower f value to bring up shutter speed, a sturdy tripod w/ IS disabled for non tripod-sensing lenses, and using the 2 second timer (to avoid mirror shake) are all methods that could be used to reduce blur.