Diffraction

How to get sharper landscape images in camera

Feb 6, 2023 by Alex Baker Add Comment

A pin-sharp landscape image is a beautiful thing. But how often do we come back from a day out shooting, download our images, and find that we just don’t quite have everything in the perfect sharp focus that we all desire? It can be disappointing, particularly if you find it happening over and over again.

But fear not, there’s a way to get sharper images in camera. To do that, you need to understand lens diffraction. In this video, Gavin Hardcastle delves deeper into how you can get the most from your camera and lens and take sharp photos every time you go out.

This is why you need to stop shooting at apertures smaller than f/11

Nov 16, 2021 by John Aldred Add Comment

Lenses these days have all kinds of aperture ranges, with some opening as wide as f/0.95 and others stopping down as much as f/32. But shooting at either extreme can cause potential issues. At the wider apertures, those issues are obvious. The shallower depth of field can mean you don’t get enough focus to get everything you need looking sharp. And most lenses are a little soft wide open anyway. Then as we stop them down, things get sharper. But is there a limit?

Well, yes. With many lenses, as you start to go past f/11, you’ll see things will become soft again. This is due to something called diffraction. We’ve covered diffraction here on DIYP before, a couple of times, actually, but it’s always good to have a reminder, and this video from Matt Granger does exactly that, explaining what diffraction is, what causes it and how you can prevent it (by basically not stopping down smaller than f/11).

Watch: Video explains what lens diffraction is and why photographers should even care

Jan 26, 2021 by John Aldred 1 Comment

Diffraction is a topic that pops up regularly in photography and filmmaking. “Oh, you don’t want to stop your lens down all the way, you’ll get diffraction!”. But what is diffraction, how does it affect your shot, can anything be done about it and should you really even care?

Macro photography expert Don Komarechka has just put out a great video for DPReview TV going into quite some depth to explain the cause of diffraction – in a very easy-to-digest way with lots of practical demonstrations – and why it makes your images softer the more you stop down your aperture.

Diffraction made simple – Why your pictures are softer at f/22 than at f/8

Jun 11, 2020 by John Aldred Add Comment

It’s something that all of us have run into at some point or another, particularly when we’re still learning the basics of photography. We learn that when we stop down our lenses, we get more depth of field and a sharper image. So, if I need the most depth of field, I should just stop it down all the way, and everything will be in focus and super sharp, right? Well, no, not exactly.

Diffraction is a topic that gets thrown around a lot when people start talking about stopping their lenses all the way down, but a lot of people don’t really know what it means. They’ve seen the effects, but how and why does it happen? In this video, ZY Productions explains what diffraction is, and how it affects your images.