Obsessing Over Sharpness?

I made this photo in 2010 in an old ballroom in the historic Terrace Inn in Petosky, Michigan. It
is not an especially sharp image.  The essence of what I saw and what made me make the exposure
has nothing to do with sharpness or pixel count.  It was about the light, the unusual color and
capturing a time from the distant past.
(Click to enlarge)

I started my serious photographic journey when I was given my first real camera in the spring of 1971, a Minolta Hi-Matic 7, a camera with a fixed 45mm f/1.8 lens.  I clearly remember being thrilled to death with the photographs I made.  That camera and the photos I made ignited a passion for photography that remains today.  But I never, ever thought about how sharp the lens was.  I may have been a beginner, really still a 'non-photographer', but I knew that I liked the photographs I was making with that camera.  I'm sure this is how most non-photographers view theirs and others' photographs.  They respond to the feeling, the subject and the moment of what's in the photographs not the technical aspects of them.

A year later where I bought my first camera, a Minolta SRT-101 with a 50mm f/1.7 lens, again, I never thought about how sharp that lens was.   I was just happy to have a sophisticated camera with which gave me more creative control.  Not once did I complain about whether or not that 50mm lens was sharp or even sharp enough.  Again, I loved the photos I made with it.

When I bought my first Nikon in 1974, a Nikkormat EL with a 50mm f/2 lens, again, the sharpness of the lens never entered my mind.  I had a Nikon product. The camera brand that the pros used.  I was somebody!  (At least I thought so. Lol.)  I loved my photographs.

As I became more photographically more competent and wanted to expand my horizons I bought subsequent Nikons and many lenses including a 20mm f/2.8, 24mm f/2.8, 35mm f/2, 105mm f/2.5 and 180mm f/2.8.  At no time did I think about how sharp any of those lenses were.  I was more concerned with how ‘fast’ the lenses were.  I took for granted that the Nikon lenses were more than ‘sharp enough’ and never gave it a thought.  After all, the pros used Nikons so all was good.  I did care about their build quality, reliability, and how they performed in the situations I photographed—not how they measured on a lab chart.

I soon bought a Pentax 6X7.  I had contemplated buying a Hasselblad 500CM but in no way could I afford it.  I carried the Pentax and four or five lenses around for decades.  I made huge enlargements.  I sold a lot of images for posters, calendars, advertising and commercially.  I didn't ever think if I had only bought that Hasselblad, I could have better photos.  In fact, only Pentax made lenses for that camera so lens choice was limited.  I never thought twice about if my lenses were or were not sharp enough.

Even in the 1990s when I moved to a Leica system—buying an M6, M6TTL, and M7, along with a 35mm f/2 Summicron ASPH, a 50mm f/2 Summicron, and a 90mm f/2.8 Elmarit-M—I wasn’t obsessed with sharpness. It was about the Leica mystique, the rangefinder experience, the contrast, the rendering, the feel of the focus ring, and yes, the famous “Leica look.” It was about the experience of using a Leica, not the ability to read the serial number on a car’s license plate three blocks away in a crop.  I made the assumption that Leica lenses were better than 'good enough' but I never tested them.  Why would I?

When I fully transitioned to digital in 2005 with a Nikon D70 and kit 18–70mm lens, sharpness still wasn’t in my mind.  I was too busy being amazed that I could take a photo, see it instantly, and never have to buy film or pay for processing again!  And...no film grain in a 35mm style camera!  I really disliked film grain in my prints.  Gone!  How much better could things get?

Then, somewhere along my digital journey, sharpness became a big deal.  I first noticed the notion of worrying about lens sharpness when bloggers, magazine and internet articles and YouTube reviewers would praise or condemn a lens based almost entirely on sharpness tests.  Brick walls, ISO charts, corner crops, 300% zoom pixel peeping—it was as if photography had turned into a competitive sport judged solely by edge acuity.  What I haven’t figured out is the old chicken and egg thing—which came first—did the influencers and reviewers psychologically goad us into paying so much attention to sharpness or did we let them know though feedback and comments that lens sharpness was the most import thing to us and their emphasis on sharpness is a reaction to that?

Like many photographers, I got sucked in to the ‘sharpness is everything’ trend.  I started to examine my own images at ridiculous magnifications, searching for flaws I never would have noticed before.  In the process, I sometimes forgot why I loved photography in the first place.  Many times I found myself only considering one of my photographs 'good' if the technical quality was flawless.  I found myself, at times, forgetting that photography is about content.

You remember the old saying, "You can't see the forest for the trees."  Well worrying about sharpness as well as resolution caused me to microscopically examine my image files and I found myself walking down the path of being blind to what's "in" the image.

When was the last time someone admired one of your photos and said, “Wow, that’s the sharpest picture I’ve ever seen”? More likely, they said, “I love the expression on her face,” or “This takes me right back to that place.” That’s what people remember—the emotion, the story, the moment.  Sharpness has never been the soul of a photograph.

So why do we obsess over sharpness?  Because the industry told us to, reviewers reinforced it, and digital tools made it easy to measure and compare.  With the ability of computers to design extraordinarily sharp lenses—sharper and with less distortion, aberrations and vignetting than was ever possible in the film days—and now AI based software that can take an image that is slightly unsharp and make it pin sharp, we are bombarded with the technical wizardry that is given us.  It is hard to resist thinking we 'have' to make the sharpest photos possible.  But the truth is, sharpness (and I'll also add resolution) is just one ingredient—and often not the most important one.

Today, the photographic community as a whole seems obsessed with image sharpness, extreme resolution, and technical perfection. 

We seem to be putting our emphasis on technical aesthetics rather than the content and meaning of our photographs. “Content is king…” (from the 1974 book, Magazine Editing and Production, by J.W. Click and Russell N. Baird, where they stated, "Content is king. It is the meaning that counts.")  Photography is, at its heart, about connection—between the photographer and the subject, between the image and the viewer.  It is the meaning found in an image that should count much more than the technical aspects.

 

Well, I’m happy to say that I have evolved.  I’ve now come full circle. I no longer obsess over having the sharpest lenses nor creating technically perfect photographs with the most resolution and am very happy with any lens that is ‘more than sufficient’ for my visual purposes.   If an image isn’t perfect, so be it.  If I’ve created something meaningful in any way, I’m pleased with my creation.  As I have said and written many times, photograph for yourself, not to try to please anyone else or to meet some artificial standard created by others.  Don't judge your images by an artificial standard because the 'influencers' or your friends tell you to.

I like a sharp photograph as much as anyone.  Also, I like lenses that are sharp.  But I don't believe that sharpness is the be all to end all.  I try to concentrate on the content of my images much more than the technical aspects.  Most all lenses will produce image files that will please almost all of us today.  Just my humble opinion.

My advice is simple: stop chasing perfect lenses and perfect technical execution.  Start photographing for the reasons you took up the craft in the first place—curiosity, creativity, joy, exploration, make memories, etc.  Put the charts away and stay away from brick walls and just use your camera to connect with your friends, family and the world.

Because when you stop pixel peeping and start picture feeling, you’ll not only enjoy photography more, you’ll make better, more genuine images.  In the end, that’s what really matters.

Join me over at my website, https://www.dennismook.com. 

 Thanks for looking.  Enjoy! 

 Dennis A. Mook  

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