Who cares about sharpness?

[Ray Kilby]

I had a very old photographer once say to me 'F*** Focus.' I understood what he meant, even though I spend my time endlessly looking at granular sharpness. So any pictures you like that are out of focus? Here is one of mine.

 

[Alpsman]

There are a few things I've simply given up on or just dont care about after several decades of photography.

Razor-sharp images.
Perfectly level images.
Dust-free scans.
Clinically clean lenses.
Many fads like bokeh, micro-contrast, or similar fantasy constructs have completely passed me by anyway.
Oh - I forgot - sharpness into the furthest corner.

This makes photography much more carefree.

 

[Ray Kilby]

I agree.

 

[Ray Kilby]

It's all about capturing shape and light, or the moment, a snap of time.

 

[qqphotos]

I think it depends what sort of photography you're doing. If you're trying to capture action, a mood, or tell a story, worrying too much about sharpness is probably counterproductive. But there are other kinds of photographs that are also valid.

 

[Alpsman]

Sharpness is always an advantage in architectural photography.

But if you're the only person with a photo of a building that was demolished 30 years ago, and someone is looking for it, then sharpness, alignment, and film grain don't matter so much anymore.

The people in the city archives are just very happy that you have a picture of the building at all.

 

[pvdhaar]

Sometimes it's the lack of sharpness that makes the shot..

Like this one; it's not sharp, it's not even in focus..

"Thou shallt not pass without petting!"..

By the way, there was a whole movement a century ago (Futurism) that focused on capturing motion in a still frame.. a lot of unsharp imaging going on there..

 

[Ray Kilby]

Sharpness is always an advantage in architectural photography.

But if you're the only person with a photo of a building that was demolished 30 years ago, and someone is looking for it, then sharpness, alignment, and film grain don't matter so much anymore.

The people in the city archives are just very happy that you have a picture of the building at all.

well said