In this guide to sharpness in photography, discover why clarity creates imagery and campaigns that will draw in your audience.
Here, we’ll break down the secrets to finding perfect photo sharpness in stock images. We’ll explore related techniques, including clarity, depth of field, texture and blur. We’ll also share how you can look for these effects when choosing stock photography.
Clockwise, from top right: License these images via EpicStockMedia, NatashaRamenskaya, and UfaBizPhoto.
What Is Sharpness in Photography?
Sharpness (sometimes termed acutance) is a photographic technique that helps to improve the clarity of images. This is particularly useful because it highlights the level of detail in a subject.
In wildlife photography, sharpness brings out the detail in fur, feathers, or scales. Within human portraiture, sharpness enhances the detail of eyes, skin, or hair.
Sharpness in architectural photography highlights enhanced materials and window details.
The best way to understand the impact of sharpness is to imagine that you have the vision of a bird of prey. Your ability to see fine detail, even from a far distance, would be dramatically improved. This eyesight gives you complete clarity of the environment around you, down to the smallest blade of grass.
While this level of vision is only a fantasy for humans, photos can actually mimic this crystal clear vision.
Sharp images can be addictive to look at. They draw in viewers to a level of detail that isn’t always seen in real life. Sharpness gives the impression of a high-definition, almost 3D look in stock photos, bringing on-trend clarity to your design projects.
Below, we’ll explore different aspects of sharpness in photos. This guide will help you choose crisp and clear images for your creative projects.
Read on to find out more about:
License this image via m.abdullah1234.
1. Photo Sharpness
An eye for sharpness is essential when you want to create designs that really draw in the viewer. Sharp, crisp images help us to see subjects from a fresh and highly detailed perspective. Often, this mimics the impression of looking at something really close-up.
When choosing stock photos, look for images that have a high-definition effect, in which the fine details of the subject can be clearly seen even when zoomed in.
You can also look out for an on-trend “wet look” effect. This gives subjects a 3D-like quality, making them appear almost hyper-real. This sharpness trend feels inspired by the world of immersive gaming, in which characters and environments are becoming increasingly detailed.
Clockwise from top left: License these images via Kwadrat, Lapina, and Master 1305.
Tip: Don’t Go Overboard When Adding Sharpness to Photos
The best sharp results are achieved using good photographic equipment, but sharpness can also be enhanced in post-editing. The right level of sharpness allows the viewer to see the fine details and removes motion blur.
Alternatively, too much sharpness creates a jarring, high-contrast effect that ironically impacts the level of detail in an image.
In this edited image (left), too much sharpness has been applied. This creates a harsh effect that distracts from the subject’s facial expression. In the original version of the image (right), a moderate level of sharpness brings out texture in the subject’s skin. It enhances the definition of the woman’s eyes and hands. License this image via Kiselev Andrey Valerevich.
2. Clarity
While sharpness fine-tunes the small details in stock photos, clarity is a broader technique that adjusts the contrast between the mid-tones of an image.
Because clarity enhances larger sections of an image, it’s a useful technique for improving the overall sharpness of photos that feature larger subjects.
Landscapes, background textures, and a portrait’s hair or skin all benefit from adjustments in clarity.
Clockwise from top left: License these images via Mamo Studios, Igor Normann, and Aleksandr Grechanyuk.
Tip: Combine Sharpness and Clarity for Beautiful, Highly Detailed Results
For example, let’s try to improve the definition of a person’s braided hair, as in the image below. Sharpness brings out the fine details of the braids. Meanwhile, clarity enhances the contrast between darker and lighter areas of the hairstyle.
Combining the two techniques in a subtle way creates a high-definition style. As a result, the eye is drawn towards this area of the image.
And remember, seek clarity with caution! In the same way that sharpness can be over-applied, too much clarity can result in a high-contrast effect that “bleaches” lighter tones in an image, creating an overly harsh appearance.
In an edited version of this portrait (left), too high a level of clarity “bleaches” the lighter tones in the image. This creates too much contrast and a severe high-definition effect. At right, the original image uses a balanced level of clarity. This creates slightly more contrast in the hairstyle detail. It draws the eye towards this part of the portrait. License this image via NatashaRamenskaya.
3. Depth of Field
Depth of field creates more contrast between the background and foreground of an image. More sharpness is applied to the subject in the foreground and, therefore, the background is blurred.
A shallow depth of field brings the focal point of the photo onto a sharpened small subject. Alternatively, a deep depth of field keeps everything in the image in focus.
Clockwise from top left: License these images via Javier Brosch, macro.viewpoint, and LongJon.
A moderate depth of field is an effective way to bring the viewer’s attention to specific parts of an image. It creates a point of focus, whether that’s to a person’s intense gaze on a portrait or a product label in an ad campaign.
Tip: Be Selective on What You Blur—Less Is Often More!
Too shallow a depth of field can result in an intense “hypnotic” effect. It can even make the viewer feel dizzy! So, unless your intention is to create this sort of effect stylistically, ensure that the balance between blur and sharpness is finely tuned.
In an edited version of this portrait (left), the depth of field is too shallow. The boundary edge between the sharp focal point and blurred background is too hard, creating an extreme and undesirable “hypnotic” effect. The original image (right) uses a moderate depth of field. This subtly draws the viewer’s attention to the face of the subject. License this image via mimagephotography.
4. Texture
Texture makes a photograph feel tactile and touchable. It’s amped up by improving the definition of shapes, tones, and color depth. Both sharpness and clarity can contribute to the impression of texture in an image, which helps backgrounds, macro photography, and close up portraits feel more vivid and tangible.
While the trend for retouching portrait photos often focuses on blurring skin to create a smoother effect, introducing more texture into human photos can make them feel more interesting, dynamic, and intimate.
By improving texture, viewers can see details like freckles, wrinkles, and expressions. Textured images have a hyper-real quality that can feel relatable when compared to airbrushed imagery.
Clockwise from top left: License these images via UfaBizPhoto, Eve Liem, and Johan Swanepoel.
Tip: Enhance Stock Photos by Adding Texture to Their Light and Dark Colors
Texture is best achieved using high-definition photography techniques and excellent lighting, but it can also be enhanced in photo-editing software by adjusting the sharpness, clarity, contrast, and levels in your image.
To avoid too much texture (particularly in portraits), focus on adjusting the midtones of your photo, rather than the very dark or light tones. This technique will help you avoid creating too much contrast in the final result.
In this image, created using Shutterstock’s AI Image Generator, the tree bark appears relatively flat in texture (left). In the image at right, I have subtly intensified the sharpness, clarity, and contrast in the photo to bring out more of a tactile quality in the bark texture. License this image via Shutterstock.AI.
5. Blur
The opposite of sharpness, blurring creates more softness in images, creating a dreamy, out-of-focus effect.
Ironically, blur almost always work best when the image is already sharp and can be applied in post-editing, allowing you to control the type and level of blur to create a particular effect.
Blur isn’t always desirable in images, as photographers usually strive for crisp, clear images that bring more focus to the subject. However, in the right context, blurring can bring an otherworldly quality to photos.
It works particularly well when used selectively in conjunction with sharpness. This pairing creates a contrast and sense of movement.
For example, in the motorbike image below, the photographer has blurred the background, while keeping the bike in sharp focus. This creates a dynamic sense of motion in the image.
Clockwise from top left: License these images via Leszek Glasner, Snapstitch Photography, and Lukas Godja.
Tip: Learn the Difference Between Good Blur and Bad Blur
When it comes to blurring, there are two camps of blur—the good and the bad unwanted blur. Generally, try to avoid photos containing unintentional motion blur or out-of-focus blur.
In some contexts, though, motion blur can bring a lot of character to images which already feature moving or energetic subjects, such as dancers or motorbikes. You can enhance the impression of movement by increasing blur on moving body parts or wheels.
Bokeh (which is the Japanese word for “blur” or “haze”) can bring a beautiful, dreamlike effect to photos, while rotational blur is a mesmerizing effect for creating beautiful starscapes or nighttime shots.
In an edited version of this landscape photo (left), the sharpness is relatively uniform across the whole image, making it feel static and flat. In the original image (right), the photographer has created an enhanced blur effect on the waterfall, while maintaining a moderate level of sharpness in the mountain landscape behind. This gives the water more movement and energy, and the overall photo a more immersive effect. License this image via EpicStockMedia.
Conclusion: Clarity Can Sharpen Up Your Creative Projects
Sharp, crisp images drawn in the eye, resulting in immersive portraits, landscapes, and product photography that won’t fail to capture your audience’s attention.
Now that you know more about how to look for sharpness and clarity in photography, you can begin to choose images with more confidence . . . and clarity!
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License the cover image via Kiselev Andrey Valerevich.
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