What might cause the blur in this shot and others in the set? Perhaps the distance is too great for that lens to figure out what focused is? I don't know. They all look ok until you get them to 100%.



Some exif data below.

Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure: 0.013 sec (1/80)
Aperture: f/7.1
Focal Length: 53 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

Thanks for any thoughts,
Andrew

there are a number or things that could be happening. it could be that you were not on a tripod = camera shake (1/80th is slow) or it could be that your lens is of poor quality (you dont say what lens you were using), it could be that the wind moved the trees. . . .

Go shoot it again at iso 200 and from a tripod at f11 or f16, set your white balance to sunny or about 5000k and repost. . .

At f16 you will have good depth of field so focus on the trees or better, focus about 1/3 of the way into the frame and you should be able to gather yourself a stellar image. . .

I will try it again with the recommended adjustments.
The lens is a Canon 17-85mm AF IS.

"focus about 1/3 of the way into the frame".
I'm not sure I understand...

Thanks Tony.
Andrew

Tony's suggestions are right on IMO. At ISO 400 the Rebel XTi is going to allow some digital noise which is probably degrading sharpness. At f7.1 your depth of field may simply be too narrow to get the whole frame front to back in focus - f16 or so should help with that issue.

Additionally, it appears to me that your camera auto-focused on the water rather than the rocks and trees. That can happen as the lens and camera search for an area of contrast to help it focus. It may have picked up the light adjacent to dark areas of reflection in the water and locked onto that (I assume the XTi in its default mode uses multiple points like 9 or more within the frame at varying distances from the center and whichever one locks on contrast first determines where the point of greatest focusing accuracy is - like down in the water maybe). So, in effect your camera front-focused, leaving the most important part of the image relatively out of focus.

You can certainly use auto focus but hopefully your lens allows you to tweak focus manually after it has already auto-focused. Most situations lacking enough of the right kind of contrast cause me to turn off auto-focus on the lens and just focus manually.

This looks like a lovely spot to watch for light, season and weather for some really nice images!

PS: Be sure and turn OFF the IS on your lens when using a tripod. If you're going to use a tripod (I certainly would for this kind of image) you might as well use your mirror lock-up option to reduce camera vibration. Along with mirror lock-up it's best to use the shuter release delay timer to provide a 2+ second delay between pressing the shutter button and when the aperture actually opens. That allows vibration in the tripod to settle before the image is captured. That in combo with mirror lock-up are critical for getting the sharpest possible images.

"PS: Be sure and turn OFF the IS on your lens when using a tripod. If you're going to use a tripod (I certainly would for this kind of image) you might as well use your mirror lock-up option to reduce camera vibration. Along with mirror lock-up it's best to use the shuter release delay timer to provide a 2+ second delay between pressing the shutter button and when the aperture actually opens. That allows vibration in the tripod to settle before the image is captured. That in combo with mirror lock-up are critical for getting the sharpest possible images."

Wow! Back to the operation manual for me!

Thanks for all the input. Perhaps I will get another chance this evening...

Andrew