Monk on the move

[theotherleft]

I took this in Nepal last year, at Kagbeni looking up the valley that takes you towards Tibet. We'd spotted this monk leading his horses beside the river below then climbing up the side and I'd carefully positioned myself. On the camera screen the shot looked great, but on screen it doesn't have the sharpness...
http://www.deantaylor.plus.com/2006%20Nepal/Next%20Best%20Pictures/slides/IMG_4031.JPG

It was taken on my 350D with 18-50 kit lens at 1/60 F4 with (camera) flash in Program mode. Thoughts appreciated on:

what settings I should have used to get a sharper pic (my feeling is there's some movement in there at 1/60th - can I change the speed for flash?)
how I might post process it to improve it (I still like the composition (though you can differ!), so would love to print a good copy.)
:help:

[Moos3h]

I reckon that'd clean up in Pshop no troubles.

I'd copy the image onto a new layer and use Unsharp Mark to sharpen it up.

I'd then have a play with the levels and try to get more detail from the midtones.

Lastly, I'd work with dodge and burn to get detail where you need it, giving the shot more punch.

I like the composition, but what about a letterbox crop, losing some of the foreground, might make it feel more of a 'journey' somehow?

Cheers,
James

[King_Boru]

Its drastically under exposed. It looks as if the camera metered for the sky and not the much more important foreground. Personally I think Program is the worst possible mode you could use. M, A or S allow far more control.

A quick edit in CS3 and I have managed to get the following results.

http://www.homepage.mac.com/dannyhurley/.Pictures/edit.jpg

[Moos3h]

Oh, and I'm not sure it's motion blur that you are experiencing, I think it's more than likely a shallow depth of field due to using f4.

I'd have boosted the ISO a touch, and tried for f8 if possible, maybe even f11 for that shade more sharpness...

Cheers,
James

[King_Boru]

Oh, and I'm not sure it's motion blur that you are experiencing, I think it's more than likely a shallow depth of field due to using f4.

I will be motion blur. 1/60th second is a very slow shutter speed and is slow enough to blur walking/feet.

[Moos3h]

Ah, well spotted on the legs there. I thought we were talking overall sharpness. Depending on how much zoom there is, 1/60 is perfectly handholdable in most cases, so I was talking at cross purposes ;)

Now that you've boosted it - it looks like that rock in the foreground is actually the focal point? It's certainly the sharpest area that I can see...


Cheers,
James

[theotherleft]

Thanks, that's all helpful. I'll have to get myself more immersed in photoshop (I can do some of that but not sure I've yet tried it all - practice, practice...)

I think you're right re focus point. Hopefully will avoid in future as I've recently switched to using the centre point as the standard rather than multi; on shots like this there seems to be too much going on to juggle the multi point thing!

How do I drive the flash sync speed higher (in program and other modes - I've resolved to play with the latter)?

thanks
TOL

[King_Boru]

Every camera has a max flash sync speed (normally 1/250th). I am not sure if your 350D has it but FP flash allows daylight flash work at speeds up to 1/4000th second. Might be worth sifting through your manual.

King.