The sharpest image is not necessarily the best

When I got my EF 50 mm f1.8 MkII lens, the thing that stayed in my mind the most was how I could take pictures that were really sharp - or tack sharp, as some would say. And my 50 did not disappoint. It is, by far, the sharpest lens I own. Of course, I only own 4 lenses, and non of them are L.

What constitutes a sharp image? Well, in my words, if I were to snap your portrait with my 50, I would be able to make out every strand of hair on your head, every pore on your face, and even the tiny hairs on your upper lip.   The image below is of my daughter, taken with my 50 @ 2.8.  This is relatively sharp.  It gets even sharper at 4.0.

Being able to capture such detail is sometimes really good. Especially when you want to portray the hardship a person has endured in his lifetime by showing the wrinkles on his face. However, if the mood you want to depict is a dreamy one, then the harsh sharpness is a no no. Or if your subject is your wife. This was very telling when, after we got back from a long weekend getaway at Cameron Highlands with over 500 photos, she mostly avoided her photos that were too sharp when posting to her facebook page.

So there you have it. Sharp is not always good. However, I will still choose a sharper lens over a soft lens any day, because with a sharp lens, I can soften the image by shooting wide open - but I'm not so sure I can improve the image quality of a picture captured by a really soft lens.