How to get sharper images in very poor light?

[Shortstuff Shazza]

Hi, @Kim Howells thanks for letting me join. I am not sure what to do, so hoping for some guidance. I took this image on a Sony A7ii with a 70-300 lens @194mm f6.3 1/320 iso 1000 (this was the lowest I could take it). It was very gloomy/dark & raining. I shoot raw & handheld today. This site would only let me upload a jpeg. I positioned myself under the clearer sky, which let in a little more light and removed my lens hood. that gave me an extra stop of light. I am just baffled as to why these images are not sharper, is it just down to rain and the high iso? I just do not know what to do to make the images sharper. I usually use a monopod but the ground was flooded and very soft.

Thanks

[Kim Howells]

Hi! I think there could be a few factors here. ISO and rain like you said, but also underexposure (exacerbating the noise), movement blur (not the lack of a monopod, but from the kids). Can you please post a 100% crop of his face? Edited or unedited is fine. 

https://www.damiensymonds.net/2013/09/grabbing-700x700px-100-crop.html

[Shortstuff Shazza]

Thanks for your help so far, here is the crop.I look forward to your thoughts

[Damien Symonds]

On 1/8/2023 at 9:31 PM, Kim Howells said:

https://www.damiensymonds.net/2013/09/grabbing-700x700px-100-crop.html

@Shortstuff Shazza follow the directions EXACTLY please.

[Shortstuff Shazza]

Hi, 

I am not sure what is happening, I cant get the marque tool to choose just his face, I am obviously missing something, I have sent you a screenshot of the page. Thanks

[Damien Symonds]

You've done it completely perfectly.

[Shortstuff Shazza]

Thanks, I was a little concerned I had done it wrong when I read the comment @Shortstuff Shazza follow the directions EXACTLY please. I look forward to your reply, thanks for the help.

 

[Kim Howells]

That's correct, your first post wasn't as it's not square. The 700x700 is a good way for us to check that it's correctly cropped so it can be assessed at the right resolution.

[Kim Howells]

Noise and underexposure are the major issues here. It looks to me too that there has been movement away from the focal plane, ie he's moved backwards or forwards from the point at which you focused. You may find there are other areas of the image that are more in focus as a result. 

You'll need to be careful with noise reduction for this to be usable, but it'll never be sharp.