Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

Laysan Albatross. This image was created with the handheld 400mm f/4 IS DO lens and the EOS-1D MIV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1/2000 sec. at f/7.1. Opportunities for flight photography are unlimited as the sky is constantly filled with birds. And the windier the better. As always, you can click on each image to see a larger, sharper version.

The first group leaves tonight after dark on the plane that is bringing the second group to bird photographers heaven.   For each of the photographers on the first trip, the week has been an unforgettable experience.  And our visit to Eastern Island was simply unbelievable.  Please see Bulletin 320 in about ten days for details <smile>

Black-footed Albatross. Same gear as above. ISO 500. Evaluative metering +1 2/3 stops in early morning light: 1/1250 sec. at f/4.

White Terns. Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO lens on a tripod with the EOS_1D MIV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/125 sec. at f/7.1. I went for a bit of extra depth of field in an effort to sharpen up the second birds. Participant Ron Horn shaded the pair with his body to eliminate the filtered sunlight.

There are more than a million Laysan Albatrosses on Midway Island. This displaying bird was photographed with the Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS lens with the 1.4X II TC handheld at 202mm with the EOS-1D MIV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/3200 at f/5.6. As always, you can click on each image to see a larger, sharper version.

Not even the mid-morning drizzle that turned into a cold shower could put the damper on the non-stop photographic opportunities here on Midway Island, a five hour flight from Pearl Harbor. I am co-leading a Joseph Van Os Photo Safari with Joe himself and nobody knows Midway like Joe. He has consistently had the group in the right spot at the right time. Though I am a conservative shooter I havebeen creating more than 1000 images each day and those include more than a few good ones of some amazing species. I shall share several of my early favorites

This displaying pair of endangered Black-footed Albatross was photographed with the Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS lens with the 1.4X II TC and the EOS-1D MIV handheld at 202 mm. ISO 400" 1/1250 sec. at f/7.1 set manually after histogram check. There are about 100,000 of this great bird on Midway during the breeding season including non-breeders and chicks.

The Smiling Scallop

(As always you can see a larger sharper version of an image by clicking on it.  For technical info and comments on the image above, check out “Happy as a Scallop???”, my BPN thread here:  http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=58322)   

On to Happiness Is….  Since we spend tons of credit card money at BAA each year buying costly tripod heads, tripods, and tons of the rest of the stuff that we sell, I always use air miles to fly first class to the west coast.  For the Hawaii/Midway trip I did not hesistate to cash in for a big, reclining bed American Airlines seat for both legs.  Anyway, I had some time to kill in Dallas and the Admiral’s Club at C23 was right next to the gate for my flight to HNL, gate C24.  I checked in at the desk and the woman noted my flight and entered it on the computer.  My boarding pass noted 10:40 am boarding so I head to the gate at 10:38 anxious to charge my laptop as fully as possible.   I was confused as I approached C24 as it said, “Los Angeles.”  I asked the gate agent and she said that there had been a gate change to D22.  In Dallas that means a ride on the Sky Link.  Yikes.  I asked her to call the gate and have them hold the flight for me since nobody in the Admiral’s Club had announced anything or paged me.  She said, and I quote, “I will call them and let them know that you are coming but they will not hold the flight for you.  You’d better hurry.  So I did, and was relieved to make it.   As I walked throught the door of the plane they slammed it shut it behind me.  Yikes!  The flight was great.  I worked on the laptop on “The Guide to Pleasing Blurs” that I am doing with Denise Ippolito, started reading Michael Chrichton’s “Airframe” (only to realize that I had read it long ago; I think that I remember the ending but it is great reading anyway), and slept and slept.  The 8 1/2 hours went by quickly.

As we were deplaning, there was an announcement:  “Passenger Arthur Morris, please see the baggage agent opposite bag claim G1″.   I knew immediately that they had taken my bag off the flight because I was late boarding.  I was right.   I slept OK from about 8:30 pm HI time until 3:30 am, dressed quickly, and went to the lobby.  I was quite pleased to see that American had delivered my bag to the hotel as promised.  Whew.  We head to the charter hangar at 1:30 pm today for the flight to Midway.

This Wihte Pelican was photographed with the handheld Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens and the EOS-1D MIV camera body. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 2/3 stops: 1/125 sec. at f/13. For tips on handholding big lenses, scroll down to item 2. To see a larger, sharper version of this image, click on the photo.

A Tale of Carmen

Last week I received an e-mail from another old student, Carmine Narine:

Good Morning Mr. Morris,  You may not remember me but I saw your blog online and decided to reach out as I have thought about you many times during the last 20 years.  I attended PS 106. You were my 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th grade teacher. My name is Umawattie Narine but I went by Carmen.  I remember our trips to bird watch at Jamaica bay and the stencils and sketches of birds we did.  But most of all I remember the stamp collection we started. I still have it!   I wanted to let you know that back then I wasn’t very confident but you made me feel important and smart. You were the best teacher I have ever had.  We once listened to Les Miserable in class and when I saw the actual play- I cried and I felt ahead of my time. I know that sounds strange but I felt so good that I knew everything about it because I had a teacher who not only taught us Math and English— you taught us about life and art.   You always had confidence in me and it gave me confidence to strive to be better in all things.   I hope this email reaches you and that you are well.  Thank you for everything you did for all the kids whose lives you touched.   Carmen

After I wrote Carmen, she wrote back to me:

Good Morning Mr. World Famous Bird Photographer!   I work in Ad Operations for Conde Naste.  I manage the ads on our websites and make sure the clients’ campaigns serve and perform well.  It is fun and I love it worked at The Weather Channel and the NBA doing the same thing.   I am so sorry to hear that Mrs. Belsky died,  and yes, I do remember her.  Her class came a few times on our class  trips.

I don’t have a picture from our class but I have attached one that should help. I ended up graduating valedictorian from the 6^th grade. I was in Mrs. Lowe’s class.   I have read your Blog- that’s actually how I found you- I was so excited!!   I am so glad you are doing well and I will continue to follow your Blog. A friend of mine is also a photographer and I tried convincing him to take up Bird Watching.   Carmen

I wrote Carmen back telling her how proud I am of her.  It is of course quite rewarding to hear from my old students.

Handholding the Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS

Recently I have begun handholding the Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS /EOS-1D MIV combo to good advantage.  I have been using the principles taught to me by my friend, Posse member Jim Neiger.  The advantages of handholding are that you are more quickly and easily able to get on the action than if you were using a tripod.  Especially when it would be necessary to move the tripod before starting to photograph a new situation.  And it is easier to frame fast moving birds (especially those that fly somewhat erratic patterns) and to frame and follow frantic action  when handholding than it is when working atop a tripod.

Do know that it is only necessary to hold the lens up for short periods of time, say 10-20 seconds at most.  Before raising the lens it is best to support it in some manner to prevent fatigue.  Jim’s mantra is “practice, practice, practice” so that when you raise the lens you are able to get right on the subject.  I have been after Jim for a year or two to put together “The Guide to Handheld Photography With Big Telephoto Lenses.”

In the opening White Pelican image in this post it would have been impossible to get as low as I wanted low with the tripod-mounted 800 on the crowded pier that the IPT group was working from.  So I simply sat on the edge of the dock, supported the lens on my bent knee when waiting for the situation to improve, and then raised the lens when the big, beautiful birds swam into the perfect position.  In the relatively low light situation I supported the back of my left wrist and hand again on my bent left knee.  (I did not realize that I had been working at such a slow shutter speed; my technique must have been perfect!)   Do compare the light and the exposure data with that of  the similar White Pelican image at the top of the February 19 post below; that one was created in full sun.

This Great Egret calling in flight image was created with the handheld Canon 800mm f/5.6L lens with the EOS-1D MIV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop: 1/2000 sec. at f/6.3 set manually.

The handheld 800 image above was also created from a small boat. Handholding made it relatively easy to follow the bird in flight even at close range.  Ron Mayberry was kind enough to take Lou Newman, Denise Ippolito, and me out for some rookery photography in Sarasota Bay on the morning of my Sarasota Audubon presentation a few weeks ago.  (Ron and Lou will be joining me on the 2nd Midway trip; I am posting this from the Orlando Airport on my way to Honolulu.)   Using a tripod on a small boat with four folks is pretty much out of the question so the decision to handhold was a good one that enabled me to create a rather cool image.  Here I used the central AF sensor.  Always use AI Servo AF for photographing moving subject.

Note:  As a Canon Explorer of Light I am and have been a paid Canon spokesperson since 1996.

This copulating pair of Great Egrets was photographed with the Canon 70-200mm f/4 L IS lens with the 1.4X II TC (handheld at 113mm) and the EOS-1D MIV. ISO 1600. Evaluative metering +2 stops: 1/100 sec. at f/5.6 On-camera fill flash at -2 stops. I was a bit surprised to get all sharp images at such a slow shutter speed. With some ugly buildingin the BKGR, my first instinct was to get down on one knee and work with a sky background while at the same time I instinctively raised the ISO. As always, click on the image to see a larger sharper version.

BPN Out of the Box Moderator Denise Ippolito and I visited Gatorland yesterday. Things were spectacular. Robert Amoruso was finishing up a three day workshop; it was great seeing him there. There were dozens of Great Egrets in spectacular breeding plumage, probably well more than 100 Great Egret nests (and possibly twice that many),  lot of Wood Storks, and a few red-lored Snowy Egrets. The number of birds was much astounding. And there was a very tame adult Black-crowned Night-Heron that posed for head portraits. I was puzzled as to why there were so many wading birds including killer breeding Great Egrets, Wood Storks, a Great Blue Heron or two, and Snowy Egrets in the water on the afternoon-light side of the boardwalk. It didn’t used to be that way… When I inquired, I learned that there is a new program where the visitors are encouraged to feed hot dogs to the gators. The profusion of food in the water attracts lots of small fish and lots of hungry herons and egrets. The Wood Storks preferred the small fish to the frankfurters

The crazy thing is that the rookery will be getting better and better every day with the arrival of the smaller species: Tricolored Heron and Cattle and Snowy Egret. Each exhibits spectacular soft parts color at the height of breeding plumage, the colors intensified by increased hormonal levels. And for those who can stand the heat of a Florida summer, there will be tons of chick to photograph though the month of July.

Mike Godwin was a most gracious host and he kindly reminded me that I was the one who–years ago–encouraged him to create an early entry/late-stay program for photographers

You can learn more about the Gatorland Rookery (in Kissimmee, FL) and their photographer’s program here: http://tinyurl.com/ygcq9yk

To see ”Gatorland Perfection,” my very favorite image from yesterdays Gatorland visit, check out my BPN Post here: http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?p=451157#post451157

This White Pelican was photographed with the handheld 800mm f/5.6L IS lens and the EOS-1D MIV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering -1/3 stop: 1/2000 sec. at f/11. See additional comments below. As always, you can click on each image to enjoy a larger, sharper version. (I am not sure why the smaller images in Word Press look less sharp than the larger ones <smile>)

While I use the settings mentioned in yesterday’s post below for sharpening my 800 pixel wide JPEGs generically via an action, here is a great suggestion for those who sharpen their JPEGs individually.  I am 99% sure that I got this tip from David Thomasson on BPN:   Using Unsharp Mask set the Radius to .3 and then vary the Amount from 200 to 500%.  Check for halos and artifacting by viewing the image at at least 100% in the Unsharp Mask dialogue box.  When the image looks sharp and you are not seeing any of the destructive elements mentioned above click OK.  You can left-click on the image in the dialogue box  to see the effects of the sharpening or check and uncheck the Preview box to see the before and after sharpening on the image itself.

The generically created White Pelican JPEG above did not look ultra sharp so I brought it back into Photoshop and gave it an additional round of sharpening at 200/.3/0.  Now it rocks!

Thanks again David!

Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens with the 1.4X II TC and the EOS-1D MIV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1/640 sec. at f/9. As always you can click on the image to see a larger, sharper version.

There are so many misconceptions about sharpening digital images floating about that it is no wonder that most folks are confused.  As my diabetes doctor, Richard K. Bernstein wrote in his book, The Diabetes Solution, “Don’t listen to them.  Listen to me.”  Funny how great minds think alike.

The only sharpening done to the master TIFF of the image above was done by applying a Contrast Mask at 15/65/0 to the face of the gull.  Otherwise, the master file was not and should never be sharpened…  Ever.   To learn more about Contrast Maskes,  click here: http://www.birdsasart.com/bn247.htm and scroll down to DIGITAL BASICS UPDATE FREEBIE/THE CONTRAST MASK

Here is another free excerpt from the recently revised, re-written, and re-organized Digital Basics File;

SHARPENING: 

Just about every image created with a digital camera needs to be sharpened to some degree.  (Do note that images from scanned film usually require more sharpening than digital originals).  All digital image files should undergo final sharpening only after have been sized for a specific use.  Larger files need much more sharpening than smaller ones.  All such sharpening should—of course—be done at the desired output resolution. (Folks who reproduce the same print at the same size over and over again should of course save a sharpened version labeled as such.)  

Some digital experts feels that because all digital SLRs use anti-aliasing filters that render all images slightly soft as they come out of the camera the very first thing you should do when opening a new image is to apply a very modest sharpening such as 200/0.3/2.  Still others set a small amount of in-camera sharpening for the same reason.  At BIRDS AS ART we apply a small bit of sharpening via the Clarity Slider when converting in ACR (as described above). Our master files are never sharpened.  (Note: I often sharpen selected areas of master files as needed, most often the bird’s head or face.) 

For small j-peg files to be used electronically, I generally sharpen three times using Filter/Sharpen/Unsharp Mask with the following settings:  Amount: 125%; Radius: 0.2 pixels; Threshold: 0 levels.  Some folks prefer sharpening once at something like 350/0.2/0.  When sharpening for the web you do not want the image to look at all over-sharpened on the monitor. 

 As file size increases (generally for images that are to be printed in one form or another), there are two options.  You may decide to increase the Amount to somewhere between 300 and 500 while keeping the radius approximately the same.  (In this case, you may need to sharpen more than once while decreasing the amount each time).  Or you may increase the Radius to somewhere in the range of 0.85 and 1.25 while keeping the Amount roughly the same. 

Unsharp Mask settings for a 30 mb flattened 8-bit file might range from 250/.8/0 to as much as 475/1.4/0 depending on the amount of detail in the image.  When sharpening for print with Unsharp Mask it is suggested that you want the image to look a bit over-sharpened on your monitor as the printed image will look a bit softer due to the paper absorbing some of the ink. 

For natural history images, the threshold is usually set at 0 to yield the most detail.  For portraits of people, the threshold might be set as high as 4-8 so that skin imperfections are not emphasized.  For natural history images made at high ISO settings or those with large areas of sky, threshold settings of from 2 to 3 may yield the best results.  If you ask 100 good digital photographers exactly how they best sharpen their images, you would probably get 100 totally different answers.  To attain the very best results, experiment with each image by trying a range of sharpening settings and comparing the results.  Sharpening is much more of an art than a skill.

You can learn more about Digital Basics or purchase a copy here:  https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/category.aspx?catid=32

The Great Laptop Miracle

After photographing on the Monday morning before the SW FLA tour with IPT veteran and friend Lou Newman aboard Ron Mayberry’s boat in Sarasota Bay, Lou invited us for lunch as his condo.  I opted to leave my laptop bag in the car and grabbed just the computer.  And I locked the car with the switch on the door without checking to see that I had “keys in hand.”  Thus, I locked my car keys in the vehicle.  (I had unexplicably placed them on the back seat…)   An extra key was of course in the computer bag.  <smile>

When we were done with lunch I called the AAA and the locksmith was of course delayed.  For no reason at all I took my laptop out to the Sequoia to wait for service.  Then, violating one of my rules for good living, I placed the laptop on the hood of the vehicle on the driver’s side figuring that I would surely see it before pulling off.  (I have been burned before by that one but this will be the last time….) 

The guy showed up in about 15 miinutes and easily unlocked the SUV.  I grabbed the keys off the back seat, fired her up, and pulled ahead the 50 yards or so to ssay good by to Lou.  I exited the vehicle and walked around the rear of the car only to see my laptop on the pavement.  Ooops.  After a quick glance it appeared to be undamaged.  It had been in sleep mode so I simply hit the space bar and was thrilled when it awoke.  I typed in my security code and was again thrilled to see that the laptop was working perfectly.

Amazingly, the next day at lunch, I glanced at the left hand corner of the laptop at the same moment and was aghast to see that there was major damage to the computer.  The thin metal strapping frame was broken into two pieces and there was a 1/4 inch plus separation between the face of the keyboard and the chassis.  You could see into the innards of the laptop.  And most amazing of all was the fact that I had been and am still able to download the image files from my Delkin e-Film Pro 32 gb flash cards; the card reader port is on the left side of the machine close to the corner.  Totally amazing. 

The computer continues to operate perfectly.  I am planning on bringing it on the Midway trip.  When I return from Hawaii, I will get in touch with HP and have the unit repaired.  As I say often, “You gotta love it.”

This Great Egret was photographed with the Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. 1/2000 sec. at f/8 set manually using my brilliant white in bright sun exposure for ISO 400. As always, you can click on each image to see a larger, sharper version.

Wow!  Have I been busy.  Saw “A Chorus Line” in West Palm Beach, attended the BPN South Florida Get-Together last Sunday, drove to Sarasota, photographed in Sarasota Bay on Ron Mayberry’s boat with Lou Newman and Denise Ippolito, presented  “A Bird Photographer’s Story for almost 200 folks at Sarasota Audubon, and headed to Fort Myers for the Southwest Florida President’s Week IPT. 

The group is great and Tim Grey is amazing; he is doing a 3-hour Photoshop session for the group on a windy, rainy Friday afternoon as I type.

For the past few years photographic opportunities at the Venice Rookery have been fewer and fewer, and this year is the worst ever by far.  There were two great blue nests with small chicks that were pretty much un-photographable and one nest with eggs that was somewhat photogenic.  There were several pairs of Great Egrets building nests.  If you have a choice of locations on a visit this year skipping the Venice Rookery might be a good plan.  We did, however have a few good chances.  Both of the Great Egret images here were created at the rookery on the first morning of the IPT.

Great Egret flash blur. Canon 400mm f/4IS DO lens handheld with the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400: +2 stops off the white sky: 1/40 sec. at f/4 set manually. Manual flash at 1:1 with Better Beamer.

Rita Matthews smiling at Fort Myers Beach on the SW FLA IPT.

I first met Rita Matthews on last year’s Post NANPA Bosque IPT.  She is a good friend of BIRDS AS ART special friend Isobel Wayrick.   At 88 years young, Rita is the senior IPT participant.  Rita, has PHDs in biochemistry and biology.  Among the many accomplishments in her long and amazing career are the development of a patented medication for treating hemophelia and–during a stint in Antarctica in the 1970s–the development of a substance used to cool the heart during surgery; she developed the latter by blasting holes in 10 feet of ice with dynamite, trapping the cold-adapted fish using kitchen scraps as bait, and studying their “antifreeze.”  She is quite an amazing lady.   And always smiling and appreciative.

   

Brown Pelican, La Jolla, CA. Image copyright 2010: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. The image was created with Fractalius, a Photoshop plug-in filter. See lots more below. And be sure to click on the image to see a larger version.

 BIRDS AS ART Bulletin #315 is now available on-line here:  http://www.birdsasart.com/bn315.htm

Here are the featured items:

SAN DIEGO IPT FOLLOW-UP
ONE IMAGE: MANY LESSONS
ANNOUNCING THE JANUARY 2011 SAN DIEGO IPT 
FRACTALIUS: IMAGES & TUTORIALS BY DENISE IPPOLITO
SARASOTA FLORIDA AUDUBON PROGRAM 
BOK TOWER EXHIBIT OPENING
CANON GEAR FOR SALE
KUDOS
IPT UPDATES

A while back, BPN Out of the Box moderator Denise Ippolito, a talented, creative photographer, introduced me to Fractalius, a Photoshop  plug-in that can be used to create unusual, eccentric artwork from a photograph in a single step.  The effects are based on the extraction of an image’s hidden fractal textures.  It can also be used to simulate various types of exotic lighting  and ultra-realistic pencil sketches.   I was so excited by the look and feel of the images that I asked Denise to create a tutorial for her favortie Fractalius setting, Glow 100.  Click here: http://www.birdsasart.com/bn315.htm and scroll down to see four of Denise’s fabulous Fracted images and to read the Glow 100 tutorial.  You can check out both of her Fractalius tutorials and learn more about Denise by clicking here: http://deniseippolito.smugmug.com/ and scrolling down.  Be sure to visit some of her galleries too.

If you are sold on Fracting after seeing the killer pelican image above, you can purchase a copy of Fracalius by clicking here:  https://www.plimus.com/jsp/buynow.jsp?contractId=1720292&referrer=birdsasart.  Please be sure to use this link to purchase; doing so will enable us to bring you more tutorials <smile> You can see the original pelican image here: http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=55949

I will be on the road for 2 1/2 weeks for the Sarasota Audubon Program (see in the Bulletin), the SW FLA IPT, and the NANPA Summit in Reno, NV.  Then it’s home for a few days and off to Midway!  I will be posting here regularly.

This image was created with the Canon 70-200mm f.4L IS lens with the 1.4X II TC (handheld at 280mm) and the EOS-7D. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop: 1/2000 sec. at f/6.3. You need to have absolute confidence in both your and your camera's ability to produce sharp images.

Whenever I take a new camera out of the box, I head down to the lake and create some images just to make sure that the camera is capable of focusing accurately.  I have never had a camera that did not create razor sharp images when I did everything right.   That said, on rare occasion, folks do get a bad camera.  If you are relatively new to photography, reading the article below will be a great help and includes some basic tests so that you can check and see if your camera is a rare dud.  I have never had to perform any of the tests below because my initial  ”test” images with new cameras have always been sharp, that a result of quality products and excellent sharpness techniques.  (See the same in ABP II.)

Basic Sharpness Testing

I receive several e-mails each week from folks who state that this camera does not focus properly or that that lens is not sharp.  In 99% of the cases I am sure that operator error rather than equipment malfunction is the cause.  That said, on rare occasion, folks using quality equipment from Canon or Nikon do experience real problems with focusing accuracy. 

If you are handholding, please do not complain about unsharp images.  I was walking around in Sabine Woods on a spring trip least year.  It was cloudy dark.   I was working at ISO 800 with shutter speeds of about 1/60th second and even slower at times.  There were two folks walking around handholding 500 f/4 lenses; they might as well have gone fishing as there was no way that they could create a sharp image without a tripod in those conditions.  It is best to work on a tripod at all times when using your longest lens (unless you are handholding for flight or for action).

Another factor to consider is that most of the folks who write complaining of unsharp image are using cameras with 1.6X or 1.5X multiplier effects.  They need to realize that these cameras multiply vibrations and movement caused by operator error by the square of the equivalent focal length!

If you are using a tripod you need to check and note the shutter speeds of your unsharp images.  I had one guy on an IPT complaining that none of his images were sharp.  I checked his set-up and saw that he was working in near darkness at ISO 100 with shutter speeds in the 1/8 to 1/15 second range.  Making sharp images with a long lens at such slow shutter speeds is simply not possible for most folks.  When working at long effective focal lengths I am confident that I can make sharp images down to 1/60 second as long as I have time to lock the tripod head and provided that the bird does not move during the exposure.  With the prime lenses alone, I can usually get down to 1/30 second.  With the relatively new Canon 800mm lens and its new 4-stop IS system, I have made some sharp images at shutter speeds as slow as 1/6 sec.

 Below are two simple tests to determine if you have faulty equipment. 

#1: Tape a sheet of newspaper to a sunlit outdoor wall on a relatively still day.  Make sure that it is as taped down as flat as possible.  (A magazine cover with fine print or a plastic or cardboard test chart are of course better options.)  Mount your telephoto rig on a tripod.  Lock down the tripod and the lens collar.  Make sure that you are beyond the minimum focusing distance of your lens and that the distance range switch (if your lens has one) is set to full.  Make a few images at the wide open aperture using both One-Shot or AI Servo with Canon gear or Single (S) or Continuous (C) with Nikon.  Then do the same thing at f/8.  As long as the wall is sunlit you will have more than enough shutter speed to know that your focusing issues are not caused by too-slow shutter speeds. Now download your images and check them for accurate focusing.  If all of the images are sharp, then you can be sure that your unsharp images were being caused by operator error.

#2: Stand well off a somewhat busy road with the sun angled so that the approaching vehicles are coming right down sun angle.   Use the wide open aperture and choose an ISO that results in shutter speeds greater than 1/2000 sec.  Choose AI Servo (Canon) or Continuous (Nikon) and select the center AF sensor.  As the cars approach, place the central sensor on the license plate and hold the shutter button down once focus is acquired.  Even this simple task requires some practice so be sure to take lots of images.  Download the images and sort them into two groups: sharp on the license plate and unsharp on the license plate.  Now using an application that allows you to see the position of the active focusing sensor, in this case the central sensor, note the position of the sensor in the unsharp images.  If the sensor is consistently on the license plate and the images are unsharp, then you likely have equipment problems.  You can repeat this test with various camera bodies and various lenses in an effort to determine the cause of the problem.  When you are pretty sure that you have an equipment problem it is best to send the gear to the manufacturer along with a CD of the test images. 

In most cases, folks will learn that their equipment is perfectly fine but that their poor sharpness techniques are the cause of the unsharp images.  Do also realize the importance of subject movement.  While working at the Cozad Ranch probably well more than half of my images were unsharp.  This was due in most cases to subject movement.  In other cases, the unsharp images were a result of the AF system being unable to maintain sharp focus on the tiny songbirds as they leaped off of their perches.   It is important to understand and to realize the limitations of our equipment.   

The above text was adapted from a feature in BIRDS AS ART Bulletin #289:  http://www.birdsasart.com/bn.html.  The Bulletin Archives here: http://www.birdsasart.com/bn289.htm are a tremendous free resource.   And there is a great Google search feature that can help you find what  you need quickly.