Blurry images - please help

[nikkirose]

Hi, Hope someone may be able to help me.
My problem is my images tend to be blurry or ever so slightly out of focus and I am not quite sure why. I am undertaking the course at present (up to lesson 3). I understand if my shutter speed is too slow I can't hand hold and get clear images - but my shutter speed is quite high 1/250sec using a 100mm lens. I was shooting at f5.6.

Is this happening because I need to bring that F Stop (aperture) to a higher number for example f11 or f16 because my subject was too far away from me?

Is there some kind of scale that explains distance from lens to subject for the different f stops? The following link would take you to my gallery to view a few of my images. Thanks in advance for any help with my query.
Nikkirose
http://www.proudphotography.com/forum/gallery/browseimages.php?do=member&imageuser=1292

[admin]

Hi Nikki, you have some wonderful photos in your gallery. From what I see there is perhaps just one photo that is lightly blurred (ducks) for slower shutter speed, the rest is all sharp and in focus.

What you're referring to is most likely a depth of field. It is a range of distance in front and behind the focal point which is acceptably sharp. Take this shot for example:

http://www.proudphotography.com/forum/gallery/files/1/2/9/2/penny_turtle.jpg

The eyes are pefectly in focus, everything in front and behind the turtle is blurred. It has a narrow depth of field. It's absolutely normal for macro when you're focusing on subject being so close (or using a high zoom). Leson 4 is all about depth of field and how to control it as well as what affects it.

As most of the photos in your gallery are macros they do have a small depth of field.

[nikkirose]

Thank you for the quick response and great information. I usually just delete the ones I was talking about and would not like to have you suffer looking at all my mistakes (learning curve images as I like to refer to them!!
Thanks again for your help and look forward to Lesson 4 now.
Nikkirose

[Snappers]

Nikki, dont delete your photos, they are great. The images are very sharp where they need to be. Like admin says, it is your depth of field but for the shots you have taken, it suits the picture.
I think your images are great especially the turtle ones.

[jerryph]

I do not know what kind of equipment you have, but also don't forget that most dSLR cameras do not sharpen to the extent that you may want to preserve image quality. A little post processing addition of sharpening the pictures can make a big visual increase.

Of course, no amount of sharpening will clear up a blurred picture one a picture out of focus, but on the pics that are good, it usually makes them a little better. On average, there is a lot of quality that can be found or added to a picture via careful post-processing.