Why does a sharp wedding portrait get a low sharpness score?

The score covers the whole frame, and a wide-aperture portrait is mostly out of focus on purpose. Crop to the eyes from the full-resolution file and score the crop instead.

Which wedding photos should I check before delivery?

Dance-floor and reception frames shot slower than about 1/125s, wide-open portraits at f/1.4-f/2, ring and detail macros, and every frame of the moments that only happen once.

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Sharpness Analyzer for Wedding Photography

Wedding galleries go soft in predictable places: dance-floor frames at slow shutter speeds, wide-open portraits where focus landed on an ear or the veil, and ring shots with about a millimetre of depth of field. The analyzer scores a downscaled copy of the whole frame, so what you give it matters as much as the score it returns.

Open the Sharpness Analyzer

Recommended settings

Check critical focus on a crop: the analyzer scales every photo to 1,000 pixels on the long edge, which hides a near-miss on a 24-45MP file. Crop roughly 1,000 × 1,000 pixels around the eyes (or the ring) from the full-resolution file and score that.
Compare like with like: score the same crop from each frame of a burst — first kiss, ring exchange, confetti — and keep the highest. Scores from different scenes say little about each other.
At the capture end: 1/250s or faster for the processional; on the dance floor either 1/200s or faster on ambient light, or drag the shutter at 1/15-1/30s with flash, where the flash burst freezes the couple.
Ring shots: at 1:1 on a full-frame macro lens, f/8 gives only about 1mm of depth of field and f/11-f/16 about 1.3-1.9mm. For a whole ring shot at an angle, focus-stack rather than stopping down further.

Tips for this niche

High-ISO reception frames can score higher than they deserve: sensor noise adds fine detail that the edge measure counts. Don't compare an ISO 6400 dance-floor frame with an ISO 200 ceremony frame.
A wide-open portrait scores low overall because most of the frame is blurred on purpose — another reason to score a crop. At 85mm and f/1.4 from 3 m, total depth of field is about 10cm: enough for one face, not for two faces at different distances.
Eye-detection autofocus in a dim church can lock onto glasses frames or the veil. A crop of the eyes shows whether it did; the whole-frame score won't.

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This topic is covered in depth in Lesson 6: Shooting for a Genre.

Example scenario

Eight burst frames of the first kiss at 85mm, f/2, 1/250s and ISO 3200. Uploaded whole, each would be scaled to 1,000 pixels and judged mostly on the blurred background. Instead, crop the same 1,000 × 1,000 pixel square around the couple's faces from each full-resolution export and score the eight crops one after another. Frames where the focus slipped to the groom's ear come back clearly lower; the top-scoring crop is the frame that goes in the gallery, after a final look at 100%.

Common mistakes

Judging a portrait by the whole-frame score. the background blur drags the number down even when the eyes are sharp, and a detailed background can lift it when the eyes are soft. Score the crop that matters.
Comparing scores between unrelated photos. a busy guest table naturally scores higher than a softly lit first dance, even if both are perfectly focused. Only frames of the same moment are comparable.
Checking the small export instead of the original. a downscaled or heavily compressed JPEG scores lower than the file it came from. Crop from the full-resolution file before you decide a frame is soft.

FAQ

Why does a sharp wedding portrait get a low sharpness score?: The score covers the whole frame, and a wide-aperture portrait is mostly out of focus on purpose. Crop to the eyes from the full-resolution file and score the crop instead.
Which wedding photos should I check before delivery?: Dance-floor and reception frames shot slower than about 1/125s, wide-open portraits at f/1.4-f/2, ring and detail macros, and every frame of the moments that only happen once.

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Troubleshooting

Why Do My Photos Look Sharp on the Camera Screen but Soft When I Zoom In?

Before the shoot

Wedding Photography shot list