Photo rejected: main object not sharp

My photos taken with Nikon D300 with Sigma 500mm lens were rejected as "main object not sharp". My photos taken with a Nikon point and shoot P310 were accepted.

To me the photos were all sharp. Help from screens and others how can I get "MAIN OBJECTS SHARP". Suggestions?

Just increase the sharpening selectively and not to the whole picture.

This post has been edited by ilpavone2004 on 27th January 2013 - 02:15

I had a look at your last rejected photo a Legacy I think and yes it is soft. My eye went to the cockpit frame and it is definitely in need of more sharpening.

The P310 will process the picture as a JPEG and apply a degree of sharpening in the camera and without meaning to offend you, these camera are made for people who point and shoot and don't do anything further with the images. The D300 is a DSLR and the sensor is much larger than the P310 and so needs a larger amount of sharpening on its pictures.

Shooting in JPEG will apply some sharpening in camera, which is not always a good idea as it can cause jagged edges or halos later on in your workflow.

Shooting in RAW mode gives the most amount of control over an image with some adjustment needed to process the image.

Lastly sharpening should only be done as the last step before saving your image. You need to develop an eye for the tell tale signs of poor sharpening, fuzzy edges for under sharpening, jagged edges or halos around fine detail and lettering for over sharpening. You want a sharp image without any of the previous faults.