Duck

[Paul Burdett]

Hi all,
Here's another Eastern Yellow Robin. Thank you for looking.

[Glenn Pure]

I always enjoy looking at shots of this species, Paul. To get the most out of this one, I think you should consider and revisit a few aspects. First, it is a bit soft and noisy. I suspect you may have cropped hard for this and this has impacted the image quality. A looser crop of small in the frame shot would be my recommendation - or failing that, try for more opportunities. I've found them to be quite cooperative generally. Second issue is the colour balance. The colours on the bird look reasonable but the perch is a very strange colour and appears to have a strong magenta cast. I do like the out of focus palm in the background of this one and think it's worth a revisit if you are able.

For convenience of those providing critiques, it's great if you can provide more details with your posts such as camera, lens, shutter speed, aperture, processing software, alterations made and the amount of crop applied.

[Paul Burdett]

Hi Glenn,
Thanks for the feedback. I agree about the perch colour...but I've just checked the raw file and it's the same colour. I used auto white balance (strange that the bird colour is correct, but the perch isn't...I can't actually recall the colour of the perch, but it probably isn't that magenta!) I did use flash however, as I was in a rainforest setting and the light was low, although where I took this shot had some sunlight. I normally add the exif but forgot this time. It is Canon 7D+100-400 lens, focal length 370mm, f5.6, 1/60th sec, iso1000. Flash used on ETTL. I've been a little disappointed with the noise on the 7D mk2, but I have got very low noise using high iso in some situations...provided I get the exposure correct and not underexpose. I cropped in Photoshop, added noise reduction, mainly on the background. I have many shots of this bird taken over the years...some much better than this one...and you're quite correct...they pose nicely most of the time. Cheers.

[John Mack]

Agree with Glenn's comments on this one.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I'm glad you added the species name in the description as the title simply says "Duck":t3 That was a pretty neat opportunity you had with a nicely weathered perch and a cool BG. The SS surely had a hand in the softness here - I can push my 7DII to ISO 3200 and be happy with the results (after some NR to the BG areas). This would have got you to 1/200s. Lovely bird with an appealingly inquisitive pose.

[Dorian Anderson]

I agree about loosening the crop to help minimize the noise and the softness. Palm is cool but does kinda of overpower the bird a bit.

[Paul Burdett]

Hi Daniel. Thank you for the feedback. The original post was going to be a Duck...looked good on my 27inch monitor, but not so good after posting here...so I needed to remove it from the post (took a while to figure out how to cancel a post). Anyhow the Robin was one I wanted to post anyway. I find that any ISO from 800 results in too much noise, so I guess I need to expose more carefully. I have used iso1600 with minimal noise, so I'm getting the exposure right sometimes. I'll try iso3200 and see what happens. I must admit that the 7D Mk2 is better than the MK1 in respect of noise, but it's still not as good as I would like it. I can use a very high iso on my 6D with very little noise (full frame vs crop sensor I guess).

Dorian: Noted...thanks.

[Glenn Pure]

Hi Daniel. Thank you for the feedback. The original post was going to be a Duck...looked good on my 27inch monitor, but not so good after posting here...so I needed to remove it from the post (took a while to figure out how to cancel a post). Anyhow the Robin was one I wanted to post anyway. I find that any ISO from 800 results in too much noise, so I guess I need to expose more carefully. I have used iso1600 with minimal noise, so I'm getting the exposure right sometimes. I'll try iso3200 and see what happens. I must admit that the 7D Mk2 is better than the MK1 in respect of noise, but it's still not as good as I would like it. I can use a very high iso on my 6D with very little noise (full frame vs crop sensor I guess).

Dorian: Noted...thanks.

Paul, I was wondering about the title that comes up too. There seems to be a bug in the BPN software somewhere. I have seen similar things like this in the past when trying to delete the contents of a post and use the same image submission form to enter new title and details. But I digress. I really wanted to comment on NR. I don't know what you are using but I think you need to look at a more sophisticated NR tool like Neat Image or Topaz Denoise if you aren't already - both are available on a free trial basis. They work as plug-ins to Photoshop and Photoshop Elements (as well as a number of other prominent image manipulation software packages). I would find it very hard to process without tools like this (I use Neat Image). Unlike standard NR software these are able to preserve detail while killing noise when used correctly (especially applicable to Neat Image and you should read the manual on this if you try it).

[Paul Burdett]

Hi Glenn. I'm using Imagenomic software. I usually just use the default setting (sometimes changing the slider settings...there's a lot to explore here) and then layer masks to selectively apply nr. I also have Nik Define...but haven't used it much. I'll check out Neat image (used to use this years ago)

[Glenn Pure]

Hi Glenn. I'm using Imagenomic software. I usually just use the default setting (sometimes changing the slider settings...there's a lot to explore here) and then layer masks to selectively apply nr. I also have Nik Define...but haven't used it much. I'll check out Neat image (used to use this years ago)

Nik Dfine might be OK. Give it a go first since you have it. Sorry but don't know much about Imagenomic software. I'm guessing it is your raw converter too? You might want to try Canon DPP raw processor (free from Canon) as it is a very good converter and will give better noise performance than some all purpose RAW converters.

[Paul Burdett]

Hi again. I'm using Photoshop CC...and Adobe camera raw for processing...I'm very happy with that. I've looked more carefully into my (Imagenomic) Noiseware program...there's so much I haven't explored there...sliders for different types of noise as well as colour sliders etc. Glad you suggested to look more into NR software...I just need to spend more time with it...not just use the default setting.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Hi Daniel. Thank you for the feedback. The original post was going to be a Duck...looked good on my 27inch monitor, but not so good after posting here...so I needed to remove it from the post (took a while to figure out how to cancel a post). Anyhow the Robin was one I wanted to post anyway. I find that any ISO from 800 results in too much noise, so I guess I need to expose more carefully. I have used iso1600 with minimal noise, so I'm getting the exposure right sometimes. I'll try iso3200 and see what happens. I must admit that the 7D Mk2 is better than the MK1 in respect of noise, but it's still not as good as I would like it. I can use a very high iso on my 6D with very little noise (full frame vs crop sensor I guess).

Dorian: Noted...thanks.

A well known Sydney bird photographer used the 7D at ISO1600 and his images seemed perfectly fine, at least on web-sized images. I occasionally use the 7D MkII and find ISO1600 very good and ISO3200 useable with good exposure and processing. Good exposure meaning shoot to the right (of the histogram).

For managing noise in some images I use Neat Image as a plug-in to Photoshop CC.