Another Hoodie - High ISO

One thing I've learned on this forum is to not be afraid to push the ISO. You can always (attempt) to remove noise, but you can't get a sharper image after the fact. This was taken at the local pond. I'm starting to get the hang of these guys. This lady was taking off to land at the adjacent pond, something they all do at around 5 pm ... only to come back sometime before 8 am. Not sure why, but it happens like clockwork.

A bit noisy still, but I did the best I know how without losing too much detail. Cleaned up the bg quite a bit in post.

Shooting Info
Nikon D800 | 500 f/4 + 1.4x
1/2000 | f/7.1 | ISO 4500

Comments and critiques welcomed.

Miguel:

There is a real tendency to try to keep the ISO down, and either underexpose the issue, or have too low of a shutter speed to do the job. It takes a while to get comfortable with the higher ISOs. A lot has to do with your final output as well.

I think this is an effective image, nice pose(although I wish the head was a bit more our way), colors, well exposed. There is the slight coarseness of detail that comes with noise, but not striking, and if you did a pole and asked about the ISO used, most people would have said lower than the actual #.

Cheers

Randy

Thanks for the input Randy. I've been using AUTO-ISO quite a bit to try to minimize ISO while keeping a desired shutter speed (in this case 1/2000"). I know the D800 can take the high ISO, and right now the limiting factor is my ability to process effectively. I'll keep at it, that's for sure!

I think this is a great shot, the duck shows a little noise but not objectionable. Regards Auto ISO, I used it for a while and with Shutter priority but could not always guarantee it used the lowest possible ISO, I don't know if this is necessarily the case with Nikon. As a general rule I select the ISO and where practicable use the widest aperture to give the required shutter speed.

Jonathan, I use AUTO-ISO with Aperture priority mode. On a Nikon, you can give it a minimum shutter speed to keep and a maximum ISO as a ceiling. So I set my aperture (wide open or 1/3-2/3 closed down) and any exposure comp. Then the camera will raise the ISO such that it meets the required shutter speed - guaranteeing the lowest possible ISO. If it hits the ISO ceiling and doesn't reach the required shutter speed, then I get whatever shutter speed is required for correct exposure.

I know that auto-ISO is different on a Canon, as I tried it on a 7D and it didn't have some of the features that are on my D800 (and previous D300s).

Great flight shot! The noise is noticeable, but not substantial. I also used to use auto-ISO on my 7D and it gives me weird results occasionally. I now stick with manual exposure 90% of the time for total control, and if I have to, I will crank up the ISO as high as 3200. However, with the use of flash and better beamer, I managed to keep my ISO down while letting the flash add a bit more light to the subject.

Love the image. Most of all, love the wing position and the soft light.

Wonderful image, the ISO that high i like the result
Superb details retained in here, love it

You did a super job on this flight image and hurray on pushing the ISO. I still have a difficult time with that myself. I like the pose and I think you did a good job with NR.

Love the image. Impressive action/sharpness, and excellent job getting the most out of your gear and post processing.

Amazing, the high ISO capabilities that are out there today. Few years back, doing flight photography in such light was simply not very productive. This is a very nice shot with lots of details and sweet BG. Well done.

Very nice flight capture. Looks great for such a high ISO.

Looks fine to me noise wise considering the ISO, high ISO does blanch out color, I would saturate this a bit.

Excellent flight pose and sharp details.

Nice capture of this speedy little duck.

I like the light, wing position, BG and composition. Great high ISO image Miguel!