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Thread: Little Blue Heron & Lunch

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    Default Little Blue Heron & Lunch

    Trying to do my first post a second time, I believe I mixed up the Flickr link the first time.

    This is a photo of a Little Blue Heron with a frog, taken on my first outing with my new "bird lens" , the Canon 400mm f5.6L. My camera body is a Canon T2i, soon to be upgraded to a 5D Mark III (can't wait for Christmas morning!). Anyway, this is a handheld shot that I processed in DPP for the raw conversion and then tweaking in PS CS5. I made a small crop to move the bird farther to the left in the frame.

    I think the biggest issue is the digital noise inherent in the T2i with increased ISO. In CS5 I did one pass of Smart Sharpening and then tried to find a balance in reducing the noise using the Noiseware plugin. Any and all comments will be appreciated.

    Little Blue Heron_w

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    Publisher Arthur Morris's Avatar
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    Yes to noisy. Looks like a cool capture but the posted image is too small. 1024 wide < 250 kbs is fine. I like the wing position and the frog and the image design. The stick on the left frame edge is distracting.

    Please include metering, ISO, shutter speed and aperture when posting. Noise is likely a result of underexposure.
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  3. Thanks Barry Ekstrand thanked for this post
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    Thanks Artie, I much appreciate the feedback. Can't believe I managed to miss the exposure info on my post attempt, apologies for that. Here is that info:

    Camera: Canon T2i; Lens: Canon 400mm f5.6L; Focal Length: 400mm; Shutter: 1/4000 sec; ISO: 400

    I uploaded a 1024 width jpg to Flickr and assumed that was what would be linked, sounds like that isn't the case and I need to look closer at what the Flickr options are.

    On the photo, it was underexposed some, I boosted the exposure by 0.5 EV. Played with shadows and highlights a bit as well. But my real question is this: with the noise inherent in the T2i, how much 'repair' can be don with a shot like this?

    Thanks again for the comments.

    Barry

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    YAW. As I suspected, 1/4000 sec. at f/5.6 is a massive underexposure in what looks like relatively soft light... By underexposing as you did here you are actually introducing noise. Same with a Shadow SH/H adjustment. Instead of blaming the camera best to look in the mirror and then go to ABP II and study the section on "Exposure Simplified."

    Not sure about the FLickr stuff.
    BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.

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    Thanks again Artie. No problem looking in the mirror, I know to go there first, and that is why I came here to BPN as well. But my question really comes down to this: if you DO have a noisy photo like this, is there any 'magic' resurrection techniques beyond Noiseware or another PS plugin? I'm guessing no but wanted to ask anyway.

    Thanks,

    Barry

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    Super Moderator Daniel Cadieux's Avatar
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    Hi Barry, welcome to BPN!! Neat flight pose, and the prey item is a nice bonus here. The corrected exposure looks good, but as Artie says it does introduce noise though. The BG is a tad distracting but does show the habitat nicely. Unfortunately if your original capture does have noise you will need to correct it in post (usually just the BG and not the subject itself as this can render it to a fake-looking "plastic" finish. Hoping to see more from you!

    P.S. Here is a thread about how to post...if you scroll down a bit there is info specific to Flickr:
    http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...m-Time-to-Time

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    Good advice by Dan. You can work on the noise in Photoshop using Layers so that you do not affect the bird. Both Filter/Noise/Reduce Noise and Filter/Blur/Surface blur can be effective. Best though to get it right in the field.

    For my complete digital workflow, tons of great Photoshop tips that include sections on "Exposure Simplified," Noise Reduction, and "Layer Masking for Dummies" get yourself a copy of Digital Basics.
    BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.

    BIRDS AS ART Online Store: we will not sell you junk. 35 years of long lens experience. Please e-mail with gear questions.

    Check out the new SONY e-Guide and videos that I did with Patrick Sparkman here. Ten percent discount for BPN members,

    E-mail me at samandmayasgrandpa@att.net.










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    Thanks Dan and Artie. I have bought the BAA Digital Basics and am starting to work through it. Up to now I have not done any selective sharpening or noise reduction through use of layer, so I'm learning new techniques here and that is much appreciated, along with your comments.

    This particular photo was on my first outing with the 400mm lens with an objective of getting birds in flight. In trying to get sharp "frozen action" shots I pushed the shutter speed up beyond where I needed to go and sacrificed exposure. I did learn from that and subsequently have tried to push the exposure to the right while getting shutter speeds of 1/1600 sec to 1/2000 sec. This put my ISO at 800 to 1600 depending on time of day. I'll post something from the later attempts down the road, after I've put some of the layer lessons to good use on them.

    Again, I appreciate the help. Thanks also for the welcome to BPN!

    Barry

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