I was shooting today at the local marina and it was aprox 9:AM with really dark and cloudy skies. I had my 300mm F/4 + 1.4 TC and decided to see if I could get usable images at iso 6400.
This is one of the images I got after quite a lot of Post processing.
Nikon D7100
Nikon 300mm f/4+ 1.4 TC
f/5.6
SS 1/8000
ISO 6400.
The image was imported into LR and levels were adjusted. It was then opened in PS and the whole image was processed with Topaz Denoise.
Using Remask 5 a mask of the bird was created, duplicated and then one of them inverted to obtain a mask of the BG. The image was opened in Topaz Detail and the Highlights Strong setting was used. The Bird was again opened with Denoise and used Raw-Lightest. The BG was opened with Denoise and Raw-strongest was applied. The image was then saved and imported back to lightroom where final levels were adjusted.
Please let me know if this would be a usable image as far as noise and if the above procedure makes any sense or it could have been done a simpler way. Again thanks.
I really like the pose you caught, with the wings up. Very impressive for that ISO, but you probably could have gone a stop lower with the ISO and let the SS drop a stop. But noise is preferable to blur.
My choice would have been not to darken the darks so much -- the histogram you see in Pane 5 (which occurred in the PS processing somewhere, looking at the image in Pane 4, probably in the top B/C layer) is getting too heavy for my taste, especially for a nature image. But for an artistic choice, it's your call.
My preference also would have been not to do the additional darkening with the Highlight slider by going back into LR. I think you have very nice and natural detail in the white bird in the PS version, and it can be a pitfall to make LR adjustments to a PS file -- if you want to work on it further in PS you have to remember to open it with the option to edit a copy with the LR adjustments, and you get a flattened file.
Once I'm in PS I do what I can there and leave it at that. If I need to use LR adjustments, I'll start over with a better RAW conversion.
Low Light and High ISO
