This image is the next one after the previous post. His HA is probably better. This has proved to be most perplexing for me and I know this file will end up in the "I wish" file. I like the water but the head of the bird is rubbish and no matter what I try the noise just kills it. He did have a few scars on his face. These birds do have very fine feathering on their faces, but it's a rich brown. I was on the wrong side of the pond...as always. I think I have opened up the blacks like Steve suggested in the last post and feel it looks a whole lot better. There should be a slice more room on the LHS, but more interested in the noise problem.
Canon 5D2
ISO 1250
1/1250 @ f6.3
Sigma 100-600 Sport @ 500mm
Highlights and Shadows adjusted in ACR. Black and white are just tweaked. Big NR (60) Luminance slider. HSL Oranges, yellows to the right. Purples and magenta to the Left.
In PSCS6 - Curves adjustments from Quick Mask as per Diane's tutorial. Resized and smart sharpened for posting.
Hi Glennie, when you get to this location, watch the ducks and study their behaviour and look to see if there are favourite spots they keep travelling to or group. If you see them on the move go/get ahead of the them and wait in a good spot. Take a few frames and check the histogram, adjust it, shoot another and check it so you are all set, well as near as dam it, saves time. Then track them trough the view finder, they may be small, but wait, once they are in the zone and the angle is right, then fire off a few frames. Also if you can, get lower and subject to budget, think about an Angle finder, not always the easiest bit of kit, but can help in certain conditions.
I use this a lot, especially with big cats walking, park up, track, fire off, move, wait, track, fire...
Thanks Steve. The little creek where I see these ducks is in public park land. I think the passers by think I'm a bit weird lurking around the waters edge with a big lens. The ducks get a bit flighty when I first get there, but seem to settle quickly, so I should be able to move quietly around them without making them fly off. (I'll take some seed for them next time.)
I looked at an Angle Finder. Very interesting. I'm using a monopod with the heavy Sigma 100-600 sport lens, and must admit, it doesn't go as low as I would like. I was thinking of a bean bag?
Beanbag is perhaps easier to carry, cheeper than a tripod and deploy, just make sure that it's the right size for your gear. You can also fill it with seed too, but don't leave it out over night. I left mine in the front well of a jeep in Africa, in the morning it had more holes than an Emmental cheese.
Tonalities are much better here! Some lightening on the head should look nice. Blacks are so much better on the rear end.
The NR slider in LR will soften an image. And sharpening there will bring out noise. I don't recommend either except in a few cases. And the claimed ability of DPP to minimize noise does it the same way LR/ACR does, by softening details. And sharpening there, if pushed to see what it's really doing, brings out more artifacts than does ACR/LR equally pushed. There are limits to what processing software can do.
For noise, wait till PS and use Nik Dfine. And control noise initially with proper exposure. Control sharpness with field technique and equipment.
A beanbag is great, along with an angle finder, but the finder is a little tricky to get used to.
Now this is very interesting. I have been experimenting with the Sharpening Panel in ACR. Depending on the image..if it's in good focus. I can zoom in to spot how noisy it is. I don't touch the sharpening slider at all, but play with the luminance slider. The result sometimes is great. It seems to take the noise out of the BG and no detail get "soft" on the subject. Well, it probably does, but the image looks sharper just by reducing the noise with the luminance slider.
I sometimes use Topaz denoise in PS.
That can work with some images, but better to minimize the noise in the darks by the exposure and initial Basic processing sliders. I've found Dfine to give me better results than Topaz, but for minimal adjustments they are probably equal. Use whatever works for you!
If I'm going into PS anyway, I prefer to save NR for there. I have a feeling most of the programs (if not all) may work better on the "native" noise, rather than noise that has been softened some in raw conversion. Zoom in past 100% and you'll see Luminance NR will give a funky effect.
Golden Pond Mk2
