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Thread: High ISO workflow

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    Default High ISO workflow

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    I have recently purchased a 1DX which has opened up a whole new world of picture taking to me. Coming from my 7d2 I now have the ability to shoot at much higher ISO's. My dilemma is as follows. Most of the shots I have taken at "high" ISO's (2,000-5,000 range) I find to be a bit flat. Perhaps I am under exposing the shots a bit as well but if I need to bring the shots up in post I find they get an even more washed out look to them. So the questions are:

    Are there any tricks to processing these images?

    Any tips or pointers on how to get full and rich colors when the images need the exposure raised?

    Am I just too used to early morning/late evening light and am stuck thinking these shots are just dull and boring?

    Do shots at high ISO's that are properly exposed have the same depth of color or is there something in particular that needs to be done to them to get those rich colors? If so what?

    This image is an example of what I mean. Taken at ISO 2,000 and too fast of a shutter speed. I was ready and trying to get the bird taking off so kept the shutter speed at 2,000 as well. Ideally I guess I should have had the ISO much higher and the bird would have better exposure. To me the bird just looks dull and on the boring side. Does not have the same deep and rich tones as what I viewed in real life.

    Thanks for any and all help or pointers.

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    Macro and Flora Moderator Jonathan Ashton's Avatar
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    Isaac the high ISO images will never produce the colours obtainable with lower ISO. Having said that it should be perfectly feasible to produce good quality images. I never hesitate to employ high ISO hence I use auto ISO extensively.
    The first point I would suggest would be to ensure the image is optimally exposed, I am sure you will appreciate this will keep noise to a minimum.
    Regarding colours and contrast you will probably have to do a little more. I just sort of sit back and ask myself does it look "right" does it need more colour or contrast etc. Often I find reducing the blues helps tremendously as the color temp can be low. Also when using the white dropper for checking colour balance try it in different locations if possible because some points sampled may be subject to a shadow containing green for example. Hope this helps. Have a look in the wildlife forum there are some very high ISO images there.... pretty darned good too!

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    Thanks for the response Jonathan. Could you be more specific. Is there something specific you do to these images to adjust color and contrast or just add more or less using the sliders? Do you adjust the midtones? As for adjusting blues again who do this how? lowering the saturation of the blue channel in hue/saturation? I get the basics of it, just am never really happy with my results.

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    Despite discussion about the meaning of DxO measurements, their measurements are useful to show how things like dynamic range and colour sensitivity drop with increasing ISO

    https://www.dxomark.com/Cameras/Comp...1Dx___1071_753

    As Johnathan says the key is to ensure best exposure, maybe even pushing exposure over what is ideal in order to recover in post processing. Using high ISO and recovering shadows just multiplies problems.

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    Macro and Flora Moderator Jonathan Ashton's Avatar
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    Isaac this is going to sound evasive but it is not intentional! I tend to verge ideally on slight overexposure then as far as possible I try to get what I want in the raw converter. In DPP I often find dropping contrast slightly helps especially if Standard camera setting was adopted. I am not worried about using shadows highlights up to + or- 3 and also consider using curves inDPP. I also occasionally remap an image by moving the sliders in the gamma panel especially if I have a bright subject on a dark background- it takes a little getting used to but practice helps. The blue slider yes I referred to the color panel and reduce blue sometimes this really helps in cool color temp conditions especially with black plumage. If you want to send a particular image I will be happy to process as best I can and tell you specifically what I did. Any questions please fire away.

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    BPN Member Don Lacy's Avatar
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    Hi Isaac, Is this more of the punch you are looking for. Your really not pushing the ISO at 2000 on a 1DX I think what you are running into is your pushing exposure in Raw but not compensating for the effect of brighting the deepest shadows which will lower contrast. All I did was used a simple level adjustment and moved the far left slider slightly to the right along with the middle slider which darken the deep blacks and mid tones . If you look at the histogram you have a straight line before it starts to rise indicating littler contrast in the darks so if you find yourself adding exposure in post make sure you slide the black slider to compensate or use a level or curve adjustment in PS.
    Don Lacy
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    I do think that is better. Thanks for the input. I did already do exactly what you said on this shot but perhaps not as much as I should have. I lowered both the blacks and the mid tones already after having to bring the exposure up. But I like what you did and it does give it more contrast and a deeper color. Totally agree that ISO 2000 is not pushing things but this way my very first outing with the 1dx where i had to push the ISO and was only my second outing ever with the camera so I was just not sure as to how much I should push things. I do think that was a good learning experience for me as I now realize that I don't know anything really about processing these images well.

    I do think that applying this to the whole bird is not necessarily ideal as now the facial disk looks too dark but I understand what you are saying.

    Any other things that you recommend for these types of situations?

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    Taking your advice I did the following. Lowered the blues which immediately fixed the color of the face. Also went into selective color and lowered the magenta and blacks in magenta which got rid of the purplish cast to the bird. Then did a levels adjustment as per Don's advice. Slightly different numbers but very close. I think this looks much better. Colors are more pure and deeper as well. Thoughts?

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    Hi Issac,
    Hi ISO doesn't affect the colors unless you run too much NR which will reduce saturation. The lack of contrast in the original was fixed by Don. When you use very high ISO it is usually when there is no su in the sky and the lack of direct warm sunlight is what makes the images less appealing to those taken with a bright sun right behind your neck. I have many great grey owl frames and your images, especially the last one looks fine to me. It would have been nice with the sun but I would take this any day

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