Foggy Horned Grebe 11

[kevin Hice]

Shot in a slough in Nd.One of the first Grebe shots I took in the fog a few weeks back.Had lots of good light I have processed this four or five times. This was the second edit. I liked it the best. I just can't get rid of the grain or fog on the bird. Original file it does't show up. But appears when I use ACR dehaze and clarity tools.I did use Neat image on the background and amount of twenty five on the bird. Not much help.Comments and critiques appreciated. Processed with Dpp 4,Photoshop, Neat image.
Canon 1DX 111
500 f/4 L Is
700 mm
Av 5.6
1/1250
Iso 5000

[Bill Dix]

What a lovely atmospheric image. Between the foggy conditions and the high ISO, I don't know how to tell you to make this any better, but it is quite nice to my eye just as posted. I'm sure you could up the amount of denoise on the black parts of the bird, but that would smooth it out. You probably experimented with all of the combinations and came up with the best you could.

[Randy Stout]

Kevin:

The haze can be cleaned up by using curves adjustment on each channel (RGB) separately to set the black and white points. I have over done it slightly , would just need a slight reduction in the opacity of the layer to taste. However, the noise is still there to some extent, and would need to be addressed earlier in the work flow to get the best result.

Randy

[Jay Ing]

Not sure if it's haze or noise or what I see but areas of the bird aren't as clear as I'd like. But the shot itself... love it. The feel and that background - to me it's yummy. TFS.

[Brian Sump]

The image could have been spectacular IMO and still could if you can work it right.

Keep working Kevin!

[arash_hazeghi]

I like the low angle and the calm water. IQ isn't great, with such high ISO, dark bird and fog it won't be a keeper if you want a high IQ. I haven't seen the MKIII but the MKII would have been dead in the water at ISO-5K. I had the camera for 4 years and did not make a single usable file higher than ISO 3200, the old 1DX was better but they screwed up 1DX II. hope the III is better. nevertheless no camera can come up with a high IQ in such tough conditions.

TFS

[gail bisson]

I am viewing from my laptop so cannot comment on the finer points mentionned above.
However, I love the color of the BG, the pose of the bird and great POV.
This is an image that evokes good emotions. Well done for that,
Gail

[kevin Hice]

Randy thanks it definitely looks better than mine.

[kevin Hice]

Thanks to all for the comments.

[John Mack]

Love the pose and the color of that water.

[Jan van Holten]

Really great image. These birds are very pretty to look at. The first image is a little to soft, the second can have just a fraction less. The background is so warm and colourfull, like it very much.