PORCUPINE PORTRAIT

[gary ellwein]

Nov. 30, cloudy with snow showers, late afternoon. D3s, 70-200mm lens @ 200mm, f/6.3, 1/200, ev +1, iso 1600, matrix, hand held. Not a bird, but was in a tree. I found this face compelling and decided to share. The numerous branches are an issue. Major PS project was the removal of a branch running diagonally across the left side of the head and face. C & C appreciated.

[Ian Cassell]

I like this portrait! I don't see too many porcupine images and this is a good one. I like the way the face is framed by the 2 FG branches.

[John Chardine]

Even though they are common, we don't see many porcupines at BPN. Thanks for posting Gary.

I like the way the branches frame the face. Nice eye contact and a great expression! I am surprised there is so much noise in the image because the D3s is a super-clean camera even at ISO 1600. I suspect that you might have underexposed and lightened up or used fill-light in ACR to brighten some. This will show up noise in the under-exposed portions of the image.

Here's a go at reducing the noise with Topaz Denoise- I ran the whole image with the jpeg light preset. I also took a small, soft blur brush and zoomed into the eye and lightly blurred the highlight- this trick works very well to give the appearance of a lownoise image. Then darkened a bit with Levels, middle slider. You could much better working with the original image.

[Ben_Sadd]

Good to see something different. i also like the framing.

I like John's repost, it reduces the apparent noise greatly. However, I would consider doing something with the bright wood chips (?) around the face. Even if it is just to tone down their brightness through burning.

[gary ellwein]

Even though they are common, we don't see many porcupines at BPN. Thanks for posting Gary.

I like the way the branches frame the face. Nice eye contact and a great expression! I am surprised there is so much noise in the image because the D3s is a super-clean camera even at ISO 1600. I suspect that you might have underexposed and lightened up or used fill-light in ACR to brighten some. This will show up noise in the under-exposed portions of the image.

Here's a go at reducing the noise with Topaz Denoise- I ran the whole image with the jpeg light preset. I also took a small, soft blur brush and zoomed into the eye and lightly blurred the highlight- this trick works very well to give the appearance of a lownoise image. Then darkened a bit with Levels, middle slider. You could much better working with the original image.

John, good to have you back. Your are correct relative to under-exposure of the face. Thanks for efforts to improve the image. I will post the original.

[John Chardine]

OK Gary, it's quite a significant crop too, which will make the noise more noticeable. Cute little guy. Too bad so many are killed on roads and by unthinking people who just don't like them.

[Ben_Sadd]

Wow, given the crop I am even more impressed by how John's repost looks. The D3 is 12 megapixels, right?

[Julie Kenward]

So am I! My goodness but you really made lemonade out of lemons here! John gave a good critique - I don't have too much to add but wanted to say thanks for giving me something other than a bird to look at. I love his face - even the small debris that is on it is interesting.