I have posted this image before but I have never been satisfied with the post processing. I have changed the way I was post processing images in Lightroom so I have been going back and reworking images that I like. I think the image is just about right now. The settings in the camera were wrong to capture this image, I was photographing a perched bird and saw this spoonbill coming to land in the tree. I turned quickly and captured several images with the settings at hand. Image captured at Circle B Bar Reserve in Polk County, Florida. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.
Nikon D7000
Nikon 70-300mm F/4.5-5.6 VR AF-S ED HH
1/500 F/8 Matrix Metering EV 0 ISO 250 Auto WB, image captured at 300mm
Post processed in Lightroom Classic, Photoshop CC 2020 and Neat Image for noise reduction when needed
Cropped for composition and presentation
Last edited by Joseph Przybyla; 06-02-2020 at 06:53 PM.
Joe Przybyla
"Sometimes I do get to places just as God is ready to have somebody click the shutter"... Ansel Adams
Joe when I first saw this I thought wow. But sadly it is really noisy. If you can fix that it would be beautiful. Where did all the noise come from at ISO 250? On the plus side high key works well.
Joe, the image does indeed look grainy/noisy, my initial though was that the image must have been pretty underexposed but if you had the settings for a perched bird I would have thought it would have been overexposed.......... that makes me ask was it a large crop??
Despite that I think you have a very eye catching image and it looks pretty well focused too.
Hi Joe, I think this is awesome, OK yes the image is noisy, but the pose, blurred wings and punchy colours on an almost stark backdrop ticks my box - cool thinking. Just a thought but if you remove there branch...
TFS
Steve
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
Wicked pose and colours indeed, but the IQ just isn't up to what you can get. Wondering how much of a crop / exposure recovery / sharpening happened for the noise, especially at the low ISO?
Hi Joe, I think this is awesome, OK yes the image is noisy, but the pose, blurred wings and punchy colours on an almost stark backdrop ticks my box - cool thinking. Just a thought but if you remove there branch...
TFS
Steve
Hi Steve, thank you for commenting and viewing. The edit is awesome, cannot see any trace of removing the branch where it overlapped the wing. In the original post I left the branch because I thought it told the story of the image. The spoonbill was reaching for the branch to land. I guess it could go either way. Thanks again.
Joe Przybyla
"Sometimes I do get to places just as God is ready to have somebody click the shutter"... Ansel Adams
The edit is awesome, cannot see any trace of removing the branch where it overlapped the wing. In the original post I left the branch because I thought it told the story of the image.
Hi Joe, it's quite a crude edit, but being on such a stark backdrop it worked OK. Yes I did add a NR layer, 'pimped' the colours a wee bit, I think in saturation, but I just thought it was such an unusual shot it was worth an edit. I hope you get the same opportunity, but the capture is better as it's a great image.
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
Thanks everyone for viewing and commenting, much appreciated.
The image/bird was underexposed, I do not remember what previously I had been photographing with settings that caused the underexposure. Yes the image has noise/grain on the bird. I may work at it again to try to eliminate that but I accept it as is. I began photography when some grain in images was inevetible, only now with digital photography and the equipment is it possible to have images that are almost perfect. Thanks again everyone.
Joe Przybyla
"Sometimes I do get to places just as God is ready to have somebody click the shutter"... Ansel Adams
I began photography when some grain in images was inevetible, only now with digital photography and the equipment is it possible to have images that are almost perfect.
Joe, I'm with you, I go back to using 'retouchers'(true artists) working on 12x16 transparencies for ads and removing, blending dodging etc, now everything is possible within minutes or hours, however I personally like to see a hint of grain compared to these ultra smooth images. Yes ISO below 800 nowadays delivers super smooth images, but having a hint of grain makes the image look more 'authentic/believable'.
Just my take.
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
Joe when I first saw this I thought wow. But sadly it is really noisy. If you can fix that it would be beautiful. Where did all the noise come from at ISO 250? On the plus side high key works well.
Hi Kevin, thanks for viewing and commenting. Regarding "Where did all the noise come from at ISO 250?", there is no correlation between ISO numbers and noise. The image/bird was underexposed. I had to lift the image in post processing for the correct exposure. A underexposed image at ISO 100 will most likely have noise. Noise is part of the electronics of the sensor. There is a expression... signal to noise ratio. In photography the signal is the light falling on the sensor. When the light is strong enough (as in a correctly exposed image or a image exposed to the right) most times the light/signal will overcome the noise. I like to think of noise as static on a radio (now everything is automatic in tuning) but back in the days one had to turn a dial to find a radio station. When far away from the correct position on the dial there was static/noise. As the dial moved closer to the correct position for that station the static/noise became less, finally with correct tuning there was no static/noise only music or commentary. The same is true for a camera and exposure. Correct exposure no matter what ISO gives minimal or no noise. The ISO is only a number indication how sensitive the sensor is to light.
Joe Przybyla
"Sometimes I do get to places just as God is ready to have somebody click the shutter"... Ansel Adams