High Iso Photos

[tom w w]

I have been taken wildlife photographs for a few years now. And used to be a keen film user in years gone by.

But today we can take photos in poor light and then with a bit of photo-shop it amazes me what we can do.



Taken with a Canon 7D @ iso 3200.
Its been photo-shopped
1) Crop
2) reduce noise x2
3) Sharpen
Took about 5 mins.

We are lucky

[MetalMoth]

It is amazing what we can do. However I find that image of yours still too noisy really. Maybe I have high standards but to me I would keep that image but it could not be used for much as you can see a lot of noise still.

[tom w w]

Originally Posted by MetalMoth

It is amazing what we can do. However I find that image of yours still too noisy really. Maybe I have high standards but to me I would keep that image but it could not be used for much as you can see a lot of noise still.

I agree its noisy really, if I had been worried about that I would have masked and only sharpened the head and antlers. I'll never do anything with the image but it will be a keeper and it will remind me of a great moment in the gloom with an old stag. ( I also got a video, something else you cant do on a film SLR)

I think noise is very similar to grain on film, some like it some don't. I would call it taste rather than "high standards", its certain a less provocative way of expressing it.

[Words]

At this time of year I find myself shooting a lot at a high ISO, anything from 1000 to 3200 (on a Canon 7D). I find it alters the style of photography, but it is possible to get excellent results. And I agree, it means you can at least keep a record of interesting sightings.

[squishy]

Background noise doesn't bother me at all, it's fairly easy to use masks to apply strong noise reduction to just the background to get rid of all that noise without affecting details.
What I find important is how well cameras keep details at higher ISO's.

This is from ISO 3200 on my 40D (which is a fairly old body now), with selective noise reduction on different parts of the image. I use a strong filter (in topaz denoise) on the background, then a much more detail sensitive filter on the subject to get rid of the most obvious noise without any real visible effect on the detail.



It's far from the quality of lower ISO's, but I can get a nice looking A4 print out of that

Certainly a world apart from the bridge camera I used to have.

[Kayleigh]

Can you post one you haven't photo-shopped as I find them a lot better I don't like what people do with the images, I try to get the best results from the camera in the first place and not rely on software..

[Kayleigh]

Originally Posted by squishy

Background noise doesn't bother me at all, it's fairly easy to use masks to apply strong noise reduction to just the background to get rid of all that noise without affecting details.
What I find important is how well cameras keep details at higher ISO's.

This is from ISO 3200 on my 40D (which is a fairly old body now), with selective noise reduction on different parts of the image. I use a strong filter (in topaz denoise) on the background, then a much more detail sensitive filter on the subject to get rid of the most obvious noise without any real visible effect on the detail.



It's far from the quality of lower ISO's, but I can get a nice looking A4 print out of that

Certainly a world apart from the bridge camera I used to have.

This is a lovely shot Adam..

[nutmeg]

Originally Posted by Kayleigh

Can you post one you haven't photo-shopped as I find them a lot better I don't like what people do with the images, I try to get the best results from the camera in the first place and not rely on software..

Sometimes the best results from the camera are fit only for the bin - I'd much prefer to use software than have an image that's too noisy to keep, if the only way of obtaining the image is to use high iso.

I like what Adam's done with his.

[Kayleigh]

Originally Posted by nutmeg

Sometimes the best results from the camera are fit only for the bin - I'd much prefer to use software than have an image that's too noisy to keep, if the only way of obtaining the image is to use high iso.

I like what Adam's done with his.

It depends my images look worse if I mess about other than a simple levels, brightness/contrast.
What Adam has done is brilliant..

[tom w w]

Originally Posted by Kayleigh

Can you post one you haven't photo-shopped as I find them a lot better I don't like what people do with the images, I try to get the best results from the camera in the first place and not rely on software..

Kayleigh

Here is a crop of the head as shot, bottom part, its very dark as I expect to mess around with exposure / brightness and the camera was set not to loose highlights as I had been shooting into the sunset.

In the top half I have selectifully sharpend and smoothed, rather than doing the whole image. If I was trying to make something out of the image I would do this much more carefully. Look at the difference between the area marked A and B. As the original is a raw image it is expected to be "messed with"



Here is the sort of pic I like to take, it is almost as shot.



I would agree that the less you have to do the better.
But I still find it amazing that anything comes out when the is so little light, and its hand held at 400mm.