(If backgrounds have been removed, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
This was one of the first sessions with the new Canon R5 and the 100-500 + 1.4X, handheld with the subject in open shade. It’s cropped to 35% of the original frame. ISO 6400, f/10 (wide open), 1/640 sec. The bird was underexposed, but I did only a very slight exposure increase in PS, to prevent too much noise in the darks, and went to PS and Topaz Denoise, with no sharpening. Then I went to Topaz Sharpen AI but with only a very slight amount – not really worth doing even when viewed at 100%. Then I did the Camera Raw filter for lightening shadows and a touch of Clarity.
I’m finding I get the best noise reduction with minimal tonal work in LR/ACR up front. After good NR then I can do stronger tonal adjustments with lower noise resulting. The BG is light on a distant tree. I thought about smoothing it out but decided I liked the somewhat graphic look with the isolated pose.
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Hi Diane, really nice result here. The detail and color on the face is really fine. I like the blurred wings showing motion. The background sets off the bird nicely. Well done.
A really nice pose with great eye contact. Lots of fine detail at 6400 so that’s good to see. I like the bg and might add a bit more space on left. Just a bit more for the out reached bird and the circle of light in lower left might add to graphic look. HH is pretty handy.
I’ve heard some really nice things about that camera and the lens as well, Diane and this image shows it off nicely. Beautiful quality for any image, let alone iso 6400. Artistically, I’d be tempted to take a touch off the right and add the same onto the left to decenter the bird a bit more. I like the nice bokeh of the highlight patches in the background-they do add an interesting graphical aspect to the image.
Thanks guys! The “secret” to being able to get a usable image at high ISO hasn’t changed. It depends on:
The details in the subject being much larger than the size of the noise (i.e. subject big in the frame),
Very accurate focus,
No motion blur, either from subject or camera or movement,
Enough light on the subject,
Insignificant thermal agitation or particulates (including moisture) in the air.
With these factors being acceptable, noise reduction and sharpening, done CORRECTLY can give a usable image. It’s a tall order but sometimes it works.
Good processing at iso-6400 as others have said. I had to look the Canon R5 up to understand that it had a 45 megapixel sensor. So yes, your point in most recent post on this image about processing at high iso-is correct. I find that one needs to follow the same rules of processing with my Nikon D 850 with 41 megapixels and my Sony A7r4 with 61 megapixels. The other issue is dealing with noise -related color cast. Lotta fine tuning to get a usable image.
As you can tell by my posted images, I am not a fan of centering a bird in the frame. I like the bird to be able to look towards something with an open view. Of course this is a matter of preference.
I generally like to leave room for a subject to move or even look into, but I temper that with a desire to balance visual weight across an image. In this case there was some BG detail on the left and I was able to darken the left edge a little. I also enlarged the crop at the top to keep a more pleasing aspect ratio, just by gut feeling. I think the change is an improvement – thanks @David_Schoen!
