This was shot at 500mm (VR) handheld at F11. I use shutter preferred, normally 1/2500 or faster to mitigate camera shake. ISO 800.
Any ideas how to improve sharpness/reduce noise? I am not unhappy with the result, just constantly looking for improvement.
(If backgrounds have been removed, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
Hi Pieter: You mentioned sharpness and noise as two concerns. The overall sharpness looks pretty good. It could be a bit sharper, but still not a bad result. At 1/2500 you certainly shouldnât have any camera movement. The larger version is showing some noise. You didnât mention what camera body as that will have an impact on noise levels at a given ISO. Also, did you have to boost the exposure in post processing. At ISO 800 I wouldnât expect this level of noise from any camera in todayâs market.
This is shot on a Nikon D800. I did adjust the exposure very slightly post-processing â shadows +, highlights -. Also applied sharpening (50).
In retrospect I should have posted the image as shot. My apologies. I will find and post another.
If youâd like to add the original to this post, that would be great. Just click the pencil icon on your original post and add the original. That would help to see what might be happening.
I like the composition with the tree and pose, though I would have liked a better view of the eye. Seems a tad tight on the left. The detail in the eagle looks good.
Do you mean like this?
I positioned the eye in the cross-hairs of the top left ârule of thirdsâ. Old-fashioned, I know.
I think your repost is better for the composition. It also appears to have less noise. I took your Original and cropped (not as much as you did) to look at noise and details. Hereâs my result. It has almost zero noise. Not sure what introduced the issue in your post.
Thanks! I think it is Lightroomâs sharpening. I will investigate.
I think I do prefer this second version with a bit more room on the left. I donât know why, but in this version the eye seems more visible. I like what youâve done.
I cannot tell a lie. It is a different photo.
Hi Pieter. Nice shot of the Eagle. Keith did a good job of addressing the noise issue. As far as the slightly less than perfect focus goes, distance makes a big difference. The effect of any camera movement goes up linearly with distance from the subject. While modern VR is wonderful, itâs still not perfect, so the only ways I know to shoot distant subjects with any success is using a good tripod/head and/or taking lots of shots and culling the ones that donât quite work.
