I know, Mallards are everywhere. I was recently at a local park and decided to try some duck portraits.
Type of Critique Requested
Technical: Feedback on the technical aspects of the image, such as exposure, color, focus and reproduction of colors and details, post-processing, and print quality.
Specific Feedback and Self-Critique
The light was relatively low, so I had to go to ISO 6400 to get a decent exposure. I have been struggling with high ISO images and noise. Capture One does a respectable job with noise, but I wasn’t quite happy with the results. After doing some research, I found that DXO has DeepPrime AI Noise Reduction and leverages their extensive lens testing to do noise reduction and sharpening together, rather than one after the other. They also allow you to save the changes as a .DNG file so you can then do your further raw processing in Lightroom or Capture One. I ran this image through DXO and then completed the processing in Capture One. I’m very happy with the result. What do you think? It is an extra step, but for high ISO images, I think it’s worth it.
Beautiful portrait of this mallard, David. I must admit, what I first saw were the wonderful shapes and colors created by the head, beak and the breast area. Nicely done!
Beautiful photo David. I love the color of these ducks. High ISO is getting better all the time with newer cameras but noise can hurt the shadows to the point that reducing takes out details. However, I haven’t really seen that with images posted or small to medium size prints. I have been tempted to try DxO, but Topaz Really picked up the speed with Photo AI I have been happy with it. I don’t like the fact topaz did kind of dropped updates to their other products but Photo AI is updated all the time.
This is really good! The details, pose, perspective, color, iridescence, BG softness and BG brightness, all look great!
This image looks like it was shot at ISO 100 or very close to it, even the darker URC is nice and smooth and natural looking to me.
It looks like DXO is working well for you and of course, it doesn’t hurt that you know how to use it along with your skills in Capture One.
Thank you, @linda_mellor and @Dean_Salman for your kind comments. This really was more of a test of the processing tools…although I must say, I do kind of like the comp of the bird. Linda, your comment about the shapes and colors really aligns with my thinking. Thanks.
Dean, Topaz does have a great tool set. I went with DxO mainly because it would integrate better with Capture One.
I think this is a wonderful portrait with lovely shapes brought out in the soft light! Colors and tonalities look great and the noise cleanup looks perfect.
I wonder about a little brightening of the duck and lowering exposure on the BG?
Noise can be brought out with any boost of shadow detail, at any ISO. Definitely worth an extra step in my workflow, which is going to PS for Topaz Denoise, even if that’s the only thing I need to do in PS.
Thanks Diane, much appreciated. And it’s good to see you around here.
I will take a look at doing some kind of vignette on the duck.
Yes, it is definitely worth the extra step or two to get some clean images, ISO-wise. I almost went for Denoise, but felt DxO fit better with Capture One.
David, he is beautiful, and your post processing skills along with the software capability worked together nicely. I may have to upgrade my noise reduction software at some point. I am still using an old version of Topaz. I haven’t upgraded in a long time. I just don’t get out to photograph that much and so I haven’t justified upgrading since there is a constant changing it seems. I will try to keep DxO in mind though. Thank you for the info.
It is a beautiful portrait of this Mallard. Colors and details are perfect. Great job!
Excellent color and detail-the green head really shines. Common, but an attractive bird and they are often habituated to humans to where they make for good subjects.
A very nice portrait, David. As with other common birds, we often don’t see their beauty anymore. We chase images of rare animals and oversee the beauty that can be found in everyday sightings.
And you and DxO did the job well
