beauty and the beast: In our only local bird sanctuary, a gas company has just erected a large, ugly and noisy tower. I no longer have the natural horizon I had up until two weeks ago...

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

In our only local bird sanctuary, a gas company has just erected a large, ugly and noisy tower. I no longer have the natural horizon I had up until two weeks ago, to frame sunrises in. When the thing starts up, the birds scatter like this. It was very overcast this morning, with a little light escaping between the upper and lower cloud layers just after dawn.

This is a photo with issues, many of which are related to having to use a far-too-high ISO due to the light and the requirement for fast shutter to stop all those flapping duck wings. I'd welcome feedback and ESPECIALLY advice about shooting this type of shot in these conditions (I am not a bird photographer, don't have the equipment or skill). Ideas about processing too - this is lightly processed in LR5, tried doing more but it made the noise too much worse).

And the tower? Can't decide whether to try to clone it out or leave it in. (Wish I could clone out the "real" one).

snails_pace Loc: Utah

Looks like a good job to me. I usually use a shutter speed of 1/1250, f8, and auto-iso. Higher ISO is a common thing. On my D7000, I don't worry much about ISO 1600 - 2200. Would rather not go to ISO 3200.

The picture can be sharpened a bit and then Topaz Denoise is probably the best way to remove the noise and not lose too much detail.

The tower has to be a heartbreak to see. It is probably very easy to remove with the "smart eraser" tool in OnOne Perfect Suite 8. So at least it won't have to detract from your images.

If some of the foreground is cropped, the mallards in flight will show up a lot better. You did a nice job of the BIF mallards.

If you wouldn't mind, I could try to do a demo of these things.

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

snails_pace wrote:

Looks like a good job to me. I usually use a shut... (show quote)

i don't mind a bit, I love seeing what others can find in my photos to improve. That's how I learn best. I don't have topaz denoise but did try Nik define and didn't like how it turned out, will be interested to see what you can get. Was afraid to do too much with sharpening or noise for fear it would turn it to mush.
I'd rather not go past ISO 800 but sometimes I don't have much choice. And do you sharpen before or after denies, or both? Same formula with the higher ISO's or different?

thanks for all,

Heirloom Tomato Loc: Oregon

On my 21" screen, this looks remarkably good and not noisy. I love the shot. What a wonderful scene. I would clone out the tower.

Bob Yankle Loc: Burlington, NC

Clone out the tower!

This overall photo works well as a landscape photo, but because of the distance, doesn't do too well in the BIF category. Quite honestly, I would remove the little specks of ducks coming in for a landing.

Bob Yankle Loc: Burlington, NC

Are you open to seeing alternate edits, or would you like to implement those changes yourself?

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

Bob Yankle wrote:

Are you open to seeing alternate edits, or would you like to implement those changes yourself?

Yes, please feel free to experiment. I learn a lot by seeing what others do! That's one of the beauties of this forum. It is hard to completely describe edits in words and across pp programs. It helps me to see the example of the edit that has been suggested.

Then later, I can work on my own RAW file to practice those ideas I want to implement. It's like an ongoing photo workshop.

I look forward to seeing your variation.

Bob Yankle Loc: Burlington, NC

minniev wrote:

Yes, please feel free to experiment. I learn a lot by seeing what others do! That's one of the beauties of this forum. It is hard to completely describe edits in words and across pp programs. It helps me to see the example of the edit that has been suggested.

Then later, I can work on my own RAW file to practice those ideas I want to implement. It's like an ongoing photo workshop.

I look forward to seeing your variation.

OK, coming at you ......

- Cloned out the tower
- Cloned out the airborne ducks (much to my regret)
- Boosted saturation of the clouds
- Added more structure to the treeline
- Cropped out a good portion of weeds in the foreground
- Matted using the purple and green colors in the tree line, which actually drew my attention in the original more than the flying ducks

Variation 1 on Beauty and the Beast

Heirloom Tomato Loc: Oregon

Bob Yankle wrote:

OK, coming at you ......

- Cloned out the tower
- Cloned out the airborne ducks (much to my regret)
- Boosted saturation of the clouds
- Added more structure to the treeline
- Cropped out a good portion of weeds in the foreground
- Matted using the purple and green colors in the tree line, which actually drew my attention in the original more than the flying ducks

I'm glad you removed the tower, but I miss the flying ducks. I thought they added a lot of interest.

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

The crop and frame helped tremendously. That framing strategy of yours is my next rainy days practice project. Not sure I can give up the ducks, though I'm aware of their flaws. No BIF photographer would even discuss such bad ducks. But I am, at best, an aspiring birdscape photographer, never a BIF.

The towers disappearance is a relief. Would you come down here and remove the original from our formerly nice swamp?

Admiring your pp sills,
Min

Nightski

Bob Yankle wrote:

OK, coming at you ......

- Cloned out the tower
- Cloned out the airborne ducks (much to my regret)
- Boosted saturation of the clouds
- Added more structure to the treeline
- Cropped out a good portion of weeds in the foreground
- Matted using the purple and green colors in the tree line, which actually drew my attention in the original more than the flying ducks

This is an image that just needed a little pp. (TLC) It seems as though the color in the autumn trees stands out a little more too. I do like what you did with the water. This is an outstanding image now.

snails_pace Loc: Utah

The picture is very clean with little noise. You did a lot of things right with this capture ... something I rarely do.

I also think the flying ducks add a lot of interest. As a BIF person, I couldn't bring myself to get rid of them.

Tried something a little different. Cropped out some of the foreground and then did an enlargement so that the ducks would be more visible.

A little sharpening, noise reduction, opened up shadows a little, added a bit of "glow". I think at the resolution of the original, if you printed this on 14 x 10 paper and viewed it from say 3 ft away, you would be very happy with this.

Don't pixel peep this one ... in my opinion it should be printed on 14 inch wide paper and then viewed from a realistic distance.

edit - almost forgot ... removed the tower

R.G. Loc: Scotland

To my eye the noise is noticeable only in the sky. To enhance the sky, rather than use Contrast (which would make the noise worse), I used a combination of Highlights and Darkening to bring out the sky's colour and texture.

To counteract that in the rest of the pic, I turned up the Shadows and tweaked the Saturation to strengthen the colours. I also used PhotoPlus's Noise reduction to smoothen out the sky.

This left the pic darker than the original, but the details are actually easier to discern and the colours are more vibrant. I also think that the pic suits being a tad darker.

The only thing I can suggest for the settings is, if you'd been a little higher, the foreground would not have been so close, so you could have got away with a wider aperture.

I've also seen 1/1000 sec being used to good effect with BIFs. At that speed there's just a suggestion of movement blur at the wingtips which is just enough to convey movement of the birds' wings without being excessive.

(I barely noticed the tower, but you may have personal feelings towards it....).

Bob Yankle Loc: Burlington, NC

The world in micro-cosm, or a snippet that represents the whole. Before, I edited out birds because I was concentrating on the landscape. Turnabout is fairplay - bye, bye landscape, hello scattering birds.

Variation 2 on Beauty and the Beast

deej

Bob Yankle wrote:

The world in micro-cosm, or a snippet that represents the whole. Before, I edited out birds because I was concentrating on the landscape. Turnabout is fairplay - bye, bye landscape, hello scattering birds.

The birds add life to the picture as well as action. I like them in the scene. The landscape is great also and complimented with the birds IMHO.