Photolady2014 Loc: Southwest Colorado

Hello, I am frustrated with the quality of photo I am getting from my 90D and Tamron 150-600 g2. I know people get great photos with this combination, so it must be something I am doing. The first photo is the photo right out of the camera (converted to JPEG in LR but no adjustments) so you can see I was filling the frame! I then worked it in LR and Topaz DeNoise for the second photo. Just seems to me that filling the frame the photo should have been sharper. It was morning and there was high overcast. I do realize I did not need the -1/3 exposure. I have included all the info for the settings (don't know how to make that stupid blue question box go away). But basics shutter 1/1250, F7, ISO 1600, 600mm on a bean bag.
Any suggestions are welcome! No I could not avoid the stupid snow bank!
Also, was afraid to go higher in ISO, also tried Topaz Sharpen, but not better.
They don't look quite as dark in the download.

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Added to show they were not all super dark

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Info for above

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rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

I understand your frustration. Some basic questions: What version of Lightroom, and what version of Topaz DeNoise. Have you tried Topaz Sharpen AI? I think as a registered DeNoise user, you can get a free upgrade to Sharpen AI, which also does noise reduction.

Secondly, why ISO 1600 and 1/1250th shutter?

Photolady2014 Loc: Southwest Colorado

Lightroom is the monthly and updated, updated DeNoise and Sharpen didn’t help. It was early morning and they were moving, so high shutter to stop movement. Just paid $49 to get the latest upgraded Sharpen, a pet peeve, you buy and then have to pay once a year for the big upgrade. Free ones during the year, then another $49 please...

luvmypets Loc: Born & raised Texan living in Fayetteville NC

I would like to ask a couple of questions. I am NOT a post processing expert.

Photolady2014--please don't be offended by my questions this is just my curiosity so that I can learn. I have a Tamron 150-600 g1 and want to get the best quality also.

What was the bean bag sitting on?
Was the lens or the camera body resting on the bean bag?
Did you use the self timer to give the camera a few seconds to settle from the mirror movement?
Does the Canon 90D have an auto-fine tune feature so that you can dial in the focus so it isn't focusing behind or in front of the target and have you done that with this lens?

Would she have better results from a tripod instead of the bean bag?

Looking forward to the answers to my questions and for the solution to her problem.

Dodie

Grahame Loc: Fiji

Flat light with possible early morning mist, ISO1600 giving you a fair amount of noise and an average lens pushed to it's max FL are not going to give you the 'best'. Both images are well focused.

The biggest problem I see is the noise and any attempt to reduce that is going to reduce the sharpness as well, whatever method you use. So what can you do, partially remove the noise (I used NIK Define), boost the contrast (I used NIK Color Efex Pro Contrast) and undertake a two pass sharpen.

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R.G. Loc: Scotland

The shot is underexposed and the ISO is high. Brightening a dark shot is never going to be ideal and it's an even worse idea with a high ISO. On top of that, sharpening and noise don't go well together.

If you aren't using a 2 second delay, camera shake from you pressing the shutter release is still a possibility. I don't shoot wildlife or pets but I wonder if 1/1250 is necessary. I got the impression that 1/500 was enough even for dogs running about (I'm open to correction).

jcryan Loc: Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic

R.G.
There is an old rule of thumb stating that:

Hand Held Shutter Speed <= 1/(FF equivalent Focal Length)

You will need a faster shutter for action on picture 1 at 600mm min shutter speed would be 1/600 and to freeze action 1/1250 makes sense. I'm not sure how much resting the camera on a beanbag changes the rule for action shots.

Cheers!
Claude

Bill_de Loc: US

Instead of converting to JPG in Lightroom, try shooting in JPG or both JPG and RAW. Your camera will do most of the work on the JPG files.

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billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Looks to me like your meter may have been influenced by the snow in the scene. It seems to be off 2 to 3 stops too dark.
And you have the advantage of digital, look at your first shot, if your in raw I suggest moving to manual exposure, and make adjustments after your first shot.
If you shoot like me in Aperture Priority and Jpeg, then just use the exposure compensation dial and go to, in your case, +2, shoot quickly again, check your shot, and go from there.
Again, that is why we shoot digital, making quick adjustments for exposure is a breeze, try it.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

I am not seeing any focus issues or blur that might affect sharpness and detail. Shooting raw and converting in LR is exactly what I do, and have been doing for the past 14 yrs. No need to shoot jpeg - it will only lead to more, not fewer exposure errors.

Your first image is underexposed by at least 1 stop or more. The impact on image quality is significant. There will be a lot of noise, which in turn will eat up detail. Sharpening will recover some detail but will ad noise. Adjusting microcontrast will give a sharper appearance by increasing the contrast on edges, but it will not add detail. Denoising will eat up additional detail added by the previous two steps.

In the future, I think your first step should be to take a test shot or two and look at your histogram on the back of the camera. The way I suggest to determine exposure is to use the spot meter function in the camera and either find something that is more or less a middle grey tonal value and use that reading, or measure a highlight that you wish to retain detail in and add two stops to that reading. If the histogram does not come close to the right side, then your images taken in this light with these settings will be underexposed, and you should add more exposure until it does. If you add too much, then a lot of the image will end up touching the right side, and it will be irrevocably overexposed. In this image, the snow is likely to touch the right side of the histogram which could result in underexposure anyway. This is where you decide if detail in the snow is important. If not, then ignore the small amount of overexposure.

The metadata shows that your image has a -.3 exposure compensation, which contributes to the underexposure.

You used 1/1250 shutter speed, ISO 1600, and F7.1. There is no reason, with this subject and your gear, to not use 1/500 second or even a little slower, especially since you used a beanbag for stability. Your lens has excellent optical stabilization. The effective focal length at full zoom is 960mm, which is difficult to hand hold, but not impossible. The beanbag makes it way easier. pulling back a tiny bit on the zoom wouldn't hurt either, and would give a little context to the image for a better composition.

The image below and the detail crop were shot hand held, 600mm, 1/25 second, using a Sigma 150-600 Sport, which does not have stabilization that is as good as on your lens.

With a beanbag and/or stabilization, the old rule of thumb of 1/effective focal length for shutter speed is less relevant.

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pithydoug Loc: Catskill Mountains, NY

I played with the second, give me hell and I'll erase it. I simply found it was underexposed which is trivial to fix in LR or ACR. I cheated and tossed it into PS to remove the snow in front. It added nothing to the shot. Then I used Topaz Denoise. Sharpen alone just sharpens the noise. Then back to LR and trivial adjustments to shadows and highlights. I found the pic pretty good. ISO of 1600 not really egregious with today's sensors.

ELNikkor

I agree that the snow would fool the meter into under-exposing. Always look to see if there is something much brighter than your subject in the frame and be ready to compensate for it if your first shot looks too dark. Also agree that 1/500th second would've been fast enough to stop the action and get you another stop+ of exposure so you wouldn't be dealing with so much noise now. No fault of the lens or camera; both are excellent tools!

Photolady2014 Loc: Southwest Colorado

No offense at all! Bean bag on car window rolled down, car used as a blind. Camera lens on bean bag, ( used this set up in Africa and it works great). No self timer as the elk were moving, the lens has been micro adjusted to the body and I have gotten very sharp photos with this combination, just not this whole group of elk photos. No tripod as the animals would have left, car as a blind, they don’t mind cars, but get out of the car and they are out of there!

Below in responses I think it was the snow and my mistake of having -.3 exposure was a big part of it.

Photolady2014 Loc: Southwest Colorado

I think Gene51 has hit the nail on the head.

Snow and my mistake of -.3 was a big part of the under exposure. Also, when I saw them sparing my brain just went to get the shot and I did not check out my light metering and it probably should have been on spot. I’m relatively new to wild life and when I see the animal it is like get it before it leaves and I don’t check settings fast enough. As far as 1/500, well I guess I can try lass shutter speed, but when they are moving....it is worth a try!
I do think the under exposure was my biggest problem and I did not think about the snow adding to it. I also went into PS Elements and took out the snow!
Thank you for your thought Gene51!

Photolady2014 Loc: Southwest Colorado

Yes, along with my mistake with the -1/3 exposure. I still don’t know about the 1/500, but if I get the opportunity again I will try! When you see the action, it is hard to stop, hope they don’t stop and check the settings....!