Noisy duck.

creators · Noisy duck.

I took a trip over to a local wildlife park today to try my hand at some wildlife, not something I do much. The weather was solid overcast and light conditions pretty bad so I upped the ISO to 500 and this shot was taken with my Sigma 70 - 300 telephoto lens, tripod mounted, shooting info:

Exposure time: 1/60
F-stop: 5.6
ISO speed: 500
Focal length: 300.0000
Focal length (35mm): 450

I have done some work on the shot, noise reduction and unsharp mask. If anyone has the time or space I would appreciate seeing what you could come up with and how you achieved it, because I am not impressed with my results. The original image is here: http://www.kandle-photography.co.uk/forum/DSC_4578.JPG

Evolution104

Hi Keith,
A very nice image.

There are a few things you might try - the first would be something like Noise Ninja or Neat Image.

I tried a technique for reducing chroma noise, but it had little effect. As you say, it appears it is shot noise.

You can try masking to separate the background from the foreground, then doing a gaussian blur on the background. This works well, but you need to do a really good masking job or it will show.

In photoshop, you can also try using a soft blur brush on the background.

hil26

daft question, did you try using flash?

Had a quick go - it's different

Used Camera Raw to open the JPEG - to adjust the exposure, fill light, colours then used the noise reduction tab - but too be honest didn't make much adjustment in there.

Levels, curves, sharpened (Smart Sharpen - lens blur), then FADE sharpening - chose colour for mode in this instance.

Not too sure it's any better, but it is different - I think

Clicking image should take you to the photo page - not too sure as I used private setting in flickr - can send you the large one by email if you like.

creators

For some bizarre reason I wasn't notified of your replies so only found htem when I logged in for a look see.

Thanks so much guys. I've downloaded Neat Image, John, and am impressed the my first dabble which can only improve when I've waded through the help files. Reducing noise overall would be my preferred route rather than blurring the background, which, given the subject, would be a tricky task. Many thanks for that and I'll post a result in a bit.

Dave, not a daft question at all, it never even occurred to me to use flash, which is a shame because I suspect in this instance it might have made all the difference. Thanks for having a go and yes I'd appreciate an email of the image as I can't download it from flickr. It'd be good to compare it with the original. I'll run through your process for myself and see what I get. I've struggled with noise before and kind of given up in

, which is not the way to learn. Many thanks for your help.

creators

I have just run an image through Neat Image and used the default settings and am seriously impressed, not least because it was so easy.

And a before/after of the original and Neat Image processed.

hil26

errr, that's some noise reduction, that is

peteski

creators

I haven't touched the advanced features, so about a millimetre along the learning curve, but I'm very impressed.

peteski

This is the ultimate software for noise reduction and grain control. However, you need a hefty machine behind it and a healthy bank balance.

Evolution104

jonH

i've always been a fan of noise ninja over neat image (i have a license for both) as it seems easier to get the results i want

hil26

creators

I'd have tried Noise Ninja except that it all comes down to money and things are horrendously tight at the moment with 39% hikes in fuel costs and the like. The way things are going I'll be living in a hedge soon.

jonH

creators

derek

hil26

creators

Top software mate!