Photos Photo of the Day

If I understand your post correctly MechDoc02 your second image on the previous page was ISO 800?? If so what camera are you using? It looks like you've got it at about 3200!

 

I'm using a Sony Alpha 350, with the most common zoom lens, and an extender.

But when I zoom in on the raw image of that photo, the specks that look like noise on the new red leaves take up more than one pixel. It's possible that there was some reflection from veins on the leaves that caused multi-pixel "noise" specks, but right now I'm thinking it isn't noise, it's real.

In any event, the Sony Alpha 350 is supposed to be noisy at 800, from what I've read, and the noise in this case isn't general, but only in lighter areas.

 

Still trying out the new hilite, quite impressed with it so far,
Using as a Soft box

Louise 3 by whisperwolf, on Flickr
As a backdrop

Louise 4 by whisperwolf, on Flickr

 

MechDoc02:

This photo: http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5096/5544013330_38fc42ecd2_b.jpg, highlights what I mean, look at the dark background, you can see what I mean there quite well.

 

@MechDoc02

All the photos looked distinctly grainy, even at first glance - that's the noise. Try even lower ISOs or pass them through a noise reduction filter; they work surprisingly well, and there are free ones around if you do some googling. MBM posted the most obvious offender there

Edit: Here's a quick example of noise reduction on the right half of that image (I hope you don't mind me messing with it). It was done pretty quickly, and as a result has blurred the detail a bit, but it gives the idea. Also, having a look at the histogram, there's quite a lot of over exposure, especially on the greens.
Re-edit: have you already photoshopped this? there are strange boarders around the leaves against the pink on the bottom left, and up the left edge...


@whisperwolf - I love the first shot; very nice. The second one doesn't grab me as much.

 

Okay, Gryfon and mars-bar-man, now I see what you mean. I thought you were looking at the white spots on the leaves, or, in some cases, the fuzz on the leaves and stems.

I have both paint.net and Gimp2 - in the process of switching to the latter, which has a fairly steep learning curve - and I'm reasonably sure both have noise reduction. I know Gimp2 does.

Maybe within a couple of hours, but almost certainly within 24 hours, I'll de-noise the photos. Keep watching.

 

few shots from my trip to scotland last week

these are all taken with a 7d and should have exif info embedded (in the large ones) if you're interested
Tamron 17-50mm for most of them
Canon 55-250mm IS for animal stuff
Canon 100mm Macro L for macros

most of the snow+sun ones had a polarising filter on too, more in the parent folder

click for big obv












couple of stitched panoramas

 

I really like that one of the tiger Hamish. Amazing expression!

 

I used the "selective Gaussian blur" in Gimp 2 to remove at least some of the blotchiness. There is of course a terrible tradeoff - really removing blotchiness also blurs detail. The "selective Gaussian blur" attempts to preserve edges, but there is a tradeoff even here, in that the edges get at least a little softer anyway, and tiny but real artifacts are blurred out just as they would be with a straight Gaussian blur.

Let that be a lesson to me. Don't forget to use the lowest iso that will work for the shot!

[/url] DSC01914blur by MechDoc, on Flickr[/IMG]


[/url] DSC01916blur by MechDoc, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url] DSC01917blur by MechDoc, on Flickr[/IMG]

 

Lovely spring day, went to take pictures of a dog on a frozen lake, and I think this is the best one:

 

+rep

 

Ty.

 

My first totally solo shoot. I did some glamour stuff here too (I've only edited one of those so far), but in the interest of keeping this family friendly, just posting this one.


Anthi by JazzXP, on Flickr

 

Its nicely lit and a great pose, If I was going to be brutal, I'd have liked a little light from a reflector hitting the left side as the shadow on the left is a tiny bit harsh for me, and I'm not a fan of the background, its a bit grey and specifically the two chimney things on the left.

 

Yeah, a reflector for fill would have been awesome (or even a second light, which I don't have one for my Ranger RX set yet), unfortunately I didn't have anyone around to hold one!

The chimney things are actually part of the Bolte Bridge in Melbourne. But you're right, the background is a little grey. I've got some later on in the set (which I'll get around to editing soon) that have more of an orange background from a sunset.

Thanks for your comments and critique. Best way for me to grow as a photographer

 

@JazzXP,

Love the lighting of that portrait. Nice.

 

Winter (and even much of spring) in the midwestern US means when new toys arrive... they tend to get tested indoors. And pets provide good targets, in those brief moments when they're neither a blur nor comatose.

 

Dovedale Trees by TimSmalley, on Flickr

Simple image to process this... just needed the greens calming down. It was more difficult to get the juxtaposition of the trees right - required a lot of lens movements.

 

Thanks!