Little Egret Sniffing its Armpit

[hughbie]

Just a quick one taken on Friday; Cardiff. Wales is full of egrets at present, including GWE.



I don't think I got exposure right - amongst other things. Not much feather detail. But liked the pose. Any suggestions or help welcome. White bird, gloomy background. Should I have underexposed more ?

Look forward to seeing the Llaneli WWT one on here soon. Was there this afternoon - saw the spoonbill, then a pergrine tried to get stuck into the godwits.

f7. 1/250. ISO 400. 7D. 300f4 + 1.4x.

[Millie]

Re: Little Egret Sniffing its Armpit

Hi Hugh,

On the whole I think it's a good effort
There seems to be a texture in the feathers (left hand side) is it noise ?
You have the benefit of seeing the original file at 100%
I noticed the shutter speed is 1/1250 rather than 1/250 have you done much PP ?

Millie

[hughbie]

Re: Little Egret Sniffing its Armpit

Millie
Thanks for comments.
Why was I using 1/1250? dunno. A product of ISO 400, I guess.

Little bit of sharpen and a little vibrance in Lightroom, and cropped down a fair bit. Yes, that's noise I now see on the original. Would the PP have introduced noise ?

Getting a bit concerned about noise on quite a few pics.

[Millie]

Re: Little Egret Sniffing its Armpit

Would the PP have introduced noise ?

If you under exposed and pulled it back using PP it could accentuate low level noise.
Many 'expert' birders used to strongly advocate underexposing and doing just that.

I don't know what that combo is like at with the converter @ F5.6

Still allowing for around 1/800 @ 420mmm

I'd have shuffled the pack a bit and went for ISO 100 @ Ff.6 for a narrower dof.
Hard to comment on exposure without seeing an out of the camera picture

Getting a bit concerned about noise on quite a few pics.

Maybe you need to use the histo more; to ensure you're nailing the exposures mid shoot until you get more used to that cemera. ?



Millie

[hughbie]

Re: Little Egret Sniffing its Armpit

More feedback and help! Ta, lots.

Did not underexpose & pull back on that one - I think ColinC aslo pointed out the issues on that recently so I have tied to avoid that route.
f5.6 would be fully open, I tend to avoid that where poss.

Histo - yup, I'm not using that properly.

Getting a bit fed up that ISO 400 is not working well for me. 7D should cope with that easily enough (? ). Operator error.

Hughbie

[Millie]

Re: Little Egret Sniffing its Armpit

Getting a bit fed up that ISO 400 is not working well for me. 7D should cope with that easily enough (? ). Operator error.

I haven't got a 7D, I thought it was supposed to be good upto ISO 1600 without much noise.

Try taking some snaps under more relaxed conditions, to see if it's user error or not, that's all I can suggest.

Millie

[hughbie]

Re: Little Egret Sniffing its Armpit

Yes boss,
Wil do.
Thanks

[Millie]

Re: Little Egret Sniffing its Armpit

Yes boss,
Wil do.
Thanks

LOL Sorry, not orders is that how it sounded ?
Just a friendly suggestion, testing it would beat just being fed up the noise at relatively low ISOs.
and wondering if it's the camera or user error.
Millie

[briansquibb]

Re: Little Egret Sniffing its Armpit

I found the best way with the 50d was to err on over exposure and darken. I found that under exposure and then lighten created noise in the dark areas

Brian

[hughbie]

Re: Little Egret Sniffing its Armpit

Yes boss,
Wil do.
Thanks

Millie, I should have adeed a smiley.

Brian,
Thanks for that. Exposure seems to be the issue. Maybe I should have used centre weighted for a change - generally go with evaluative.

[Millie]

Re: Little Egret Sniffing its Armpit

Hugbie,
My 'hidden agenda' is I’m thinking of getting a 7D to replace my trusty 40D, and you’re worrying me about the ISO.

I think the distance selling regulations allow you to buy a camera, test it for a couple of days, then keep it or change your mind, as long as you pay for return postage+ repackaging, I might just do that !

Millie

[hughbie]

Re: Little Egret Sniffing its Armpit

Millie,
I am a little concerned at present. Getting slightly paranoid now going back through my 7D pics.

Pretty sure its down to my choice of subject, settings etc & maybe a lack of real PP skills - and cropping too much. Will persevere and maybe start a "7Ds are fab" thread. Might try some RAW +JPEG shots to see how they compare.

One problem is that the camera LCD is so good, most things checked on site look great; then not so good on laptop.

Have fun,
Hughbie:

[Millie]

Re: Little Egret Sniffing its Armpit

Hugh,

Will persevere and maybe start a "7Ds are fab" thread.

My mind works differently, I'd start one saying how crap I thought the 7D was, to encourage people with proof to the contrary to come forward.

Hope you get this resolved anyway, what camera did you have prior to the 7D ?

Millie

[hughbie]

Re: Little Egret Sniffing its Armpit

Millie,
Had a 40D for 2 years - traded it in. Still have my 20D as a just in case.

Got tempted. Went for the 7D as I could not afford a longer/better lens than my 300Lf4 +1.4x and hoped that better IQ would give a bit of scope for more cropping, also cleverer af.

Checked that egret again; I underexposed by 1/3, was trying different settings . May account for some of the noise. Should have gone +1/3.

Hughbie

[Millie]

Re: Little Egret Sniffing its Armpit

Checked that egret again; I underexposed by 1/3, was trying different settings . May account for some of the noise. Should have gone +1/3.

Hi Hugbie, You could kook though the rest of your pictures from the same day and around the same time - find one thats perfectly exposed @ ISO 400 and compare the noise levels. ( only if you want to)

I'm thinking that bird would have troubled the meter especially if it was reasonably large in the frame. You mentioned cropping was it significant ?

Millie