I continue to be impressed....

[Astacus]

This was in the Quelitales Lodge, Costa Rica. 5.05pm, under dense canopy and a cloud sky.
A1 + 600mm f4, 1/50th second, ISO 5000, f6.3. Lens on a monopod. Subject about 4m distant.

At first glance, it looked rough, but I continue to be astounded by what is recoverable. Topaz Denoise, some selective tweaking to background and subject (really like the new LR tools) , finally Topaz Sharpen, which, even on a mild setting, was almost too much.

Zoomed into 300% on a high res screen, and a quick screen grab of initial RAW and final processed image. Good enough for me - I never look at the images this zoomed in real life.

(scaled antpitta, quite an exciting sight)

 

[GvilleRick]

I lived in Costa Rica for a year but that was before DSLRs were available (1992). I hope to get back for a vacation some day with my current gear. Nice postprocessing on this image.

 

[iamdlewis]

That is why I just use Auto ISO for anything in which I am not spending time to setup the shot, even then there are times when I still use Auto ISO. Noise removal tools are just so good.

 

[Deleted Member 5045]

It is crazy indeed! I will just keep kicking along with my Lightroom Basic though...

I think it gets to a point where things are too perfect. I always believe that with any type of creative thing it's nice to see the person's character through their minute imperfections in their work. As a photographer I think occasionally it's nice to have these technologies to save something that was of meaning to us, but in general I think putting most of the effort into physically getting better shots is the key.

 

[AlphaWorld]

While I can relate to the desire to “get it right in camera“, I am willing to use tools like DXO DeepPrime to make up for my unwillingness to spend the money on a 600 f/4 GM

I do still use PhotoShop over LightRoom, though... Some of us earned the right to be grumpy old men the hard way!

 

[Uncle Kevriano]

Topaz denoise rules, if you are careful. I am happy shooting at 10k ISO now, when I get exposure right. Far more noise if I underexpose and it's not quite so good then. It's definitely a revolutionary piece of software, and is less faff than other programs.

 

[Astacus]

I agree that the tools need to be used sparingly. For me, the biggest challenge is post-processing a big crop at high ISO.

As regards retaiing my imperfections, I might posit that the imperfections are not mine, they are the camera's! (passing the buck). Mine include the perfectly focused stick:

Camera: “Look Rob, a lovely twig!”
Rob: “Pack it in, you git, I want to see the bird behind the twig”
Camera: :”To late, it’s flown away”

as well as the 'head behind a leaf', the 'delay until the bird moves', the inability to get to the ground fast enough, the sore neck that prevents upwards shots - these are all down to me. Sadly, no amount of Topaz tools can help here! Maybe we need an AI tool that respons to "> put a monkley in this location, facing left, with a bright eye'.

 

[Astacus]

It is crazy indeed! I will just keep kicking along with my Lightroom Basic though...

I think it gets to a point where things are too perfect. I always believe that with any type of creative thing it's nice to see the person's character through their minute imperfections in their work. As a photographer I think occasionally it's nice to have these technologies to save something that was of meaning to us, but in general I think putting most of the effort into physically getting better shots is the key.

Sadly, this is often a negotiated position with a flighty bird that moves on before the Ts&Cs are defined

 

[Uncle Kevriano]

I agree that the tools need to be used sparingly. For me, the biggest challenge is post-processing a big crop at high ISO.

As regards retaiing my imperfections, I might posit that the imperfections are not mine, they are the camera's! (passing the buck). Mine include the perfectly focused stick:

Camera: “Look Rob, a lovely twig!”
Rob: “Pack it in, you git, I want to see the bird behind the twig”
Camera: :”To late, it’s flown away”

as well as the 'head behind a leaf', the 'delay until the bird moves', the inability to get to the ground fast enough, the sore neck that prevents upwards shots - these are all down to me. Sadly, no amount of Topaz tools can help here! Maybe we need an AI tool that respons to "> put a monkley in this location, facing left, with a bright eye'.

Haha, centre focus for the bird behind a twig and then some clever clone stamping

 

[iamdlewis]

Camera: “Look Rob, a lovely twig!”
Rob: “Pack it in, you git, I want to see the bird behind the twig”
Camera: :”To late, it’s flown away”

as well as the 'head behind a leaf',

This is exactly why I have been saying that in camera branch/leaf removal feature would help far more than better Eye AF.

 

[Jonathan Hanson]

Any time a fellow photographer complains that post-processing is cheating, I just say two words. "Ansel"and "Adams."

 

[Geo C]

This was in the Quelitales Lodge, Costa Rica. 5.05pm, under dense canopy and a cloud sky.
A1 + 600mm f4, 1/50th second, ISO 5000, f6.3. Lens on a monopod. Subject about 4m distant.

At first glance, it looked rough, but I continue to be astounded by what is recoverable. Topaz Denoise, some selective tweaking to background and subject (really like the new LR tools) , finally Topaz Sharpen, which, even on a mild setting, was almost too much.

Zoomed into 300% on a high res screen, and a quick screen grab of initial RAW and final processed image. Good enough for me - I never look at the images this zoomed in real life.

(scaled antpitta, quite an exciting sight)

Just out of interest did you find the 600mm too long at all? I'm going to CR in November, haven't decided what lenses to take yet.

 

[Astacus]

If for birds?

Yes, but not often. This might be the easiest way to show you. These are the stats on lens usage for the March 23 CR trip.

As you see, mostly 600+1.4, some 600 (mostly driven by poor light).
And yes, there were times when I was muttering 'too close'!

I'm not going to lug around a second body coupled to the 200-600 for those occasions though. More likely actually to carry the 70-200 and a TC, probably.

We go to Namibia for birds later this year, but of course, there'll be lots of mammals. Then, I might commit to a second body + 70-200. I might be tempted to the ZV-E1 I have wanted to try my hand a videography for a while now.

Enjoy!

 

[Geo C]

If for birds?

Yes, but not often. This might be the easiest way to show you. These are the stats on lens usage for the March 23 CR trip.

As you see, mostly 600+1.4, some 600 (mostly driven by poor light).
And yes, there were times when I was muttering 'too close'!

I'm not going to lug around a second body coupled to the 200-600 for those occasions though. More likely actually to carry the 70-200 and a TC, probably.

We go to Namibia for birds later this year, but of course, there'll be lots of mammals. Then, I might commit to a second body + 70-200. I might be tempted to the ZV-E1 I have wanted to try my hand a videography for a while now.

Enjoy!


View attachment 35523

Very interesting, gives me a lot to think about! One more question if I may, using the 600 + 1.4 were you still cropping images or were they reasonable tightly framed?

 

[Astacus]

I'm still working through them - mostly cropping still - esp small birds this would be typical - and at 6400 ISO, so to be able to recover a 'slightly better than record shot' is gratifying. That being said., I couldn't get an entire frigate bird in the frame, so it works both ways! Crop, Topaz denoise, LR select bckgnd, adjust, select subject, adjust (inc modest dehaze), Topaz sharpen. Mangrove warbler, Tarcoles River, in mangrove swamps