Noise in photos... advice please!

Lippyx

Lippyx

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Emma
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Hi, hope this is in the right section.

I went to a local horse show at the weekend. Weather was average, some sunny spells, but mostly over cast. I looked at the pictures last night, and they all seemed very noisy.

I had the shutter speed up high (due to movement, approx. 2000-3200) on my Nikon D7000, and I was using a 70-200mm lens. I had F5.6 most of the time, rarely went down past 4 or any higher than 5.6. The ISO I had between 200 and 600, as the pictures seemed very under exposed, when checking them throughout the day.

What are the best settings when taking "fast" shots, in dull outside light? Should I use a flash gun?

The pictures aren't terrible, but I know they could have been so much better!

Any advice is greatly appreciated!!

Lx

(Please be gentle with me... I am still learning!!)
 
Flash at an Equstrian event is a BG NO NO :eek: Think of the consequences

as said; post an image or 2 with exif intact

Les :thumbs:
 
Best guess (and as Nigel says, can't really judge without seeing them) is that you under-exposed and tried to recover them in post, or that you were a long way back and had to crop too hard. This can make for a very noisy image. I do a fair bit of equestrian work, and usually shoot at around 1,000th, which generally is enough to freeze action. A 70-200 is my lens of choice. I don't know the D7000, but would be surprised if the ISO you used was excessive. There is no way of saying what the settings should be without being there. Take a meter reading and go from there. Be ready to make quick changes as the sun comes and goes and remember a gray will probably need a different exposure to a bay.

Tricky stuff, horses! Takes quite a bit of practice to get right, so don't give up.

And when shooting horses DON'T USE A FLASH! You may spook them.
 
Lez325 said:
Flash at an Equstrian event is a BG NO NO :eek: Think of the consequences

as said; post an image or 2 with exif intact

Les :thumbs:
Click to expand...

Exactly!! Being a horse rider myself, I know what could happen and that's why I was hoping this would not be the only way to solve the problem!! There would be horses and riders flying everywhere!!

I will try to get some examples loaded, but may have to wait until tonight... See what I can do.
 
jon ryan said:
Best guess (and as Nigel says, can't really judge without seeing them) is that you under-exposed and tried to recover them in post, or that you were a long way back and had to crop too hard. This can make for a very noisy image. I do a fair bit of equestrian work, and usually shoot at around 1,000th, which generally is enough to freeze action. A 70-200 is my lens of choice. I don't know the D7000, but would be surprised if the ISO you used was excessive. There is no way of saying what the settings should be without being there. Take a meter reading and go from there. Be ready to make quick changes as the sun comes and goes and remember a gray will probably need a different exposure to a bay.

Tricky stuff, horses! Takes quite a bit of practice to get right, so don't give up.

And when shooting horses DON'T USE A FLASH! You may spook them.
Click to expand...

I have hardly cropped them when editing them, and I wasn't too far from the action, so its not like I was using the lens to its max. I totally agree to, flash gun + horses = nightmare!!

I will get some un-edited pictures up, so you can see them from RAW.

Thanks again guys!
 
See if you can find some examples of older film emulsions at higher ISOs before moaning about noise! :sick:

Even just going back a few years, compare a D200's ISO 800 noise to your D7000's. Noise at higher ISOs is a fact of life that few people like but we all have to accept, although some cameras are better at handling it than others (FWIW, the D7000 is supposed to perform very well in this respect). If you can cope with a slight loss of detail, there's plenty of software available to reduce noise. Being a cheapskate, I use Noiseware which is free (or at least the version I use is) but it is slightly limited in functionality (which doesn't matter to me but may to you). Noise Ninja is another popular choice (or was) and IIRC, Photoshop can do the job too.
 
Just to put my 2p in about the under exposed image it will more than likely be...

iso 200-600 @ f/5.6 with between 2000 - 3200 shutter on mostly cloudy day... will always = under exposed images.

my settings would be on a cloudy day allowing upto either 1000 or 1600 iso and using a much slower shutter, maybe 800-1000 like said above.

But with the above settings i think you will always get under exposed images unless its bright sunshine
 
Hi,

Thanks for the responses. Here is one of my pictures:
DSC_2856_zps1ff070c9.jpg

(ISO 500, 200mm, f/4.5, 1/3200)

I agree with the under exposure, as I can always bring it up when editing. Would bringing the ISO up make the pictures more noisy, and if I slow the s/s down to 1000, how will that affect the movement of the horse?

Thanks again for all your advice! Maybe, I am just being really picky... or maybe my pictures aren't that great??
 
Um, that one is over exposed! The highlights on the neck & nose are blown, and to be frank, it ain't that good! The ears are back, eyes half-closed and, well, it isn't exactly jumping, is it?
 
What do you think is wrong with that shot Emma? It's not brilliant (appears over-exposed, doesn't look sharply focused) and that's an unusual combination of settings you've used, but there's no obvious noise visible at that size.

Have you adjusted brightness in post processing? Not easy to get over-exposure with those settings at this time of year.
 
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i agree with the above, the shot is over exposed, not under and as above hence my comments that at this time of year with over cast skies 3200 with over exposed is pretty strange like.
 
I agree, probably a bad example!!

The horse was trotting past me, and yes, I have already adjusted this in editing, and blown it out!

So give me some advice. What settings would you have for a moving object like a horse, in slightly overcast conditions?

All your help is really appreciated!! :)
 
Hard to say without being there. For what it's worth, I tend to use Shutter Priority and take a meter reading from the grass to get a starting point (possibly what happened in your posted shot is that you got a reading from that darkish bit in the background. That part looks more or less correctly exposed, but the pony, being lighter, needs less exposure - that's guessing, that is). Use either spot metering or centre weighted, set an ISO that will allow your camera to pick an aperture within the range of the lens (that is, wave the camera around a bit while looking at the meter. Make sure it doesn't give a reading for an aperture your lens doesn't have, such as wanting f/1.4 when your widest is f/2.8). Be ready to adjust the Exposure Compensation depending on the shade of horse. Less exposure for a gray, more for a dark bay. Remember that a horse will more or less fill the frame, so you need to expose correctly for that, not the surroundings.

Forgot to say: Set the shutter speed you need. Around 1,000th for a moving horse, whether jumping or showing. You need to freeze the hooves as they will be the fastest moving objects in the frame.
 
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Giving you settings would not be good advice as its all about the light on the day

Hers a shot I took on a dull cloudy day a week or so back

500mm lens- 1/1000th sec @ f8 ISO 400 I never push my ISO past 400 to avoid noise- The woodpeckers are never still for a second so 1/1000th sec is more than fast enough and f8 gives me a workable dof


DSC08058 My Peanut I think by Les Moxon Photography, on Flickr

Les :thumbs:
 
WOW Lez325, that shot is brilliant! Looks like the woodpecker actually waited for you, even though, like you say, they don't sit around for long!!
 
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