Noisy BIF photo - low ISO - Please Help!

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AndyMorkot

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Andrew
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Hi all - first post on this site so please be gentle - Apologies in advance if this is the wrong place to post or if I inadvertently step on anyone's ball.

I have a bit of a newbie bird photography problem. I've been photographing birds for a while but have never seen this before.

So went out last night to shoot a Kestrel (towards the evening light a little - About due South (about 8pm UK). Bird was at about 50 feet and in a bright sky.

Camera in Full Manual (EOS 7D11 with Canon 600mm f/4 (non-IS) + 1.4x converter. Tripod mounted. (camera in manual).

I dialled in +1 stop of exposure compensation and was set to spot metering to cancel out the sky whiteness.

The problem is the huge amount of noise and poor contrast. I don't know what's causing it. Is it the Exposure Compensation or the combination of settings, or the backlit scene causing the camera problems.

If anyone can show me the right path I's be super-grateful. I can denoise it but there's so much that it looks over-processed.

Thanks!
 
Hi Andy and welcome to TP

Can you post the image and also say:-
ISO
Shutter speed
Aperture
 
Some thoughts....

You mentioned using manual settings....and dialling in EC +1 but does EC function on the Canon 7D2 in manual mode?

The histogram and the appearance of the underside of the kestrel show IMO marked underexposure = non too surprisingly noisy.

Re: spot metering ~ check the function of that on the 7D2, does it only work with the central focus point or on any selected focus point.....as such which focus point were you using and might you have slipped off the bird to the sky i.e. the spot reading was taken from the sky?
 
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As your using a canon , you can download a focus point app .. as a lightroom add on . This will at least tell you whether your focus was correct (forget what it’s called now) ..
Not sure what you have done but b.i.f is not as easy as it looks
 
I’m guessing for that much noise then the bird must be heavily under exposed. I wouldn’t consider ISO 500 high even on my M4/3 camera. It would be interesting to see the unedited image.
 
The shot is under-exposed.

I would have been somewhere around 1/1250th, ISO800, @f5.6 this would've given you another stop and 2/3rds of light.

Don't worry about blowing a little of the sky, the bird is the subject. Getting the shadows right means less noise both sooc and when working in post.
 
Hi Andy, welcome to TP

As others have mentioned the bird is underexposed, which is a killer as far as noise is concerned.

However, another problem with the shot here is shooting into the bright light, which has caused a marked loss of contrast, and coupled with the underexposure, you've got the result shown above.

Far easier said than done with wild birds, but you really needed to have the sun behind you here - and I fully appreciate this might not have been an option on this occasion.

There might be a little more you can do with the file if you want to try and salvage something, If you want, ping the RAW to me using a larger file transfer service such as www.wetransfer.com which is free and secure, but I can't promise any miracles here. Might help with some specific feedback. If you do, my email is mike.poole42@yahoo.com

Mike
 
I would accept mikes offer he's a whiz kid with p.p
 
Thanks everyone for your help. I have the Topaz suite (DeNoise, Sharpen and AIAdjust which I used for this one (is it's a bit better than the one I posted before) but it still looks overdone.

I've sent Pooley the original - Thanks for your help in advance!

Once I've sorted out what the problem is I'll go and stake it out again and face East this time (it does tend to face east itself most of the time (due I am guessing to keeping it's own eyes out of the sun). I only started photographing it as the Barn Owl I have been staking out didn't show up! What a beautiful bird. Of the 30 shots I took of the one hover there isn't one that's not photogenic.
 

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the black fox said:
As your using a canon , you can download a focus point app .. as a lightroom add on . This will at least tell you whether your focus was correct (forget what it’s called now) ..
Not sure what you have done but b.i.f is not as easy as it looks
Click to expand...

That's great thanks - I've downloaded and installed that App. It show that I was on the bird - Attached is a screenshot which some other info as well.

I dropped the speed to 1/1600th which actually has improved the noise a little I think

focus points data.JPG
 
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the black fox said:
As your using a canon , you can download a focus point app .. as a lightroom add on . This will at least tell you whether your focus was correct (forget what it’s called now) ..
Not sure what you have done but b.i.f is not as easy as it looks
Click to expand...

Does not work with BBF.
 
AndyMorkot said:
Once I've sorted out what the problem is I'll go and stake it out again and face East this time (it does tend to face east itself most of the time (due I am guessing to keeping it's own eyes out of the sun).
Click to expand...

Kestrels always hover head into the wind. ;)
 
Thanks - did wonder whether they did that - makes sense. It was rotating quite a lot so looked like it was doing what we'd do which is look at the scene from different angles. Beautiful bird and we're so lucky it's a common sight nowadays.
 
Thanks Mike - much appreciated - I've pinged you a reply.

Thanks everyone - you've been incredibly helpful!

Have a great weekend

Andy
 
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