Practice, practice, practice

[Copy_Kot]

Just practicing on the yard birds since the weather was too bad to go anywhere. Does it look like there is too much noise in the first image? I think I had my ISO at 500 for all four, but the first one appears to have a lot more noise in it. I did the same noise reduction on all of them and ran the first one through Neat Image, still looks like too much.

[Loupey]

The noise does seem prominent not only with the titmouse but also with the chickadee and woodpecker.

Were they exposed properly? The first one seems overexposed - was it that way when captured or converted from RAW that way or brought up in post processing? However, adjusting for an underexposed image is typically the worst culprit for noise.

[Copy_Kot]

Loupey, they were all very dark and I tried to lighten them up a little. I probably should have just let my camera sit... the weather was absolutely horrible and very dark.

Do you think they might have turned out a little better if I had used a higher ISO and had them exposed properly? I've been trying to stay around 400 or very close to it.

[Loupey]

Do you think they might have turned out a little better if I had used a higher ISO and had them exposed properly? I've been trying to stay around 400 or very close to it.

That's a great question!

As you know, I try to go no higher than ISO 400 myself. But an underexposed image at even ISO 200 can produce significant noise.

When absolutely necessary, I have boosted to ISO 800 occasionally. The noise level is too high for my liking even under "perfect exposure" conditions. So the answer to your question is difficult to say.

Whatever the setting, keep in mind that noise is most evident in mid-tone areas; especially in gradual transitions between different colors/shades. So if shooting dark sillouettes, bright scenes, or bright colors, you can generally get away with higher ISO's.

[Copy_Kot]

Thanks Loupey, I'll try very hard to remember that (about the different shades).