Making this photo better...

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Permalink Reply by Julie Oest on February 17, 2010 at 7:03am

And again, thanks Chris! The photo has been cropped quite a bit. As I said I'm just learning and was wondering what was causing the noise on some photos and not others. I guess I'll have to be more careful about cropping photos.

I already have my yacht, you know the 10' john boat and bread crumbs. But, I am saving for a decent telephoto lens. Any suggestions on a fairly cheap, yet decent beginner lens?

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Permalink Reply by May Tove Stensrud-Svendsen on February 17, 2010 at 7:41pm

The only thing I would do here, is blur the background. And maybe lighten it a little bit (the background).

Dulicate layer
Blur - Gaussian blur - 1,0 pixel, 100% ( + + ) Try what you like...

Then erase the part of the layer that is not the background....

Maybe be brave enough to use the bigger version of photoshop??? They both do the same....

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Permalink Reply by May Tove Stensrud-Svendsen on February 17, 2010 at 7:48pm

Ps. Go back to original, because, when you save in jpg it is compressed every time you work with it, and you loose information in the pixels (read: colors - greytones)

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Permalink Reply by May Tove Stensrud-Svendsen on February 17, 2010 at 8:48pm

About pixels that desturb.

The higher ASA, more noise in the pixels
Dark (or light) photos , can have less/more than 255 tones - they are wrong exposured if you lack tones.

On this illustration, the tones "climb", and I lack tones....

About tele:
The less tele you use, the lower f-stop-number can be used, and you get more light, and less background,
more tele - then the lowest f-stop-nr is not available..... less light must be compaensated by shutter-time, and you get more background....

You also can try your EV-stop, read the manual and test it....

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Permalink Reply by luis on February 17, 2010 at 8:37pm

look at this, if you liek the result let me know

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Permalink Reply by May Tove Stensrud-Svendsen on February 18, 2010 at 9:56pm

The manual way to better the result of the gaussian blur tool, because it changed the bird too much...

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Permalink Reply by May Tove Stensrud-Svendsen on February 18, 2010 at 10:04pm

As you see, the dark area around the bird must be lightened, and keep the wing that moves in the background.

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Permalink Reply by May Tove Stensrud-Svendsen on April 10, 2010 at 9:15am

I understand that you want to take a new pic. And, well, to handle the camera and understand how to use it in different situations, that is very good.

In winther saeasons I learn a lot Photoshop, playing with it, since I am much more at home then. Then I change pics that I have not been so successfull with, and train editing...... When I learn a new tool, I use it in a lot of pics to see how it works in different situations...and remeber the tool and prosess because of the training... it can be boring sometimes, but when I really need it, and it is not easy to take the pic again, then I am happy I have trained...

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Permalink Reply by Al Latorre on February 18, 2010 at 2:10pm

noise is sometimes caused by a very high ISO number, when shooting in bright light, check your ISO...

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Permalink Reply by Gary N Helfrich on April 3, 2010 at 2:43pm

Julie:
When you say "What do I need to do to make it a better photo than it is". What exactly do you mean.
You took the photograph, you need to decide on what makes or brakes this photo, not someone else.
You want someone else to make this a better photo when he or she was not there to experience the moment.
I think your missing the whole point of photography. Photography is making a picture the way you saw it or the
way you want to represent it. Not the way someone else THINKS it should be.
My advice is to learn PS if you want to fix a photo, but if you have to use PS to make it better, then you
did not do your job with the camera.
Gary

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Permalink Reply by finner321 on April 10, 2010 at 8:34am

I would suggest next time, shoot at a faster shutter speed and crop a bit less. Also, I always run noiseware first, then start editing so the pixelation isn't made worse by editing. Keep your iso to 400 or less.

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