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I'm a great admirer of Markus Varesvuo, as he has a passion for flight & action
photography. The results of his efforts are simply amazing...it's where, one
day, I hope to be as a bird photographer.
While visiting his
website, which he shares with some other equally brilliant bird photographers
(see their website link at the end of this article), I
noticed that Markus was shooting at extremely high ISO levels (upto ISO 800 on
some images), which gave great shutter speed, & narrow apertures for a
wide depth of field.
SO, WHERE'S THE
NOISE? His images were unbelievably clean!
I emailed him (I had no
option), & to my great delight, he responded so quickly AND told me to check out
NEAT IMAGE software.
Before expanding on this
brilliant software, let my images below do the talking!!
My cropped original,
sharpened & adjusted...looks okay? Not when you get a little closer in!
Hmmm...Nasty! pre Neat
Image, a sad reality looking straight at me every time (I have to shoot high ISO
levels many times because of my flight shot addiction & the need for
shutter speed!). THEN, let this wicked
software do it's business, as below:
CRIKEY!..BLIMEY! ENOUGH
SAID!!
Many bird photographers
will not be interested in flight or action photography & will therefore be
shooting ISO 100, 200 or even 320 with no noise issues, but still, as darker
light encourages low noise levels, even portrait photos can benefit from a Neat
Image make-over.
Okay, I thought, so
what's it going to cost me (I've spent SO much money on gear, yet another slice
into my massive bank overdraft)....NOTHING, yes, NOTHING**!!
You can download a free
version (limited tools though) on the web.
Simply type in NEAT IMAGE
into a search engine like GOOGLE & download it free. The download comes with a
'quick start' page..use it & don't worry about the other features when using the
program.
I only use Neat Image to
clean my images, all other image processing is via my RAW & JPEG programs.
It's not always perfect,
some images get glazed and softened. This happens when the program cannot get a
good PROFILE (techno talk...ignore!).
Best results are when you
don't try to clean a massively cropped image.
Hoping this tip is
helpful, email me if you need more info.
Richard - 8th
February 2007
Essential Link - Markus'
website...Check it
out, & do make sure you're sitting down first.
http://www.birdphoto.fi
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