Today's Snowy Egret

[Barbara Ponder]

Possibly a bit noisy again CC welcomed and appreciated.

[IzzieK]

Yes...they are a bit noisy but your whites are really whites. I like the way you shot these...

[Barbara Ponder]

Thanks Izzie, I am hoping practice will make perfect.

[Shadowman]

Just a tad noisy in the background, a Gaussian blur could fix that.

[Barbara Ponder]

John, what is that?

[NorthernFocus]

OK, now I have to whine a little. Everything white where I live melts if it gets above 32 degrees...

IMO the last shot would be the best of the lot if cropped like the second one. I like the comp on the second but that slight twist of the head makes a world of difference on the third. A straight profile on birds is rarely optimal.

[cuilin]

they are a bit noisy, but i don't find it as distracting as before. see if aperture has a noise removal tool. wonderful tones and poses. the last two are very similar, see if (in the future) you can't wheedle that down to just pick one out of two or more that are very similar. it will help you figure out which little details work better for an image and which ones don't. it's ok to post them here to see what everyone says, but in your mind you'll know which one you prefer and why. i love the whispy details in the feathers in all of the shots.

[Barbara Ponder]

Dan and Beth thanks for the suggestions I will try them. Dan I have no idea why these birds are called snowy egrets, other than their white feathers but I am sure during our summer they feel like they are melting. Our summers are sooooooo hot.

[NorthernFocus]

....Our summers are sooooooo hot.

I moved to Alaska from Seabrook. Worked in Baytown and drove through Pasadena/La Porte every day to/from work for eight years. I guess I traded the snowy for the egrets...

[Barbara Ponder]

Dan, you are a lucky man! I was in Alaska 2 years ago during the summer and loved it. Nice and cool. Did you move for work?

[NorthernFocus]

I did not get transferred if that is what you mean. I wanted to move to AK so found a job up here then quit job down there and moved. Left Houston Laborday weekend, 2000. The day we left was the tenth day in a row over 100 degrees. First morning in Fairbanks we had frost on the ground. We bought down coats in transit. Dogs had to grow more fur

[DouglasRC]

I like the first one best - very nice feather detail. In these situations I reduce the noise pretty well everywhere but on the bird (I use Lightroom 5.7 and select a brush for noise reduction at 100%). A global reduction in noise would reduce the sharpness of the subject, so I just paint around it. Good work!

[Barbara Ponder]

Thank Douglas, I use Aperture software and have found their noise brush almost useless. I hope to learn either LR or PS soon but it seems so overwhelming

[Barbara Ponder]

This is after noise brush at FULL on all but bird as you suggested Douglas. Does it make a difference?

[NorthernFocus]

Barbara, I have no idea what functions Aperture has, but in addition to denoising, if you have the ability to use selective sharpening, that dramatically helps keep noise down. General sharpening of an image will really make any noise prominent.

[IzzieK]

Thank Douglas, I use Aperture software and have found their noise brush almost useless. I hope to learn either LR or PS soon but it seems so overwhelming

The way I learned Photoshop in the old days was via text instructions from the net. When I want to achieve something related to what I want to do, I google the topic (yes, I've been with google like forever...), then copy that instructions on a word processor and follow it step by step, the instructions on one monitor and my Photoshop right in front of me. Recently, because of KimC, I graduated to video instructions because I found a video capture that last the whole length of any video I wanted to learn from called SnagiT. Learning curve in Photoshop isn't as hard as me learning how to operate an iphone...which I really hate... (I think my brain' wiring got twisted along the way...)

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Barbara,

Noise is a recurring issue for you across most of the threads you are posting.
First off, let me say that I am genuinely impressed at the progress you are making, you certainly do have the artistic eye and good kit.

You have one of the very latest cameras, it should not be showing this much noise, which suggests sub-optimal post processing techniques, I'm afraid. I appreciate you already know that PP is not your strong suit and that Aperture is not as 'fully featured' as say, PS, so I hope I can help with the following advice, although since I have no Aperture experience, I hope I don't make things more confusing with terminology you cannot find - perhaps other Aperture users can help 'translate'?

So, regarding the noise - if the images are only, or mainly, for web display; I believe you are "missing a trick" which could help reduce the noise we see in your pictures.

I don't know how you process your images in Aperture, but I strongly suspect:
a) you may be sharpening your images (please advise if so and what settings you're using)
b) you are uploading your images to TinyPic at full resolution
c) TinyPic is doing what it does; anything larger than 1600 pixels on either height or width is downsized to 1599 pixels on the longest edge
d) Many of your images are portrait orientation
e) Most people's monitors are 1050 or 1080 pixels in height, some much less, so they have a choice when viewing your image in Lytebox;

i) see the whole composition, but not as sharp as it could be (because their browser is downsizing it)
ii) see it at 100% (aka Full Size), which will make it sharper, but also show more noise, plus they have to scroll it up and down

My point is that it is wasteful uploading such large images, especially since downsizing will reduce noise, so it is win-win.

Step-by-step "How to":
1) Shoot RAW
2) Do not apply any initial sharpening when importing to Aperture
3) Process your image for rotation, crop, exposure, white balance, etc. as normal
4) Downsize the image to be no more than 900 pixels tall (height), you can go up to 1600 pixels wide
5) Now sharpen, using UnSharp Mask (USM) if possible, using the following settings; Amount 100%, Radius 0.3px (if possible), Threshold 1 or 2.
6) Save with a different file name to the full size image (e.g. that at step 3)
7) Upload to TinyPic

You might want to Save the processed full size (unsharpened) image before you start step 4), then if you need to print, you can do it from this version, just remember you'll need to sharpen it before printing.

Some of the "Why"s refer each of these to the step numbers above for context, I didn't repeat to keep it concise
1) If you must shoot jpg, look in the camera's menu and turn down the sharpening being applied to minimum*
2) If you sharpen at full resolution, you will sharpen the pixel noise, making it far more visible
3) Do not sharpen yet
4) So it easily fits on people's monitors in Lytebox at 100%
4a) The act of downsizing will average out a lot of the noise
4B) Do not use physical dimensions like inches or cm, set units to pixels
5) There is some leeway on these settings
6) You don't want to 'lose' the original image accidentally by overwriting this smaller version
7) So we can see how you get on

* if you are shooting jpg, having the in camera sharpening set too high could be the cause of a lot of your problems, especially if you crop the image a lot and/or need to increase exposure in Aperture

I hope you'll see that it all comes together to produce a better end result and is worth doing.

Anyway, I hope that helps, do ask for clarification if need be.

There are separate noise reduction software options available, but I'd rather not go there without ensuring your basic order of processing an image is 'best practice' first.

All the best, Dave

[Barbara Ponder]

Dave you are so sweet to give me such awesome information and so detailed! I send you a virtual hug!!!! I have printed it out and will follow it step by step. Thank you again for all your help!!!!

[Barbara Ponder]

Izzie, I would have never thought to do it that way, thanks so much!!!

[Brownbear]

Hi Barbara,

Just to say I think you've a natural talent for photographing birds, and a wonderful eye for compositions, and always with beautiful backgrounds. Gorgeous colours and whites! I've been swamped with life so I haven't commented until now.

My favourite here is the first one (ideally with a little more space to look into) and the third.

Just FYI Lightroom is an easy program to learn, no reason to be intimidated by it... (based on my learning to post process experience) I also photograph a lot of birds over water or set against the sky, and sharpen just the bird, and de-noise just the water or sky when needed.