ISO 800, no flash, concert shot

This pic was, as you might imagine, dreadfully noisy. Even Neat Image couldn't begin to fix it.

So . . . in CS RAW, I increase shadows, lowered the contrast . . . then gave it a gaussian blur to soften it, and darkened everyone except the subject. Not exactly an accurate shot, but the end result is pleasing.

http://www.pbase.com/image/24551602/medium

Actually, I like this better . . .

http://www.pbase.com/image/24553152

Bruce, Well done! I am a staunch defender of the usability of 800 if one is careful and knows what to do, exposurewise. You validate my own experiences. Regards, Jim

Bruce Jones said:

Actually, I like this better . . .

http://www.pbase.com/image/24553152

Click to expand...

--
Jim N'AZ

That's a nice shot. I'm not sure I don't like the first one better even thogh the second one is probably more accurate.

Bruce Jones said:

This pic was, as you might imagine, dreadfully noisy. Even Neat
Image couldn't begin to fix it.

So . . . in CS RAW, I increase shadows, lowered the contrast . . .
then gave it a gaussian blur to soften it, and darkened everyone
except the subject. Not exactly an accurate shot, but the end
result is pleasing.

http://www.pbase.com/image/24551602/medium

Click to expand...

Well done Bruce. I like the way you isolated the lady (your daughter?) flutist from the rest of the band.

BTW, I like your A1 night pictures as well.

Thanks for sharing.

José

Bruce Jones said:

Actually, I like this better . . .

http://www.pbase.com/image/24553152

Click to expand...

--
Come and visit me at:
http://www.pbase.com/jmb_56

Bruce,

Could you load the file straight from the camera so we could see what you were working with. I would like to see how much noise there was. Great job!
Steve Sheppard

Bruce Jones said:

This pic was, as you might imagine, dreadfully noisy. Even Neat
Image couldn't begin to fix it.

So . . . in CS RAW, I increase shadows, lowered the contrast . . .
then gave it a gaussian blur to soften it, and darkened everyone
except the subject. Not exactly an accurate shot, but the end
result is pleasing.

http://www.pbase.com/image/24551602/medium

Click to expand...

This is what the RAW file looked like when I first pulled it up.

http://www.pbase.com/image/24561046/medium

PS CS RAW plugin can kill some of the noise, but by no means all of it. Neat Image can do better, but I've still got a evaluation copy and don't know that much about it (just started taking pictures and working with PS a few weeks ago . . . talk about a learning curve, sheesh). I'm sure someone with more Neat Image experience can do a great job with it.

I was actually close enough at the concert that I could have used a flash to some effect, but I would have annoyed everyone for sure. The hall was quite dark, but I couldn't use too slow of a shutter speed for obvious reasons. If I had known what I was trying to do, I probably wouldn't have bothered to bring the camera!

Anyway, most of the fixing I did was in the photoshop RAW plugin. Though I don't know too much about photography (from what I hear on this forum) and from my limited experience, RAW is the best. The files are big, but even when I have the drive set to continuous, I can put 5 of them in the buffer, vs. 3 JPEGS.

Steve Sheppard said:

Bruce Jones said:

This pic was, as you might imagine, dreadfully noisy. Even Neat
Image couldn't begin to fix it.

So . . . in CS RAW, I increase shadows, lowered the contrast . . .
then gave it a gaussian blur to soften it, and darkened everyone
except the subject. Not exactly an accurate shot, but the end
result is pleasing.

http://www.pbase.com/image/24551602/medium

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Sheesh, that's a big diff. Sorry about the confusion

Bruce Jones said:

This pic was, as you might imagine, dreadfully noisy. Even Neat
Image couldn't begin to fix it.

So . . . in CS RAW, I increase shadows, lowered the contrast . . .
then gave it a gaussian blur to soften it, and darkened everyone
except the subject. Not exactly an accurate shot, but the end
result is pleasing.

http://www.pbase.com/image/24551602/medium

Click to expand...

I played with Noise Ninja a bit, letting it build a profile for the image since the default A1 ISO 400 profile seemed ineffective. I boosted up the filtering which gave it a slight plastic look. I brushed some detail back into the hair. Unfortunately, the blue channel remains noisy...

Filtered:



Original:

jscher2000 said:

I played with Noise Ninja a bit, letting it build a profile for the
image since the default A1 ISO 400 profile seemed ineffective. I
boosted up the filtering which gave it a slight plastic look. I
brushed some detail back into the hair. Unfortunately, the blue
channel remains noisy...

Filtered:



Original:

Click to expand...

What a fantastic reslut!!! Well done...
Simon(UK)