Blue Jay

[Battou]

Taken (Handheld) with Vivitar 400mm on Canon EF, ASA 800

Bigger here

 

[Flower Child]

The photo's contents are really amazing. The color of the sky and tree + the bright blue bird is gorgeous. Don't think I've ever seen that before. The only thing that bothers me, and it bothers me alot, is the GRAIN. And lots of it. I'm guessing you might have sharpened it or put a unsharp mask on it which added to the grain. The good thing is that it is only in the background and that is fixable. Instead of using a grain reducing program, I just take it into gimp or photoshop (I use gimp) and take the blur brush and put it on max blur and go over the background over and over until it is gone, or alot less noticable. If it is still bad, I get the smudge tool out and put it on the minimum setting and go over it more.

 

[Battou]

Thanks, but no, the grain is not fixable, Film grain is a part of my photography. That is 800 speed film, that was everything I could do in CS3 to minimize it that much so I could USM the photo. Additionally I perfer people to see grain and know it's film as opposed to trying to make the photo something it is not with the overly smooth digital look.

 

[Battou]

nothing more?

 

[Amanda Scott]

This is a beautiful shot. The colors are breathtaking. Great job! And I appreciate the grain and film photography in general. My best friend is a film photographer, while I shoot digital, and it is interesting to see the contrast between our photos.

 

[Battou]

Thanks