Horse doing horse things

[runnah]

After taking this picture I realized how awful my camera is with low light high ISO.


horse by runnah555, on Flickr

 

[Overread]

1/50sec at 300mm is likely having a bigger softening effect than the ISO, unless you were shooting on a tripod (and even then the horses motions will be a little blurred). I'd have pushed the ISO higher to get a faster shutter speed ideally, that would help a lot in countering general blur.

 

[ronlane]

Runnah, I don't really mind the noise on this one, but if I may offer a suggestion for this one. Why not crop the grass at the bottom to give it a pano look.

 

[runnah]

1/50sec at 300mm is likely having a bigger softening effect than the ISO, unless you were shooting on a tripod (and even then the horses motions will be a little blurred). I'd have pushed the ISO higher to get a faster shutter speed ideally, that would help a lot in countering general blur.

Yeah shutter speed was way too low. Anything about 1250 ISO is just terrible on my camera. I was trying to find a happy medium.

 

[runnah]

Runnah, I don't really mind the noise on this one, but if I may offer a suggestion for this one. Why not crop the grass at the bottom to give it a pano look.

Like so?


horse2 by runnah555, on Flickr

 

[amolitor]

The greens are crazy, I like 'em. Was it Fuji film that used to look like this?

In general, I like this. It's simple and straightforward, it's not trying to be great art. It's a horse, and a beautiful horse at that, in a beautiful setting. It's a little soft. Who cares? Sharpness is overrated.

 

[amolitor]

The pano looks like a Marlboro ad. Now I wanna smoke. Damn you.

 

[ronlane]

Yes something like that. I didn't know you had all that detail behind the horse in the first picture. :salute:

 

[Overread]

Aye I know the feeling - however I've recently decided that one of the most important things with photography is to not be afraid of the ISO. In general once the aperture is as wide as you can go (keeping depth of field in mind of course) and the shutter speed isn't fast enough then its just best to raise the ISO without any worry. Yes the noise will be stronger, but its something one can deal with as opposed to blur.

A happy medium is ideal ,but so many times its just not an option. Also I try to stick to full ISO values as opposed to the in-between ones (there is some debate that inbetween full stop ISOs are not true ISOs but where the camera under/over exposes and then adjust the brightness to compensate - assuming it also comes with some noise reduction).

 

[runnah]

The greens are crazy, I like 'em. Was it Fuji film that used to look like this?

In general, I like this. It's simple and straightforward, it's not trying to be great art. It's a horse, and a beautiful horse at that, in a beautiful setting. It's a little soft. Who cares? Sharpness is overrated.

I think you are right, Fuji had great greens and blues.

Thanks. I wasn't trying to be the 20th most expensive photo sold.

 

[JacaRanda]

Aye I know the feeling - however I've recently decided that one of the most important things with photography is to not be afraid of the ISO. In general once the aperture is as wide as you can go (keeping depth of field in mind of course) and the shutter speed isn't fast enough then its just best to raise the ISO without any worry. Yes the noise will be stronger, but its something one can deal with as opposed to blur.

A happy medium is ideal ,but so many times its just not an option. Also I try to stick to full ISO values as opposed to the in-between ones (there is some debate that inbetween full stop ISOs are not true ISOs but where the camera under/over exposes and then adjust the brightness to compensate - assuming it also comes with some noise reduction).

Very interesting in regards to the ISO's. Hmmmm.

 

[Derrel]

Shutter speed has nothing to do with the issue...the image is perfectly sharp and steady...just look at it full-sized on Flickr...the dandelions in the pasture are rendered sharply, and in-focus...the horse's tail is sharp...the image is breaking up not because of shutter speed issues, but the sensor performance simply sucks.

 

[Stevepwns]

Would this actually be grain and not noise? Ive been reading about how the two are confused in low light situation when distance is in the equation.

 

[runnah]

but the sensor performance simply sucks.

This is really the root of the issue. The D300 is really starting to show it's age in this respect. It is still very good in bright light situations, but the low light just kills it.

 

[Overread]

Ahh it just looked a touch soft overall which with the focal length and shutter speed made sense to me as handshake blur rendering it quite even - though it could indeed be the sensor performance and resolution of lens+sensor.