Rose thorns, an experiment

[Rick58]

View attachment 36415
I've been experimenting with my D200 to detrimine
the cause of the noise and pixilation I've been getting.
I'm now convinced it was caused by correcting under exposure.

This is a partical frame from my Nikkor that has given me soft results
in the past. I realize there are sharper lenses around, but for a 40 year old
film lens, I'll take it.

55mm AIs Macro Nikkor
1/25 sec
ISO 125
f5.6

Now the problem I have is how to work around it. The old house was a perfect example.
Not wanting to blow out my highlights, I exposed for the brightest siding which
under exposed everything else.
I bought the shadows up in post, but in doing so, the shot was ruined.

 

[Rick58]

:waiting:Well, I guess I didn't really end this post with a question
:scratch:Lets see....how about...
:mrgreen:?

 

[KenC]

Bringing up shadow detail can increase noise, although that's unavoidable sometimes, as you've described. However, I didn't find the noise that objectionable in the house shot you posted earlier, but the softness bothered me much more than the noise. Why is this one so much sharper? (see, I did end with a ?)

 

[Mully]

Rick nice shot ...the softness seems to be falloff from the DOF at the top of the stem.....I like a tighter crop



LOL now it is only 64kb

 

[Rick58]

Bringing up shadow detail can increase noise, although that's unavoidable sometimes, as you've described. However, I didn't find the noise that objectionable in the house shot you posted earlier, but the softness bothered me much more than the noise. Why is this one so much sharper? (see, I did end with a ?)

Thanks Ken, nice question mark
I have NO idea why. I used that same macro lens before and the shots were always disappointing for that lens. The house was shot with the 18-70 kit lens at f16, I believe, and 1/800, so DOF and motion should not have been a factor. I was focused about 1/3 of the way down the front of the house. Nothing there should have produced the soft focus

What surprised me was the test I did on the bottom of the house thread. I used ISO125 so a higher ISO noise wouldn't factor in.
Just slightly under exposing and correcting in post made a nasty noisy mess of things even at the lower ISO.

Maybe I just need to recognize the limitations of this 7 year old camera and learn to work within these limitations

Rick nice shot ...the softness seems to be falloff from the DOF at the top of the stem.....I like a tighter crop

View attachment 36505

LOL now it is only 64kb

Thanks Mully. Nice crop. I didn't really take this as serious photo. It's was more an artistic test