Red-bellied woodpecker—high ISO question

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Linda D.

Linda D.

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A female red-bellied woodpecker roosts in one of our trees. She emerges early each morning and I've been trying to get pictures of her climbing the tree to fly off. My images invariably suffer from high ISO. Here's the picture out of camera (slightly cropped) and the post-processing version (Topaz DeNoise). Are there things I should be doing differently to improve my results and lower the ISO? Settings: 1/1000 s, f/11, ISO 12,800 (auto ISO). D500, 300mm f/4 PF, TC 1.4 III. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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Certainly a very nice photo as is after the PP. This is probably the bird I see most when hiking in my area. Note that I'm clearly an amateur but I believe you need to provide some more light. Unless you need the 1/1000 shutter speed to compensate for handholding, that could come down a bit. And the f-stop could also come down as well, perhaps starting with f8 and then even wider if possible. That should give you a more pleasing background. As you probably know, placing the camera on a tripod, if possible, will also allow for a lower shutter speed. Pretty basic advice so I look forward to seeing the feedback from the experts.
 
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Geezer said:
Certainly a very nice photo as is after the PP. This is probably the bird I see most when hiking in my area. Note that I'm clearly an amateur but I believe you need to provide some more light. Unless you need the 1/1000 shutter speed to compensate for handholding, that could come down a bit. And the f-stop could also come down as well, perhaps starting with f8 and then even wider if possible. That should give you a more pleasing background. As you probably know, placing the camera on a tripod, if possible, will also allow for a lower shutter speed. Pretty basic advice so I look forward to seeing the feedback from the experts.
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Thanks, Geezer. I've got the camera on a tripod, but it's a crappy one and probably serves more to save my arms and shoulders than to stabilize the camera. Here's a picture I took with a much slower shutter speed and the aperture as wide open as it could go. It's about 15 minutes earlier, so slightly less light, but the ISO is still pretty high. Slight cropping, no other changes. 1/125 s, f/5.6, ISO 5600.
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Another nice photo. I can see you're going to have a lot of fun with that fellow as you nail down your technique. The ISO is certainly down, which is a good trend. To my eye the photo might be a bit overexposed. I grabbed it and darkened it a bit and I like it better. That's something that you'll have to think about. For both photos you've got some tricky lighting. Half is perhaps middle-toned against a white background so the meter setting (matrix, center-weighted, spot) are important here. If you're happy with the exposure then all is well. If not you will want to perhaps meter more exclusively on the bird/tree. This is a fairly challenging subject and will offer good practice on lighting and composition.
 
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The first image appears to have been just a bit under exposed. A larger aperture would have helped that. An aperture like 5.6-6.3 would most likely have given you all the DOF you needed and at the same time allowed a drop in ISO. It might also have been possible to lower the SS a bit as well to further lower the ISO. I find low shutter speeds with bird photos can be pretty dicey though. In the second image you sure got the ISO down a lot but, based on the over exposed appearance, the ISO could have been even lower. I do a fair amount of bird photos but in the interest of total transparency I will tell you that Nat Geo hasn't been trying to get in touch with me!
 
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Geezer said:
Another nice photo. I can see you're going to have a lot of fun with that fellow as you nail down your technique. The ISO is certainly down, which is a good trend. To my eye the photo might be a bit overexposed. I grabbed it and darkened it a bit and I like it better. That's something that you'll have to think about. For both photos you've got some tricky lighting. Half is perhaps middle-toned against a white background so the meter setting (matrix, center-weighted, spot) are important here. If you're happy with the exposure then all is well. If not you will want to perhaps meter more exclusively on the bird/tree. This is a fairly challenging subject and will offer good practice on lighting and composition.
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Agreed! I've been appreciating the daily opportunities to practice. A white-breasted nuthatch has taken up nightly residence in the other hole in this tree, but that bird gets up considerably earlier and launches from the hole, so my photo ops are quite limited. Besides, I don't want to spook it into finding another hole. (1/250 s, f/4.0, ISO 11400, 300 mm, PP)
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DripDryMcFleye said:
The first image appears to have been just a bit under exposed. A larger aperture would have helped that. An aperture like 5.6-6.3 would most likely have given you all the DOF you needed and at the same time allowed a drop in ISO. It might also have been possible to lower the SS a bit as well to further lower the ISO. I find low shutter speeds with bird photos can be pretty dicey though. In the second image you sure got the ISO down a lot but, based on the over exposed appearance, the ISO could have been even lower. I do a fair amount of bird photos but in the interest of total transparency I will tell you that Nat Geo hasn't been trying to get in touch with me!
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Thanks for the feedback. I agree about dicey results with low shutter speeds. Even though it doesn't appear active in the shot, it's hopping up the tree before taking flight (always too high up and away). I'll play with the metering more and try opening up the aperture.

Loved your disclaimer!
 
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Agreed! I've been appreciating the daily opportunities to practice. A white-breasted nuthatch has taken up nightly residence in the other hole in this tree, but that bird gets up considerably earlier and launches from the hole, so my photo ops are quite limited. Besides, I don't want to spook it into finding another hole. (1/250 s, f/4.0, ISO 11400, 300 mm, PP)
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I really like this one too. Something about peeking out of the hole that's special. The background isn't bad. You may want to try to crop a bit to remove some of the background area on the right. The exposure looks great to my eye. You're definitely homing in on that setting. I think you're on your way towards some very nice nature photos - in your own backyard.
 
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Geezer said:
Certainly a very nice photo as is after the PP. This is probably the bird I see most when hiking in my area. Note that I'm clearly an amateur but I believe you need to provide some more light. Unless you need the 1/1000 shutter speed to compensate for handholding, that could come down a bit. And the f-stop could also come down as well, perhaps starting with f8 and then even wider if possible. That should give you a more pleasing background. As you probably know, placing the camera on a tripod, if possible, will also allow for a lower shutter speed. Pretty basic advice so I look forward to seeing the feedback from the experts.
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I shoot them all the time and have no problem using F5.6. I also agree that the shutter speed can come down as well. Try to get them as they stop. They usually hop and stop. Fire a small burst anticipating when he or she will stop.
 
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@Geezer and @Ralph Bruno, thanks for your suggestions yesterday. I think today's pictures are an improvement over what I'd been doing. Changes: matrix metering rather than spot; settings 1/800 s, f/5.6, ISO 12800–18000. These have all been through DeNoise and PP. (Today's pictures were taken through a window; yesterday I was outside.)
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Very nice shots Linda. They are sharp and the lighting is excellent in my view. I can't help notice that the ISO is still quite high. You could drop the shutter speed somewhat I guess but I'm just wondering what camera and lens you're using. Seems to me it doesn't make sense to mess with settings the camera/lens can't handle.
 
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Very nice! A significant upgrade from the first set. It has certainly been my experience that the really, really good wildlife/bird shots are pretty hard to come by. Time, skill and luck all play a BIG part in it. So often you just have to make the best of what opportunity you're presented with. I'd say your headed in the right direction.
 
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Thank you all. I completely agree about that other important triangle—time, skill, and luck. Which is why I continue to put in the time photographing the same red-bellied woodpecker emerging from the same hole. (Although some days I do plead with her to come out already.)

I agree, @Geezer, the ISO still seems high. I'll give the slower shutter speed a try to see if I'm sacrificing sharpness in pursuit of lower ISO. BTW, I'm using a D500, 300mm f/4 PF, TC 1.4 III. (Yay bird for being so predictable that I can try different settings.)
 
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Linda D. said:
@Geezer and @Ralph Bruno, thanks for your suggestions yesterday. I think today's pictures are an improvement over what I'd been doing. Changes: matrix metering rather than spot; settings 1/800 s, f/5.6, ISO 12800–18000. These have all been through DeNoise and PP. (Today's pictures were taken through a window; yesterday I was outside.)
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Excellent Shots Linda! I like the composition. I agree with Geezer that you could try to get the iso a little lower. But overall👍👍👍👍
 
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I think they are all A+.

You only have control of the shutter speed (which needs to be high to get detail), Aperture to maintain the nice blurred background, then you are stuck with what the ISO needs to be. Lucky for you (us) the camera can shoot it, and the post-processing can remove the noise and you have a great image!

I have a bad habit of bringing down my shutter speed and then complaining that I lost detail, so I'm not sure that is a good plan.

Back in the "good old film days" you never would have that shot!
 
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Thanks for your kind words, @Andrew Lamberson! You're so right about my never getting any of those shots in days of yore. I would have stuck to plants…and thrown out most of them for poor exposure or sheer boredom. What a gift to be able to practice with no penalty beyond running out of space on one's hard drive.
 
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A number of people (including Steve) have mentioned that you can probably fix an underexposed image. But there is not much you can do with an overexposed image, especially if you blow out the white. (I think that is what they said!)

I have been taking pictures of Trumpeter Swans and I have been overexposing the wings. The body is fine, the background is great. The big pure white wings....well not so much!

I have watched Steve's video on Exposure Compensation a couple of times, but I need to watch it AGAIN! I get it when I'm watching, but I sure don't seem to get it out in the field!!! To complicate things, I now have white Trumpeter Swans flying against a snowy background and sitting on pond ice!! Taking good pictures in Minnesota in the winter is a challenge!

Your Red-Bellied Woodpeckers are a good example of NOT blowing out the whites!
 
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It's amazing how well they turned out with those settings. The D500 is not known for it's high iso performance. The settings I would have used on that shot would be something like 1/640 or 1/800, 6.3 or 7.1, and auto ISO capped at 2000. In my opinion, there is no need for f11 on a shot like that. The only time I use an aperture that small is for landscape shots or in extreme cases where I need more depth of field. I would recommend you try exploring different settings and comparing the results. BTW, a higher shutter speed does not give you more detail. And yes, get used to using exposure compensation. Good luck.
 
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Linda D. said:
A female red-bellied woodpecker roosts in one of our trees. She emerges early each morning and I've been trying to get pictures of her climbing the tree to fly off. My images invariably suffer from high ISO. Here's the picture out of camera (slightly cropped) and the post-processing version (Topaz DeNoise). Are there things I should be doing differently to improve my results and lower the ISO? Settings: 1/1000 s, f/11, ISO 12,800 (auto ISO). D500, 300mm f/4 PF, TC 1.4 III. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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Linda, I hope this helps you. Normally what I do with lenses is tune them up with a card. Obtain the largest aperture that gives you a sharpness that you're happy with. Then I use that aperture most of the time. When I am in the field I start with a shutter speed for the bird movement situation and obtain a decent image. (Always using auto ISO). Then I will decrease the speed of the shutter as I am taking it further images. As I lower the shutter speed I have a chance to lower the ISO and reduce noise.


Daniel Zdonczyk
Photo-sapiens.net
 
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