Beginner Buckfastleigh Otter Sanctuary

[JBHphoto]

Had a nice trip to the Otter Sanctuary and Butterfly Farm when visiting some friends this weekend. There wasn't much in the way of butterflies as it's not the season but the otters were quite playful and the turtles were lounging about. The light was very dingy so I seem to be struggling with lots of noise and even then I was using much longer shutter speeds than I wanted for the otters. I've tried my best to manage this in Photoshop but with limited success. I took many more photos but a lot were no good for what I'd imagine are fairly typical reasons (blurry, cluttered background, exposure not right, etc etc).

Any feedback on what I can do better in either shooting or post-processing would be very much appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to read this .

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[Cobra]

First off, I've edited the images to full size, rather thumbnails for a better view

In an effort to get the close ups,
it looks to me as though you may have been "inside" the minimum focal distance of your lens,
due to the softness in general.
Certainly the case with #1.

Also they are under exposed, when you try and lift the highlights
it goes very grainy, as you have noted.
#2 isn't quite so bad, with a little gentle tweaking with levels, it can be bought back some.

#3 you can "lose" some of the noise, by darkening the background
either with "levels" or shadows / highlights.


The Turtle is better, better exposed, but could possibly do with a little more sharpen.
You seem to have realised the problems that you were having, so really, try and get more light on the
subject, (With a higher iso / wider aperture if possible ) and step back a little or at least don't zoom in so tight.
Not a bad try in those conditions though



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[JBHphoto]

Thanks Cobra, I really appreciate the guidance, and especially for taking so much time to help me. What you've done to those looks great, in particular #3.

Is there a way of finding out if I'm inside my minimum focal distance for a given zoom position given that it's a superzoom bridge camera? Does the minimum focal distance change? I seem to remember being a few metres away for the close up shots but zoomed most if not all of the way in. Thanks again!

 

[new2me]

Is there a way of finding out if I'm inside my minimum focal distance for a given zoom position given that it's a superzoom bridge camera? Does the minimum focal distance change?

You don't have to be in a good photography situation to work these things out you know Put a can of beans on a work top in the kitchen and test it for yourself, although I would have thought the info was provided with the camera (or online). What camera is it?
I asked the same a good while ago and was told the minimum distance is the same through out the focal range

 

[JBHphoto]

I will do the focal test when I get home tonight, seems worthwhile doing.

I have a Canon Powershot SX10IS, and on their official specifications they just say minimum focus distance is 0cm from the lens in super macro mode. Not helpful! Quick Googling tells me that the minimum focus distance doesn't change with zoom for changing lenses on an SLR so you've been told correctly. I haven't looked into the optical arrangement of superzoom cameras and whether this transfers. I guess that's some homework for my break today! Thanks

 

[new2me]

another quick google suggests

0 - 19.7inches

with macro mode being 10cm

 

[Cobra]

Thanks Cobra, I really appreciate the guidance, and especially for taking so much time to help me. What you've done to those looks great, in particular #3.
Is there a way of finding out if I'm inside my minimum focal distance for a given zoom position given that it's a superzoom bridge camera? Does the minimum focal distance change? I seem to remember being a few metres away for the close up shots but zoomed most if not all of the way in. Thanks again!

No Problem, I hope that it was of some help.
Sorry though, I didn't realise that you were using "bridge camera"
Its just that some of the effects you seem to be getting are similar, with a DSLR
Most of the lenses (Save Macro) are at least 1 meter minimum focal distance from the subject,
but can be manual focused to over ride the focus lock not functioning.
Hence "being inside"

Image quality, that is all lenses, may "suffer" a little, be that fixed or "removable"
at "full stretch" So this may actually be what's happening, if you are shooting at the very long end.

As Neil (New2me) said, try some test shots of something static.
If you are interested in animal shots, practice on the cat or dog, if you have one,
or even a friendly neighbours, as fur will give a different effect than a tin of beans etc.

 

[JBHphoto]

You don't have to be in a good photography situation to work these things out you know Put a can of beans on a work top in the kitchen and test it for yourself, although I would have thought the info was provided with the camera (or online). What camera is it?
I asked the same a good while ago and was told the minimum distance is the same through out the focal range

So I did a highly unscientific test with my choice of subject being peanut butter... With my bridge camera it seems that there is a change in minimum focus distance (MFD) with zoom. It strongly depends on the camera's focussing anyway and on light conditions I'd imagine. However these should have been fairly constant. With the focal length at 5 mm (EFL = 28 mm) the MFD was around 12 cm. This changed very little at first, but MFD rapidly increased from around 24.1 mm (EFL = 135 mm). MFD seemed to top out around 90 cm-ish for long focal lengths (EFL = 300-560 mm).

That was quite interesting to find out, but it seems it certainly wasn't what caused the softness in my images since I was at least a few metres away from the otters.

Image quality, that is all lenses, may "suffer" a little, be that fixed or "removable"
at "full stretch" So this may actually be what's happening, if you are shooting at the very long end.

I think this seems more likely. I am really glad that I have the opportunity to learn about this kind of thing thanks to this forum! I will try to work around this artefact of the camera in future and hopefully will end up with some nice sharp shots Thanks both again!

 

[Cobra]

I think this seems more likely. I am really glad that I have the opportunity to learn about this kind of thing thanks to this forum! I will try to work around this artefact of the camera in future and hopefully will end up with some nice sharp shots Thanks both again!

I'm glad you have managed to remove some of the issues from the equation, with a test
It does sound likely as you say, that its at full stretch. That the problems start to occur.

Without getting too hung up on technicals, a digital zoom is actually a tight crop,
That occurs in camera.
And you may also get some pixalation in the image too. (at full stretch)
This all adds to "soften" the image.

Jpeg files are "lossy files" that is every time you open them the computer throws away a little of the info,
and fills in with what it thinks should be there.

And a tight crop will always start to get noisy and pixalate.
Whether that's with a DLSR and
Photoshop, or in camera, with the digital zoom.

Basically what I am saying is, try not to shoot right at the long end,
and try and adjust your setting to allow more light,
if you have to up the ISO, to do this, over expose slightly, (1/4 maybe or even 1/2 a stop)
it will reduce the noise when you process the image.

If you under expose, when you you try and brighten the image you will get a lot
of noise. But a lot less if you try and darken the image.

I hope that makes sense?

Just practice and have fun doing it

 

[JBHphoto]

Seems to be a long-standing problem: there's just not enough light!

 

[Nod]

Should resolve itself in a few months!