Mike D90's "Birds in Flight" Learning Thread
- Thread starter Mike D90
- Start date
Well, when I look at them at 100% while still in RAW format they pretty much looked like chit! Lots of grain and noise. Some of them cleaned up enough that I posted them here. Some were so bad they looked like they were shot on ISO 1600 film in low light.
I dunno, maybe I am just naive to what quality actually comes out of a camera. I just thought they should be better.
You haven't seen what I tossed away.
dramtastic
Senior Member
You haven't seen what I've tossed away. 
\
Fortunately where I work we are between several ponds and lakes. The birds are regular visitors daily all through the year.
I do a lot of birding with my D90. You may just be expecting a little much from the D90. While I absolutely love mine...it is not a camera for birding. Low light performance is meh when dealing with high ISO and high shutter speeds. You will almost need perfect conditions to get that perfect shot you want.
To get those amazingly crisp clean shots you will more than likely have to step up into the fast primes. Or get really close in bright light. I am not knocking our D90's....but it kinda is what it is with them. People and landscape they shine...wildlife.....adequate seems to come to mind.....
To get those amazingly crisp clean shots you will more than likely have to step up into the fast primes. Or get really close in bright light. I am not knocking our D90's....but it kinda is what it is with them. People and landscape they shine...wildlife.....adequate seems to come to mind.....
Mike, the shots you have posted here look really good to me. Yes there is some noise, but still great shots.
Have you tried using a slower shutter speed on some of your shots so as to lower the ISO ?
I use my 70-300 with quite low shutter speeds and still get some good shots, BIF shots will be a different story of course.
I have just looked through my birds shots with this lens, stationary birds I still got some good shots with shutter speeds as low as 1/160, with f5.6 and iso500 . I know at these low speeds I have to discard a lot of shots, but if I get a few keepers here and there I am happy. If the light is better I will use a faster shutter, but in low light the other option is higher iso and more noise.
Have you tried using a slower shutter speed on some of your shots so as to lower the ISO ?
I use my 70-300 with quite low shutter speeds and still get some good shots, BIF shots will be a different story of course.
I have just looked through my birds shots with this lens, stationary birds I still got some good shots with shutter speeds as low as 1/160, with f5.6 and iso500 . I know at these low speeds I have to discard a lot of shots, but if I get a few keepers here and there I am happy. If the light is better I will use a faster shutter, but in low light the other option is higher iso and more noise.
Scott Murray
Senior Member
These are very good and as has been said just a little PP and they will be better
and as has been said just a little PP and they will be better 
pictaker64
Senior Member
Well it looks to me that you are well on your way to better pics.those all look way better then anything I took when I started.Now it just becomes a matter of technique,when can you slow shutter speed.when to lower iso,raise aperture,you have some great shots there and are improving daily,dont be discouraged.
If the bird is still then, yes, I can certainly use a much lower shutter speed and have. If they are moving at all there will be some blur. Problem is I thought I had plenty of light. Maybe the seasonal sun being lower on the horizon is not as bright to the camera as it is to my eyes.
I actually did this time. On the shots I was taking with the bird against the bright blue sky I dialed in a couple stops, sometimes less, of +EV. I think that actually is evident in the shot of the buzzard where I managed to get detail of its under belly. Most of them the bird was just too dark underneath and I was unable to lift all the shadow.
On the Egret shots some of those I adjusted EV as well as I noticed before that some had blown highlights. So I dialed in a little +/- EV on some of those as well to see what happened.
Mine certainly doesn't like going below ISO 800 at all. What is it with the D90 that hates the higher ISO? It is a DX sensor but so are others that seem to do much better. Is it the lower megapixel? Maybe I need to try a faster prime lens. Wonder how much they are to rent?
I think the D90 was pretty standard in the ISO department for its day. It is or was one of Nikons best selling DX cameras of its day. But it's old technology compared to today's standards. A bit long in the tooth so to speak.
What makes the D90 compete though in its price range isn't just image quality though. For its price, it's the features that set it apart over the others in the 3xxx/5xxx range. Ease of use so to speak....better controls.
It's just the nature of the beast with our D90's.
What makes the D90 compete though in its price range isn't just image quality though. For its price, it's the features that set it apart over the others in the 3xxx/5xxx range. Ease of use so to speak....better controls.
It's just the nature of the beast with our D90's.
dramtastic
Senior Member
Your new lens is more than fine Mike. I learnt the basics of bird shooting with my $380 Sigma 'travel' lens and that was a 18-250mm F3.5-6.3. Seems in the end, the D90 might not be the sharpest tool in the shed for birds/BIF.
I do however think that your next investment should be in the computer/software department, not another camera/lens upgrade.
I do however think that your next investment should be in the computer/software department, not another camera/lens upgrade.
Yeah, I agree. I will either buy Lightroom or pay to use it in the cloud. I need a newer computer though.
I wonder, does running software in a cloud make it easier for us with older computers and not a lot of processing power?
Scott Murray
Senior Member
I am thinking the cloud is where it is stored, you download it from there and then run it as normal on your computer.
dramtastic
Senior Member
Have no idea about the cloud and compatibility with older computers. Make the most of the free 30 day trial before you start spending money.
Hmmm. May be. I thought you logged in as a user and ran it from their server.
Found this definition online about using the cloud programs.
"Cloud computing means using software that is installed on the Internet. You can also save your work on another computer instead of the hard drive of your own PC or laptop. Music, letters, presentations and other projects can be stored on clouds, data storage areas on giant servers on the Internet."
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By the way Scott, you were correct. It is stored on the cloud and you download it to your computer from there. This doesn't do me any good as I cannot meet the minimum requirements though.
I have been trying to read and understand something. I notice I blow out my whites a lot of times on my shots. Is this due to me shooting against a bright sky or against a dark background?
Do I need to dial in +1 or +2 EV compensations or -1 or -2 compensation?
Something I read yesterday said the new thing with bird photogs was to shoot as close to over exposure as possible without clipping the whites. Almost all of the photo information would be very close to the edge of the right side of the histogram with no clipping. I am a little unsure about this and wanted to ask if anyone else understood or recommended this method?
I would really like to get the details close without blowing out the white.
Do I need to dial in +1 or +2 EV compensations or -1 or -2 compensation?
Something I read yesterday said the new thing with bird photogs was to shoot as close to over exposure as possible without clipping the whites. Almost all of the photo information would be very close to the edge of the right side of the histogram with no clipping. I am a little unsure about this and wanted to ask if anyone else understood or recommended this method?
I would really like to get the details close without blowing out the white.
I shoot to underexpose instead of trying to shoot for just short of blown whites. In processing you can always up the exposure and recover more than if you blew them out and try to darken highlights.
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