What's wrong with Kong

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Phillydog1958

Senior Member
Kong2.jpg

I need some feedback on how I could've made this a better photo. It was shot at 1/100th of a sec, f/5.6, ISO 1600 at 85mm, with a Nikon 16-85mm lens, on a D7000. It was shot through glass with no flash. I did some post production in Lightroom. Thanks in advance.;)
 
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Eye-level

Banned
The greenish tint around his right eye is sort of weird...overall it is a decent snap...good framing for the focal length...adequate shutter speed...nice focus and DOF...but the ISO is way high for a daylight photo IMO...perhaps this is why you have the greenish hue bleeding all over his eye...bet it comes from the green OOF patch just beyond his eye...I would say high ISO sensor bleeding noise around the eye...it would be nice to see a similar shot done around 200 ISO. You have to really watch it with these newer sensors...I see this kind of thing in many D7000 shots...maybe it is just a bunch of pollen he has rubbed all over his eye though...at any rate he looks to be sort of disgruntled but I imagine being stuck in a zoo somewhere would do that to just about anyone.

It's a good shot though...
 
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fotojack

Senior Member
Why on earth would you be shooting at 1600 ISO in broad daylight? I don't understand this! High ISO numbers are for low light situations, not just because the camera is capable of high ISO. Daylight shots should be shot with no more than 100 or 200 ISO at the most.
 
Marcel

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
fotojack said:
Why on earth would you be shooting at 1600 ISO in broad daylight? I don't understand this! High ISO numbers are for low light situations, not just because the camera is capable of high ISO. Daylight shots should be shot with no more than 100 or 200 ISO at the most.
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Sorry Jack, but you've overlooked the fact that he was at 1/100s probably at his max opening... Going down to iso 100 would have given him a shutter speed of ... let me see... 1/6 sec... I'm not so sure this would have been better.

As a matter of fact, the shutter speed is very close to the limit for a motion blur with this camera. You have to figure 1.5 X focal lenght of the lens to be really safe with the cropped DX format.

For my part, I think the problem with this shot is that it was first made "through a glass". The artifacts that Jeff mentioned could just be reflexions that could maybe be removed with careful post processing. The color could be made a little warmer as well.

But it's a good catch of a photo.
 
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Rick M

Senior Member
Nice capture through glass! Always creates problems. I second Marcels comments, High ISO to achieve shutter speed. Did you crop allot? I have and love the 16-85, sometimes 5.6 slows us down a bit, Nice shot!
 
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fotojack

Senior Member
I stand by my statement that 1600 is totally unnecessary in broad daylight. This shot could have been taken in Manual Mode and the ISO reduced accordingly.
 
A

AperturePriority

New member
Eye-level said:
The greenish tint around his right eye is sort of weird...overall it is a decent snap...good framing for the focal length...adequate shutter speed...nice focus and DOF...but the ISO is way high for a daylight photo IMO...perhaps this is why you have the greenish hue bleeding all over his eye...bet it comes from the green OOF patch just beyond his eye...I would say high ISO sensor bleeding noise around the eye...it would be nice to see a similar shot done around 200 ISO. You have to really watch it with these newer sensors...I see this kind of thing in many D7000 shots...maybe it is just a bunch of pollen he has rubbed all over his eye though...at any rate he looks to be sort of disgruntled but I imagine being stuck in a zoo somewhere would do that to just about anyone.

It's a good shot though...
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Agree with you Jeff: the greenesh tint came from color fringes of camera body sensor. This is known issue with D7000 and the other beginner models (5100, 3100... ). D300 and other advanced amateur models are much better in this.

But D700 really out performances D300/s in noise controlling.
Agree with Marcel in ISO1600 too: most of the outdoor photos get blurry even on mono or tripod just because subjects moving, not for the cameras/lenses moving in taking photo processes. That's why higher ISO called in these cases.
 
Marcel

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
One more thing. If the photo was B & W, I think it would be much better since the green behind the gorilla is very distracting. Give it a shot and see what you think. Just desaturate it.
 
E

Eye-level

Banned
I thought about that too Marcel but I don't know if he could achieve enough contrast between subject and background to make it a first rate B&W...maybe with some good photoshop skills...
 
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Phillydog1958

Senior Member
Excellent feedback from all parties. I thought that the greenish hue around the ape's eye was from shooting through the glass, but it also could be an issue with the D7000. Thanks. I'm learning from all of you.
 
E

Eye-level

Banned
You probably could have got away better with F4, 800 iso, and 100-125 shutter speed...less noise...you'd gained a tiny bit of DOF... (no I am wrong you lose a little DOF...but it is so miniscule you won't really notice I bet)
 
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A

AperturePriority

New member
Eye-level said:
You probably could have got away better with F4, 800 iso, and 100-125 shutter speed...less noise...you'd gained a tiny bit of DOF too...
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No way, Jeff: the 16-85mm has max aperture 5.6 at 85mm. And Phillip set lens wide opened already. And, if he could open f/4 intead of f/5.6, he gona loose some DoF, not gain.
 
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Eye-level

Banned
Yeah and you can zoom it down to 72 or 74 which is not that different than 85 especially with this particular snap and get the F4 stop and the better ISO...that is all I am saying...that is how I would improve the shot with the equipment he was using...personally I would have shot it with a prime at 200 ISO...now what? :)
 
A

AperturePriority

New member
Phillydog1958 said:
I thought that the greenish hue around the ape's eye was from shooting through the glass, but it also could be an issue with the D7000.
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The greenish came from shooting through the glass AND it is an issue of the color fringers in image sensors. This photo also taken through the glass with an SB-800 on-camera filled:




kynhong1.jpg

​



Macro lens 105mm opened at f/5.6 and was about 10" away from the lizard. D300 works better than D7000 in this case.
 
E

Eye-level

Banned
Now if you are really sharp you'll understand why I like the D90/D5000 12.3 mega pixel sensor so much...I REALLY like the D300s because of it's body...hahaha :)
 
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Phillydog1958

Senior Member
Marcel said:
One more thing. If the photo was B & W, I think it would be much better since the green behind the gorilla is very distracting. Give it a shot and see what you think. Just desaturate it.
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True. I actually converted it to B & W in Lightroom. It looked much better.
 
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Eye-level

Banned
Kong is the king!

So when you going to the zoo again sir? I think you oughtta document that ape's expressions...I bet that would make for some cool snaps... :)
 
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Phillydog1958

Senior Member
Eye-level said:
Kong is the king!

So when you going to the zoo again sir? I think you oughtta document that ape's expressions...I bet that would make for some cool snaps... :)
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He was actually in a seemingly tranquil mood. My wife was holding my granddaughter, who was about 15 months old, at the time of shooting. Kong seemed to connect with her. He constantly watched her with a certain peacefulness. A few years ago, there was an incident where a young child fell into a gorilla exhibit. A female gorilla picked up the baby and protected it. Go figure . . . I probably will be going to the zoo this summer sometime. I will try to capture my old friend again. Later today, we are planning on visiting the new Kansas City Aquarium. I've visited the aquarium in Jinks, Ok. I'm sure you have, too. It's a nice facility.
 
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MrRamonG

Senior Member
You could have gotten Kong to look at you.

Other than that, it doesn't appear the high ISO hurt too much as I don't see a lot of noise... unless you spent a significant time post-processing, I dont see any harm.
 
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