My bird shots are just horrible! I need some help!

I just don't understand what it is I am doing wrong. I got really close to these birds. They are regulars at my work because we have a large fresh water pond stocked with fish. They are mostly accustomed to people so I can get really close.

Through my viewfinder I saw good sharp eyeballs on teh birds. I get home, download the shots. These I have posted are the best of the 59 images I took and I consider these as trash images.

Is it the ISO that make these grainy and unsharp? Is it the lens that is not sharp at max zoom?

I was using a Nikkor 55-200mm ED VR zoom at 200mm.

Here is the EXIF data so you don't have to look for it.

- Hand held
- 200mm
- f/5.6
- 1/350th sec
- ISO 1600
- 3D Tracking 11 points
- Daylight WB

And this one. It was the only almost keeper of the several I took of the geese.

I was even closer to the geese than I was to the Ibis and I was only zoomed to 135mm. Still, this is trash. I must figure this out.


EXIF Data:

- Hand held
- 55-200mm VR ED
- f/5.6
- 1/200th sec
- ISO 320

If this is a lens issue I will toss these buggers in the trash can before I use them again.

I'm just guessing. But I would say it was the iso being up with the shutter speed being set too fast. But it's just a guess since I haven't done much with higher iso.

I think Bill may be right. Seems excessively high settings.
would a tripod not help?

You can try a tripod or shooting stick. But at 200mm you wouldn't think that to be a problem. Are these taken in the auto or manual mode? If manual, then I would shoot a few in auto to compare.

I'm seeing photos shot with an inexpensive tele zoom at max focal length, wide open at high ISO. Shutter speed shouldn't be an issue as the slowest SS was the geese at 1/200, which, with VR, should yield a sharp photo. You might might need a better lens.

I would take it off 3D tracking and use single point. The ISO is not helping and how much were they cropped?

singlerosa said:

I'm seeing photos shot with an inexpensive tele zoom at max focal length, wide open at high ISO. Shutter speed shouldn't be an issue as the slowest SS was the geese at 1/200, which, with VR, should yield a sharp photo. You might might need a better lens.

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I have shot some with this lens and have gotten great results.
Are you shooting in RAW or JPEG. If in JPEG what settings? What are you doing in post processing? You can't just shoot and post without doing any post processing and expect to have great photos.

Does the d90 have high iso noise reduction? auto iso? maybe just try it in sport mode(single focus point) and pay attention to the metering display looking through the lens? just guesses since I have not shot with that lens/camera combo.

Rick M said:

I would take it off 3D tracking and use single point. The ISO is not helping and how much were they cropped?

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The shot of the geese were not cropped much at all as I framed it almost as you see it. The White Ibis were cropped a good bit. They were farther away from me and I could not fill the frame with them.

Don Kuykendall said:

I have shot some with this lens and have gotten great results.
Are you shooting in RAW or JPEG. If in JPEG what settings? What are you doing in post processing? You can't just shoot and post without doing any post processing and expect to have great photos.

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I shoot Large JPEG on Fine setting. Post processing is usually just setting levels and maybe curves. Sometimes I use unsharp mask but I did not on these. I felt I wanted to post them as as close to what I shot them at as I feel they should be much better than they are right out of the camera. If I cannot get good sharp photos with good color and grain without post processing everything, or at least something I can work with, then I will not pursue this hobby.

These shots were totally trash. Nothing to work with at all and it is frustrating me.

bordsmnj said:

Does the d90 have high iso noise reduction? auto iso? maybe just try it in sport mode(single focus point) and pay attention to the metering display looking through the lens? just guesses since I have not shot with that lens/camera combo.

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The D90 does have high ISO noise reduction and I have it set to Normal. I always shoot through the lens/viewfinder. I do not use the Live View display. I just didn't worry about high ISO as I was under the impression these cameras shot pretty good photos at high ISO. However, I am still a newbie to this digital thing and maybe that only applies to when there are certain conditions and settings.

Mike d90 said:

If I cannot get good sharp photos with good color and grain without post processing everything, or at least something I can work with, then I will not pursue this hobby. These shots were totally trash. Nothing to work with at all and it is frustrating me.

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With any Digital camera you are going to have to do some post processing to get the best results. The D90 is a good little camera but it is not the latest technology. If you want it right out of the camera you may need to go to a newer camera

Don Kuykendall said:

With any Digital camera you are going to have to do some post processing to get the best results. The D90 is a good little camera but it is not the latest technology. If you want it right out of the camera you may need to go to a newer camera

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I understand there will be need for some, at least minor post processing, but this sample I have shown is unacceptable in any way imaginable. I don't believe it is the camera as I do not have these issues with any other lens and usually not with any subject other than photos where I have to use maximum zoom at lower light levels.

I do know it is likely me and some of my settings, or, I am simply trying to push this lens into areas where it just wont perform well. I will do some other sort of tests tomorrow at different zoom levels, different lighting and settings to try to sort this out a bit.

Mike d90 said:

I understand there will be need for some, at least minor post processing, but this sample I have shown is unacceptable in any way imaginable. I don't believe it is the camera as I do not have these issues with any other lens and usually not with any subject other than photos where I have to use maximum zoom at lower light levels.

I do know it is likely me and some of my settings, or, I am simply trying to push this lens into areas where it just wont perform well. I will do some other sort of tests tomorrow at different zoom levels, different lighting and settings to try to sort this out a bit.

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I have that exact same lens, The 55-200 and I shoot it all the times and many times under extreme conditions and ISO. Recently shot a football game and was shooting at ISO 6400 and higher. The higher the ISO the more post processing you are going to have to do.

Does the D90 have inbuilt settings like sharpening and vivid,if so what are you using,the light doesn't look too good the lens was wide open,my D70 would turn out crap results at iso 1600,the geese in some ways show a slight improvement for the lower iso.
Try changing your setting before you despair too much,i would expect your lens to start coming into its own about f8

Don Kuykendall said:

I have that exact same lens, The 55-200 and I shoot it all the times and many times under extreme conditions and ISO. Recently shot a football game and was shooting at ISO 6400 and higher. The higher the ISO the more post processing you are going to have to do.

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Don, will you point me to some of your high ISO shots please? Also, if you know where to send me, point me towards some post processing tutorials that might help me.

I have Adobe PS 7.1 and LightZone. Cannot afford to upgrade Adobe PS. I also am not sure I have what I need to work with RAW images. I think LightZone does but I have yet to even use it.

mikew said:

Does the D90 have inbuilt settings like sharpening and vivid,if so what are you using,the light doesn't look too good the lens was wide open,my D70 would turn out crap results at iso 1600,the geese in some ways show a slight improvement for the lower iso.
Try changing your setting before you despair too much,i would expect your lens to start coming into its own about f8

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Yes, the D90 has all of those settings and I can adjust each setting individually but I have made only a couple of those adjustments.

The other couple of daft thoughts i had where are you using a filter,if so is it a good one and are you allowing the VR to settle and snap in before taking the picture,with my sigma in the early days i would sometimes take before the VR had settled,you may not get camera shake through this but it doesn't help if the picture is being taken through a moving element.
Cant remember my jpeg settings but i think sharpening was about 7 and picture vivid.

Here is a shot using the Nikkor 35-105mm lens at 105mm length, F/4, 1/250th sec at ISO 1400. It is an acceptable image quality to my eyes and none of that focus/blurring/noise I see with the bird shots.







And this one using the 18-55mm DX ED lens. This was at f/5.6 at 1/60th sec ISO 400.