HS Football at Night with ISO 6400

rockcanyonphotos · August 29, 2008

Tonight was the first game of the season and I could not wait to see if the high ISO of the Canon 1DM3 would make a usable photo. Attached is one example I grabbed this evening as soon as I uploaded the files to my computer.

For reference. The stadium I shoot in (at its brightest spots) will meter out at ISO1600, f2.8, 1/250 falling off to 1/125 in the endzones

Setup:
1DM3 with 300mm f2.8 IS USM lens on a monopod:

ISO6400 (in camera noise reduction enabled)
Sutterspeed: 1/500
Aperture: 2.8
File type: RAW

Process:
Brought the file into CS3 Camera RAW and did nothing to it (sans RAW's default setting) and exported it to JPG. Reduced the dpi to 150 to make the posting file size requirements for this board.

I don't know about anyone else but I can work with this!! I am just so darn happy not to have to use a flash to shoot in a High School dungeon!!

Done sharing for now... off to bed.

Regards, Kevin

Arvan · August 30, 2008

I think that´s waaaay to much noise to make it a photo i would keep. It would do in smaller size/webpublishing. But for nothing else, but that´s only my point and if you are satisfied with the result its golden

What can we do about it? it´s just the way it its..Noise is a pain in the a#s

rockcanyonphotos · August 30, 2008

I don't disagree with you, I would never publish the photo as is, however, I am looking at it from the perspective of what I can do in post processing and in comparison to the output I was able to get on my 1DM2 at ISO1600/3200 in the same environment. To me, this ISO6400 is much better quality than the ISO1600 shots I used to get on my 1DM2

Attached is the file after 60 secs of work in PS.

For me, being able to get a photo of this quality after processing means I can ditch the flash and all the post processing issues (especially the ghost eyes that are very common when using a flash in this sport).

Is it perfect... no. but my standards are probably a bit lower than yours given the conditions I have to deal with in the local high school stadiums.

kevin

jonh68 · August 31, 2008

Looks good to me.

tomauto · August 31, 2008

That is a keeper for a dungeon I'd say!

andymcqueen · August 31, 2008

The cleaned up image looks much better - worth trying as B&W?

I've some motorsports shots which were really moisy which looked a lot better when I converted them to B&W and it created a nice "grain" type effect.

rockcanyonphotos · August 31, 2008

interesting idea. here it is with B&W and a tighter crop.

rockcanyonphotos · August 31, 2008

and as long as I am playing... here it is with a Dragan effect. I really like using this effect when I have to take these type of night images and blow them up for 24x36 posters.... makes the player look meaner and hides some of the issues associated with enlarging photos to that size.

kevin

i_worship_the_King · September 9, 2008

On the first trip through post what did you do? (just curious to your workflow.)

rockcanyonphotos · September 10, 2008

i_worship_the_King wrote:

On the first trip through post what did you do? (just curious to your workflow.)

I have function keys programmed as CS3 actions and apply the following:

1) Noiseware (night setting)
2) Unsharp Mask
3) Lab Color (10% opacity) (provides a nice Pop to the colors)

regards, Kevin

KED · September 10, 2008

rockcanyonphotos wrote:

I have function keys programmed as CS3 actions and apply the following:

1) Noiseware (night setting)
2) Unsharp Mask
3) Lab Color (10% opacity) (provides a nice Pop to the colors)

regards, Kevin

I have your same gear and same shooting conditions, and one thing about your original post threw me off: shooting RAW, should in-camera NR have any effect? I had thought not.

Bigger picture, I have not tried steps 2 & 3 in your PS workflow, but without Noiseware we would be Noware!

rockcanyonphotos · September 10, 2008

KED wrote:

I have your same gear and same shooting conditions, and one thing about your original post threw me off: shooting RAW, should in-camera NR have any effect? I had thought not.

Bigger picture, I have not tried steps 2 & 3 in your PS workflow, but without Noiseware we would be Noware!

I am still learning the M3...only had it for a few weeks but I called Canon Tech support the day before the game and asked the same question about the effect of NR, in camera, on RAW files (I didn't think it would have an effect either)... I was told it absolutely has an effect and should be turned on for the high ISO settings.

If you have figured out any other gems as far a setting on the M3... please do share.

as for the Lab Color, I have found that this tends to give me better color and contrast and in many cases makes the photo seem sharp enough to eliminate the need for using the Unsharp mask... which I tend to do as a last resort because it doesn't always play to well with Noiseware.

regards, Kevin

Graham Cracker · September 12, 2008

CS3 Shortcuts

rockcanyonphotos wrote:

I have function keys programmed as CS3 actions and apply the following:

1) Noiseware (night setting)
2) Unsharp Mask
3) Lab Color (10% opacity) (provides a nice Pop to the colors)

regards, Kevin

I am interested in how you set up these short cuts. I am using and Apple computer, shooting Friday night with the same lens in about the same setting, I have a 40D but I am having to export as jpeg, use Noiseware to clean it up and then back. You are supposed to be able to do batchwork but something in the apple version won't allow me to import the tasks into the action tabs of PS3. Would you mind sharing how you set up the short cuts. Thanks Patrick

rockcanyonphotos · September 12, 2008

Graham Cracker wrote:

I am interested in how you set up these short cuts. I am using and Apple computer, shooting Friday night with the same lens in about the same setting, I have a 40D but I am having to export as jpeg, use Noiseware to clean it up and then back. You are supposed to be able to do batchwork but something in the apple version won't allow me to import the tasks into the action tabs of PS3. Would you mind sharing how you set up the short cuts. Thanks Patrick

Happy to sharee but I am not sure I completely understand what you are looking for... Are you trying to run these actions in RAW?? I do my initial processing in RAW, export the results to JPG, then run the various actions on them. Sometimes I run them in batch but because of the varying results of High ISO shots and the variations in lighting in a HS stadium, I tend to open all my JPG in CS3 and then just push the appropriate function key that corresponds to the action I want to run on that photo.

Kevin

KED · September 14, 2008

rockcanyonphotos wrote:

If you have figured out any other gems as far a setting on the M3... please do share.

regards, Kevin

Well FWIW, my setup (for night games) is ISO 3200, Manual exposure at f/2.8 and 1/500; still generally underexposed but that's where Noiseware comes in. I plan, this season, to try pushing ISO to 6400, and based on this dialogue may also try in-camera NR. Unfortunately my season opener was wall to wall rain and my gear never left the back seat of my car! :cry

I don't think there are any magic tricks for the M3 -- shooting in the dark is shooting in the dark! Good luck and enjoy -- I'll report back on the 6400/NR combo if it ends up being value-added, but that will be a combination that I will only try later in the season after I know that I have a decent array of keepers in the bank.

HS Football at Night with ISO 6400

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