Thursday, January 7, 2010

Monterey Sunset

There are more nice sunsets here over the Monterey Bay than not but the last couple of nights they have been really colorful. I raced out to the beach right after work and got there with a few minutes to spare before the 10 minute window of color opened.

These shots have been edited in Photoshop. A bit of a levels adjustment and some noise reduction since I can't seem to figure out how to limit it when taking these types of shots. I'm guessing it may have something to do with cheap glass. Any tips would be welcome.



18mm, 1/50 sec, f/5.6, ISO 100


25mm, 1/100 sec, f/5.6, ISO 100


50mm, 1/100 sec, f/5.6, ISO 100

5 comments:

Unknown said...

I am just completely puzzled that you are getting noise at ISO 100. What does it look like? Is it luminance or chroma noise? Is it in the jpegs before you edit them or only after?

One thing I am thinking is this: what kind of sharpening are you having done in-camera: a lot or a little? Maybe the camera is over sharpening the image, and making it look grainier.

Otherwise I'm at a total loss. Unless the noise is showing up after processing, but not before, that I could explain.

Do you have any shots on Flickr that have had no processing with the same problem at ISO 100? Maybe with a link I could see the problem better

Jen said...

The entire set you took last night and showed me before any post-work was killer. But these - wow! Nice work, sweetie, gorgeous.

Gwon said...

Holy cow. Great shots! I tried to get some sunrise shots yesterday. It was PINK. By the time I got the camera out and ready... the time had passed.

:(

Mr. Salad Bowl said...

Jessica...I shoot RAW so there is no in camera sharpening going on. I'm guessing the noise may be from shooting too dark. When I over expose the noise is far less or not there at all. I just don't shoot over exposed enough I guess. :)

Gwon...my experience has been you have to get to your spot and be setup about 30 minutes or so before the sunrise or sunset event. I can't tell you how many shots I've missed because the light I wanted to shoot was gone literally in 10 seconds.

Unknown said...

Yeah, if you're shooting raw you might see some noise at ISO 100, it's probably the exposure that's making it visible. I'd suggest shooting well exposed, and then reducing the exposure in PS, that should result in a photo with less noise.