Brown-headed cowbird at high ISO - reducing noise.

I photographed this using my Nikon Z6iii, using raw and denoising in post.

Electronic noise in digital photography is affected by a great many parameters.  You probably know the main ones: ISO, sensor size, exposure time, noise-reduction filters, image resolution, and camera model.  The nature of the image also plays a part, as shadows are more likely to have noise associated with them than highlights.  I would normally not use such a high ISO to capture an image of a bird, especially one at a distance, but the lighting was terrible (heavy overcast and backlit), and I stopped down quite a bit.

Admittedly, I could have gotten the same result at a lower ISO if I had shot at f/11, probably with a little less noise, but you can't argue with the end results.  The details are fairly convincing.  Part of the reason for the good results, apart from using a full-frame sensor, was that I employed a noise-reducing filter in Photoshop.

The lighting improved a bit and allowed me to reduce my ISO to 2000 and use a faster shutter speed.  The photo below was taken with the same camera and lens; I did not employ any additional noise reduction in post.

Crow photographed in Leduc, Alberta.  Notice the nictitating membrane inset shot.

I have been playing a lot with the Z6iii and have come to appreciate its ability to capture relatively noise-free images.  A prime lens without a teleconverter would produce a sharper image and would mean shooting at a lower ISO.  The downside is expense and having to enlarge the image more.  So far, I am happy with the results I am getting.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com


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