I met this spotted quoll just outside of Cradle Mountain National Park at a captive breeding center for the critically endangered Tasmanian devil. There are two species of quoll in Tasmania, the eastern and the spotted. Like devils, quolls are also carnivorous marsupials. It was getting very dark when I took the photo so I had to crank the ISO up to 6400.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 160mm) ISO 6400, f/2.8 at 1/500th of a second
Great shot, Sean. Can you share the noise reduction level you applied? Did you process this in CS6 by any chance? Very impressive result considering the high ISO.
I try not to go over ISO 800 and I rarely go that high because dealing with NR can yield dubious results – or at least that has been my experience.
Hi Sue, I processed this one a while ago so not quite sure of the settings, but I did export it to Photoshop for some Nik Dfine noise reduction (I do 99% of my processing just in Lightroom these days). I rarely use NR, but when I do I go with the default setting and then erase the effect in key areas like the face and eyes. Attached is a shot of the original before reduction. Not much of a difference and I think I might actually prefer the original before reduction. The photo was shot on the 36mp D800 so the noise is considerably less noticeable when reduced down in size and posted online. https://seancrane.com/spotted-quoll-no-noise-reduction/
Thanks for getting back to me on my questions, Sean. I agree that there is very little difference between these two images. Thanks for the NR food for thought. Have a great day!
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Great shot, Sean. Can you share the noise reduction level you applied? Did you process this in CS6 by any chance? Very impressive result considering the high ISO.
I try not to go over ISO 800 and I rarely go that high because dealing with NR can yield dubious results – or at least that has been my experience.
Hi Sue, I processed this one a while ago so not quite sure of the settings, but I did export it to Photoshop for some Nik Dfine noise reduction (I do 99% of my processing just in Lightroom these days). I rarely use NR, but when I do I go with the default setting and then erase the effect in key areas like the face and eyes. Attached is a shot of the original before reduction. Not much of a difference and I think I might actually prefer the original before reduction. The photo was shot on the 36mp D800 so the noise is considerably less noticeable when reduced down in size and posted online.
https://seancrane.com/spotted-quoll-no-noise-reduction/
Thanks for getting back to me on my questions, Sean. I agree that there is very little difference between these two images. Thanks for the NR food for thought. Have a great day!
Very impressive photo Sean. Thanks.
—– Standing in a queue
—– Seeking a spotted quoll this night
—— No Quetzal nor quail for me .