Photo editting - Maybe an aperture issue or bad light?

Hello guys!!

I was trying to adjust a photo on Photoshop but I'm facing some problems I've never had before.

The photo attached seems grainy and the colors are not good for me. Could someone help me on this by suggesting actions on post processing?

By the way.... I think this photo could be better if I had choosen a different aperture, I mean a smaller aperture. What do you think??

Lens: 70-300mm at 300mm aperture 5.6 and speed 1/1000.

Regards and thanks a lot!!

This post has been edited by Ricardo Abritta on 11th February 2014 - 15:38

Attached photos:

In order to take advantage of this post and not create another one, I also would like to know why the blue sky in some photos became grainy, it happens mostly in amazing blue skies. Is a camera limitation or lens quality issue?

This condition appears when I check the photo in full size and bothers me when I crop and resize the photo, affecting the quality.

See the photo bellow in full size and check the blue sky texture. It appears grainy. Why?

The left is the original RAW file and the right is the edited 1600px version.

EXIF data: ISO 200, f/4.8, 1/1600 at 145mm shooting RAW.

D7100 - 70-300mm

Regards

This post has been edited by Ricardo Abritta on 11th February 2014 - 17:55

Attached photos:

The noise in the sky could have been caused by sharpening.

Unsharp mask boosts the boundaries between two different colour contrasts to give the impression of sharpening and on plane coloured backgrounds like skies it creates noise instead.

Much better to use a selective sharpening technique and only sharpen the aircraft, or use a noise reduced layer mask or High pass Filter or edge sharpening instead.

I possibly think that correcting the under exposure has created the noise in the KLM picture. Try duplicating the layer and changing the blend mode to Overlay, that may do the trick for you.

This post has been edited by Wallace Shackleton on 11th February 2014 - 20:04

Hey,

Check this video for post-processing workflow made by Angelo Bufalino.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sccx5Gcv3rc

The grainy sky is caused by sharpening or high iso , as Wallace suggested you better use selective sharpening.

Regards,

Hi Wallace and L.Y.S Aviation!! Thank you for the help!!

Wallace, the image above I used High Pass Filter to sharpen the image... maybe the selective sharpen can help, I will try!

L.Y.S AVIATION PHOTOGRAPHY, amazing video!! I will learn how how to do most things that Angelo shows on vídeo. Thanks!

Regards,

I'm certainly wondering why you are using ISO 200 at a CAVOK day? That also participates in the noise levels.

That's the minimum speed on some Nikons. Noise is not an issue at that rating.

Gents,

As Wallace mentioned, global adjustments applied to the whole of the image affect the whole of the image. Example, you add some contrast in post. Unless you selectively add the contrast to the plane, then the sky will be affected too. Ok if you have a cloudy day but a recipe for problems on a blue sky. Another example is detail. A popular effect found in many software editing programs. Looks great when applied selectively but can ruin your blue sky day!

My advice is one of two things. Really grasp layer masks in photoshop or purchase the NIK collection of software and understand control points. Basically, both are ways to selectively edit your photo.

Take your time with each aspect of your edit to make the final product as good as it can be.