Marlow Bridge at Dusk

[ChrisH]

I have spent quite a bit of time on this one,trying to reduce noise. You can see from the exif. information below I have struggled a bit to get a hand held shot (forgot my tripod).

I have tried both Neat Image and Topaz Noise - anything else I could try?



Exif. Shutter: 1/40 Exposure: f/4 ISO: 1600

[Donald]

Chris

Because, I presume, of the work on noise, the image had been left very soft. The buildings and the bridge have very soft edges and are not crisp and sharp.

I don't know what else you could do other than go the naughty corner and write out 100 times 'I shall not forget my tripod'.

[ChrisH]

How right you are Donald. It is a shame as we don't get many evenings of this quality in the winter. Every attempt to de-noise the image has resulted in loss of detail. Never mind back to the drawing board.

[PaulMiller]

There is a mathematical technique called deconvolution that can sometimes work miracles on a soft image (either that, or it makes things much much worse). See this thread. I tried your image in RawTherapee and got this:

[ChrisH]

Thanks Paul. I have had a quick look at what at first glance looks a huge and complicated mathematical science and will look at it more closely when I have some time. I have compared your version with mine, which does look sharper, although at such a small size it is difficult to get the full impact. I do notice however that in your version some pixelation has crept in around the church spire.

Thanks for your help and for the interesting new lead.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Chris,

I'm very surprised you're not succeeding with Neat Image, what are you sampling on?
Did you shoot RAW?

This takes me back; back to the 21 March 2009 to be precise, before I had a pukka DSLR, here's my thread with a few shots taken with a Fuji S6500 bridge camera - oh, how apt

[ChrisH]

Nice images of the bridge Dave. My shot was taken in RAW, but as far as the Neat Image sampling is concerned I will have to have a look when I get back to my P.C.

You can imagine living in the center of Marlow the bridge, All Saints Church and Marlow Weir are photographed many times ( always seeking that elusive perfect shot. Coincidently put together a slide show on this subject only the other day, which you can see at: -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19XcnpNdzVQ&fmt=37