It's one of those moments where I go "Doh!". Something I should have known. I've been doing this long enough. Why didn't I do this before? Sharp!
I was looking at some images on another website and marvelling at how crisp the images looked. My pictures don't look that way. My pictures always seems a bit fuzzy.
Was I not focusing properly? Was it my camera? Was it my lenses? Maybe I needed better lenses. But my lenses -- the Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 G and Nikkor 85mm f/1.8 G -- were decent lenses. These were well-regarded lenses. Maybe it was my eyes? I have diabetes, had a cataract removed, and I just turned 50 years old.
So maybe it was something else. So ... I did some researched. I used Google. After thirty minutes, I found a website, two websites actually, that made me think that perhaps the problem was the way in which I prepared my images for viewing on the internet.
I experimented a little. I took these images this weekend after filling my growler with Dog-Earned Novel from Troon Brewing.
Original image.
Sharpened using Nik's Output Sharpener
For images with noticeable noise, I learned that reducing any noise before sharpening helps improve the picture. I used Nik's Define 2 to lessen the noise in the original image. Nik Dfine 2 lets me adjust contrast and reduce colour noise separately, to the type and amount of noise reduction applied to each picture. However, I typically just use the default or one additional noise measurement control point. Control points let me remove noise selectively.
These images were taken at Troon Brewing during their Grand Opening at Brick Farm Tavern. The indoor lighting was poor. I shot at ISO 1600 and above to keep my shutter speed high enough to reduce blur.
Original image.
I used Nik's Dfine 2 to remove some noise from this ISO 3200 image.
The final image was processed using Nik's Output Sharpener at 80%,
This image was sharpened in Adobe Lightroom with the setting at High.
Doing this sooner would have helped improve the quality of my beertography.
Troon Brewing Grand Opening - Island in the Net
25th December 2016 at 7:55 AM[…] images were shot at relatively high ISO. I used the sharpening technique I described in a previous […]
Khürt Williams
22nd December 2016 at 2:20 PMTroon Brewing had been open for a while when they announced their Grand Opening in collaboration with Brick Farm Tavern. I'm not sure what was the point of the Grand Opening but it was received with much enthusiasm. Brick Farm Tavern guests had brunch at the Tavern while sampling the fine ales and porter from Troon. Troon Brewing's brewer, Alex provided tours of the brewery while filling growlers of his excellent ales. Most of the guest were local -- Somerset, Mercer, Hunterdon, Middlesex counties -- although I spoke to one gentleman who had traveled up from Atlantic City. Bhavana and I filled two growlers; one with American Pale Wheat Ale, Dog-Earned Novel and the other with an American Pale Ale, Take Off Your Skin And Dance In Your Bones.Troon Brewing's brewer, Alex talking with some of the people on the tour.
Aperture—ƒ/4
Camera—NIKON D5100
Focal length—35mm
ISO—3200
Shutter speed—1/80s
Troon Brewing is selling growlers for $4.
You can also purchase a Troon Brewing hoodie.
I am not certain this is Alex's Dad but I believe it is. Or maybe he's the owner of the Brick Farm Tavern. I don't know the name of the woman he's talking to but it must be someone close to the family.
Aperture—ƒ/4
Camera—NIKON D5100
Focal length—35mm
ISO—3200
Shutter speed—1/100s
These images were shot at relatively high ISO. I used the sharpening technique I described in a previous article.
Aperture—ƒ/4
Camera—NIKON D5100
Focal length—35mm
ISO—3200
Shutter speed—1/50s
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