HS Gymnastics

My first gymnastics meet of the season. Lighting was about what you would expect for gymnastics. The biggest problem was they had replaced several lights so the color temperature from light to light was radically different so fixing them in post was a joy and probably could have done better than what you see here but I am tired and going to bed.

Mark III, 85 f/1.8 - ISO 3200 1/800 f/2

Noise Ninja with the specific Mk III profile and no sharpening then a bit of USM in Photoshop to finish them up.

1

Good action captures but IMO, you've gone just a bit overboard with NR...

A little grain isn't a deal breaker.

FlyingPhotog wrote in post #9472436
Good action captures but IMO, you've gone just a bit overboard with NR...

A little grain isn't a deal breaker.

Thanks for the feedback. Do they all look cooked to you or do certain ones stand out?

I need to get more practice with subtile use of NN at 3200 so this would be a good chance to do some practice.

Thanks again.

1, 2 and 7 are the most "cooked"

The faces are nearly portrait-ishly over smoothed.

FlyingPhotog wrote in post #9472471
1, 2 and 7 are the most "cooked"

The faces are nearly portrait-ishly over smoothed.

Thanks. I will work on those tomorrow, or today since it is the middle of the night here.

Agreed, too much NR. I'm surprised at how good they look using the 85 1.8 though. I've never had much luck with that lens.

One thing you can try (although you probably need a Tv of 1/800th and using an Av of 1.8 might not be a good idea with that lens) is shooting RAW and overexposing a third to a half-stop then bringing it back in post. Take a look at this: http://www.usa.canon.c​om …ArticleAct&arti​cleID=1407

Also, you can try a PS plugin specifically designed and optimized for the Mark III called Flex NR. It was made by one of the potn forum members here. You can find it in the RAW/PP section of the potn forums HERE: https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=680947

I like the action. Especially #4 on the beam. That's a tough one to get.

I am also impressed with the lighting you have to work with in that gym. My typical config for gymnastics is 40d/85mm at f2.0, 1/320, 3200. In a couple of gyms I can get to 1/500 but 1/800 would be a dream.

FlyingPhotog wrote in post #9472471
1, 2 and 7 are the most "cooked"

The faces are nearly portrait-ishly over smoothed.

I messed around with different things and in the end, was not able to find a combo that I thought knocked down the noise without still giving them that plastic skin look. If I got them to not look like dolls, there was so little NR involved it didn't seem worth even running through NR.

Attached are two versions of #2. The first is as posted and the second is with no NR at all. I would be curious your opinion of the one with no NR.

Original posted image

Content warning: NOT AN IMAGE

emtp563 wrote in post #9472599
Agreed, too much NR. I'm surprised at how good they look using the 85 1.8 though. I've never had much luck with that lens.

One thing you can try (although you probably need a Tv of 1/800th and using an Av of 1.8 might not be a good idea with that lens) is shooting RAW and overexposing a third to a half-stop then bringing it back in post. Take a look at this: http://www.usa.canon.c​om …ArticleAct&arti​cleID=1407

Also, you can try a PS plugin specifically designed and optimized for the Mark III called Flex NR. It was made by one of the potn forum members here. You can find it in the RAW/PP section of the potn forums HERE: https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=680947

Thanks for the response.

Actually, these are shot about +1/3 and in RAW. That is how I normally shoot anyway. This particular location is tough to push too much. There is an indoor track around the outside and they have put lights over it that are about 10 feet out from the wall and they just blow out the wall if you push the exposure much at all.

As a positive however, it really keeps the overall noise down since the background stays so bright.

The 85 sure is a finicky lens and I do end up with lots of trashed images but would rather have fewer good images than more marginal images if I went to any of the f/2.8 lenses. I also love the 135 f/2 but it is too tight for a lot of the gymnastics stuff and the DOF is even more unforgiving.

run53 wrote in post #9474556
I like the action. Especially #4 on the beam. That's a tough one to get.

I am also impressed with the lighting you have to work with in that gym. My typical config for gymnastics is 40d/85mm at f2.0, 1/320, 3200. In a couple of gyms I can get to 1/500 but 1/800 would be a dream.

Thanks. I saw her working on that move during practice so was able to be in that spot before she started her routine. It was probably my favorite of the night just because it was a bit different than the rest.

When they replaced the bulbs I mentioned earlier it really helped this location in terms of shutter speed. Last year in this same location it was 1/500 max. Just wish they would have replaced all of the bulbs so the color would have been a bit more consistent. However, I will live with color variations for the extra shutter speed.

I like the no NR one Kevin. I rarely use it any more and agree with Jay that a little noise is better then the plastic look. Have you tried cropping #4 to get rid of the coach or is it revealing too much noise to do so. Cool shot. The best way to handle this in the future is to buy a MIV

Dan-o wrote in post #9475184
I like the no NR one Kevin. I rarely use it any more and agree with Jay that a little noise is better then the plastic look. Have you tried cropping #4 to get rid of the coach or is it revealing too much noise to do so. Cool shot. The best way to handle this in the future is to buy a MIV

Thanks Danny. After messing with it, I am giving up on NR except in really bad situations. The input here sold me on it.

I left the coach in that shot only because the coach is also her mom and cropped it more with a specific sale in mind. Otherwise she would have been cropped away. The noise was not too bad but it was just a touch soft with a heavy crop due to the really shallow DOF and high ISO. Not bad really but I have been doing so much strobed work recently, I think all my 3200 images look like garbage.

I am just waiting on my Mk IV to make it to my camera store. I am next on the list.

I'll add my plug to the Flex NR script for Neat Image. I just started using it. I was using Noiseware Pro. Flex NR reduces the colored speckles that make the Mk3's high ISO stand out. When I compared the same image side by side, one with Flex / Neat Image and one with Noiseware, it was pretty obvious that Flex NR retained much more detail. You still see "grain", but not the colored specks that tend to stand out (in my eye). More "film like" IMHO.

These two are just batched in both NR and then my own post processing action. The only attention paid to any individual image is crop and straighten. I’m just starting to use Flex NR, so improvement to the process in order, but I'm happy so far.

ISO 3200 through the glass.

Thanks for the suggestion. I had not heard of that app so will have to check it out. That is a pretty nice shot of action at 1/200.

Big K wrote in post #9475053
Attached are two versions of #2. The first is as posted and the second is with no NR at all. I would be curious your opinion of the one with no NR.

Original posted image

No Noise reduction

| Content warning: NOT AN IMAGE

It's not what I would call "God Awful" really. Perhaps a light wash through NN but cut the processing by about 1/3 to 1/2 of what you did originally.

FlyingPhotog wrote in post #9476120
It's not what I would call "God Awful" really. Perhaps a light wash through NN but cut the processing by about 1/3 to 1/2 of what you did originally.

My preference would be for "light" NR. Split the difference.

It will be interesting to see if the Mark IV changes the game on this.

Zivnuska wrote in post #9477011
My preference would be for "light" NR. Split the difference.

It will be interesting to see if the Mark IV changes the game on this.

Thanks Phil.

I can't imagine the MkIV won't. Reading a story on sportsshooter about PR Miller and how SI ran a 4000 ISO heavy crop image, it has to be a step up in performance.