Nuthatch+Repost

Hi Steve, Nice pose on this WBNU.

I'm interested in why you are still shooting in ISO 1600 ?
I guess with the low noise capabilities of the 7D this isn't really a problem, but it would save you a lot of hassle with using NR every time if you lowered the ISO and perhaps used some fill flash for shots like this.

Good question, Nick. I don't intend to exclusively stick to high ISO photography. These cloudy Fall days provided the initial motivation. However, I’ve been in scientific and engineering research all of my professional life. I think, in retirement, the idea of trying to push the technology a bit really appeals to me. Also, I enjoy the computational part of digital photography almost as much as I do the non-computational parts. To me, noise reduction, etc. is fun. There are plenty of other reasons too: historically high ISO today is low ISO tomorrow; the many potential benefits of high ISO photography; the challenge (most especially for the very difficult area of bird photography); the fact that it’s not very popular and not universally accepted. I’m posting here in the hope that some of you will continue to objectively assess the results and help me to judge my progress. I predict that in the not too distant future many of you will consider ISO 1600 as low ISO photography. I’ll then start working at ISO 6400. Thank you very much, Nick, for your question.

Steve:
It's an interesting shot. This particular "behind view" seems to truncate the bird and makes the head and beak seem large (for a nuthatch). I'm not complaining, just trying to explain to myself why it seems unusual. I like this view of the bird, especially since you have such nice detail in the head and wings. The bright BG and backlighting has grown on me too.

Steve,

I like the laciness of the twigs in the background of this image and how the light seems to emanate from within the background and above the bird. I would crop some from the top to eliminate the one OOF branch that extends from the right almost nearly across the frame, while it really isn't a distraction for me, I do believe the image would be stronger without it.

I can detect some color noise in the chin, rump and just to the left of the lower leg and while some noise isn't all that bothersome to me, color noise does tend to change the tones & colors of those areas. I'm not sure if that would have been present at ISO 800 or not.

When using high ISOs begins to give the same IQ as those shot at 200 - 400 ISO, with limited noise and beautiful details I'll be willing to use it.

I like the pose you captured of this nuthatch, the head angle, light in the eye and how your composition left room for the bird to look into on the left side of the frame.

Steve, the overall image quality is not bad for the high ISO, but I do see some noise as mentioned by others. I also agree that cropping down to remove the upper branch would make this stronger.

Steve, I like the comp and the bg has grown on me--it has an interesting fractured or faceted look. I like the suggestion to remove the upper horizontal branch.

Thank you all so much for examining this image and providing your assessments. I've attached a crop that does not show the horizontal branch. The image is now 11.2 MP (62% of full frame for the 7D). It certainly makes the bird more important in the image. However, the environment now seems less interesting. I'm not sure which I like better, the original or the crop. Mia's comments about noise are less easy to deal with because my eyes just don't see the color noise. (It reminds me of the time many years ago that an examining ophthalmologist kindly let me take the color blindness test cards into the daylight to examine them and then interpreted my answers very broadly so that I could join the air force.) These various noise reduction programs do allow separate removal of color and contrast noise. There are also various ways of viewing noise. I'll work on it. Thank you again everyone.