Is this an acceptable amount of noise? Seems really high for 5d mark iii at 800 iso?

[locolukas]

This is a shot from a recent wedding, the first I've shot with this camera, blown up to 100%. What do you guys think about the level of noise here? I think it makes the image look very soft. Any thoughts, or recommendations would be appreciated. Camera issue, Lens issue?

[cale_kat]

The photo appears to have had most of the "detail" removed so I can't see the noise through the pixelation problem.

[amfoto1]

I don't see noise....

The problem is primarily the location lighting.

I see an extremely over exposed background and under exposed subjects... Basically an impossible dynamic range for any DSLR to try to handle. Plus if using Automatic White Balance, the camera unable to decide whether to set it for full sun (the background) or to set it for shade (the subjects). If set manually to one of the presets, it was probably wrong.

On top of that, there's with more than a little purple fringing, though that's not surprising in such extremely high contrast areas. That can be fixed in Photoshop. (Note: If using a "protection" filter on the lens, it might have increased the chromatic aberrations a bit... but they were likely going to happen even without any filter.) 

A fill flash would be one way to make a decent shot in a location with lighting like that. Or just expose for the subjects and let the background blow away into nothingness. Might be able to recover some of it, shooting RAW, double processing and using a High Dynamic Range technique in Photoshop. Even so, it will never look as it appears to the eye.

I hope you don't mind... I wanted to see what could be done, so did some quick Photoshop adjustments (more work is needed tho)...

Still far from perfect, but maybe a little better. Basically I adjusted the whole image to get better skin tones on the subjects. In addition to some significant increase in exposure and color corrections, that meant increasing contrast, which makes the background situation worse. I also fixed the color fringing along their arms using the color replacement brush in Photoshop.

If it were my image, I'd do another version to address the background, then combine the two using layers and masks in Photoshop... sort of a "manual HDR" method. Some burning and dodging here and there, and maybe a little more color fringe removal (there might be some where her hair meets the bright background, that I missed with the color replacement).

***********
Alan Myers

San Jose, Calif., USA
"Walk softly and carry a big lens."
GEAR: 5DII, 7D(x2), 50D(x3), some other cameras, various lenses & accessories
FLICKR & PRINTROOM 

[ebiggs1]

"Still far from perfect, ..."

And understatement to say the least.  That shot will never be good.  It is just too contrasty.  A different background or location should have been selected.  There is no correction for over exposure.

[hsbn]

Let me give you a tip, in these contrast situation, if you have to shoot, then expose for the couple, let the background wash out completely. It will make a great effect and nicer photo overall.

[Skirball]

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@hsbn wrote:
Let me give you a tip, in these contrast situation, if you have to shoot, then expose for the couple, let the background wash out completely. It will make a great effect and nicer photo overall.

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+1

Then in post I'd reduce the saturation and over-expose the subjects slightly, giving a high key 'angelic' look.

Or I'd just use fill flash.