Rebel T3 - How to improve image quality

[Zeke2]

 Hello. I was just wondering why does this person's phot look so much more clear than the ones I take? Does his camera have a higher megapixle number? I also feel like I was in focus too. The moose is the one I found the other one is mine of the bird. I used the sigma 150-600 with my canon camera eos rebel t3. Maybe I just need an updade. 

Tell me what y'all think?

[March411]

What was the ISO for this image? It was a bit noisy, exposure is a bit dark and how much of a crop?

I ran it through Topaz and removed the noise and bumped the exposure a bit.

[LeeP]

It is dangerous to compare an SOOC (straight out of camera) image to a "found" image because the supposedly "better" image could be an altered Frankenstein image. A friend of mine who is a Canon enthusiast produces otherworldly images, but his "image" is 99% of the time a Frankenstein of several images stitched together and then worked over like a Hollywood celebrity and their plastic surgeon. While Topazed (sic), Photoshopped, Lightroomed (sic) images are a person's prerogative, I prefer SOOC and I actually like some noise/grain in black-and-white/monochrome images. Thus, if you had an SOOC image and a friend shot the same subject at the same time with a same/similar lens and there was a radical difference, that would at least be a fair discussion i.e. apples-to-apples. The bird image is a bit dark, but given the hefty telephoto lens camera shake would be another factor to explore as a cause for less than adequate sharpness.

[Zeke2]

Thank you very much! I will take all of this into consideration.

[Zeke2]

I'll have to check out Topaz. Thank you so much! ISO was 1600. Now I think I had that way too high, haha. It was sorta dark out and I needed some light, but I see all that noise it introduced into the photo now.

[March411]

Lee made some valid points, a lot of images are significantly modified in post production. I like Topaz or DXO to reduce noise when I have limited options to reduce noise because of a lack of light. I don't want to give up on the image so I grab the frame and run it through noise reduction. But I will say that he is correct, straight out of the camera is always the goal.

Good luck, keep shooting because it will only get better as you move forward.

[Zeke2]

Thank you! I am definitely going to get topaz!

[TomRamsey]

First off, a moose is a lot bigger target than a Robin, it may have been a bit easier, but again maybe not.  We would need to see all of you shooting data to really analyze the photo.  At a quick glance, it looks like there could be a little movement in your image.  That could be due to too slow of a shutter speed, or just technique.  Knowing the focal length, shutter speed, aperture and ISO of the shot can really be helpful.  Good post processing and noise reduction can make a picture better, but if you start with a better picture to begin with, it will be even better.

[Zeke2]

Do you know any discounts for Topaz?

[Zeke2]

Thank You!