Photographer: Kayt Howe
Title: Hindu Priest in Varanasi, India
Camera: Nikon D40x with a 50-200mm
Exposure: 1/50s at f5.6, 1600 ISO
Comment: Chances are, if you ever ask a news photographer what the secret is to making a good photograph they will reply, “f8 and be there.” The f8 bit probably comes about because back when that quote started making the rounds, most lenses were sharpest at this setting. What is essential to note though is that there is absolutely no mention of having the best camera or the best lenses. The essential part of the quote is “be there”. You can have the best camera gear in the world but unless you are at the right place at the right time it’s not much help.
This photo is a good example of the importance of 'being there'; I don’t think it would really matter if you were using a Nikon D40x or a D3s, the fact is you were there at the right moment in the right light and that’s what makes this image special.
Now, at a technical level, I know you made this image at 1600 ISO and given that you were already at f/5.6 and 1/50s it’s not like you had many options. However, the result is that there’s quite a lot of noise in the image. That's more eveident too when you see the image at full size, as shown in the detail images below.
There are a few programs you can use to reduce noise but I like Adobe Lightroom. PictureCode’s Noise Ninja is good too and can be purchased as a standalone program or a plug-in for Photoshop.
The only downside of noise reduction software is that it can leave your images looking slightly soft. To get around this duplicate the layer, apply noise reduction to the top layer and use a layer mask and a large soft brush to slowly blend the layers back together. The aim is to mask the noise in the shadow areas but try to maintain detail in highlights and midtones in the main part of the scene.
Good work.
Original image (above).
Edited image (above) after noise reduction.
Details of the original image (left) and edited image (right).