high ISO processing D300

[MRCPix]

ok so I shoot a lot of sports at night under the lights and I am forced to shoot at ISO 3200 or faster sometimes and I am not happy with my results. I use Lightroom 2 with noise ninja and I have PSCS4. SO can anyone help me get better results from my images?

[dmcantrell]

What, specifically, are you asking? Noise Ninja / Noiseware settings? Photoshop help?

I've done a fair amount of this and have dumped the entire project until I can afford a D700 or the next body that will do ISO6400 and do it well. Like you, I was unhappy with the results and did not feel good about selling the images to clients.

edit: FWIW, I had to do some (what I would consider) "heavy-handed" noise reduction for all the images right off the bat in Noiseware. I found that Noiseware really eliminated the low-frequency noise (color blotches) that is typical of High-ISO images more efficiently than Noise Ninja. I don't remember the exact setting, but I remember that it was higher than I am usually comfortable with and was bordering on "watercolor results". Then, I had to really work on the contrast using Photoshop (CS4) Curves layer and a relatively steep S-curve. Steeper than I am really comfortable with. Then, I would typically boost the saturation +10 using a Saturation Adj Layer in Photoshop CS4. In the end, the process made me feel like I was really trying to over-process what were just poor quality images to begin with.

[ldelacruz]

Can you post examples? The D300 is not the best at higher ISO's so my first suggestion would be to try and lower the ISO. I would need examples and what equipment was used to give you a few ideas.

[MRCPix]

when I shoot at night I use my 80-200 f2.8 on a monopod so I am shooting ISO 3200 at f2.8.

I will look for a sample

[ldelacruz]

Originally Posted by MRCPix

when I shoot at night I use my 80-200 f2.8 on a monopod so I am shooting ISO 3200 at f2.8.

I will look for a sample

What sport?