Residential Towers at Night – Austin, Texas

In yesterday’s blog post, I talked about my second downtown test of the Sony A7C. I walked on the western edge of the central business district, hitting my usual urban landscape spots. It was a successful test, and I loved the image quality. The four images I featured yesterday ranged from ISO 250 to 2000, not at all pushing limits on a modern camera.

I walked further north than usual along a dark stretch of Shoal Creek. Three residential towers attracted my attention. It was dark enough that it was hard to make out the creek’s details, but I knew it would form a leading line toward the structures.

Not expecting much, I snapped a photo, bracing myself and achieving a 1/10 second shutter — a good result on the Sony A7C with modest in-body stabilization. Given the performance of the Fujifilm X-series, I’ve instinctively capped my ISO at 6400. However, I was pleasantly surprised by a clean and high-quality ISO 8000 photo. I lifted the shadows lightly in post-processing, but not much. The Sony did a great job with exposure.

High-ISO images require delicate post-processing. Although I kept the picture on the dark side to retain some of the late-night mystery, there’s another reason. Lift the shadows too much as you will notice noise creeping into the dark areas, which is even true at lower ISOs if you really go overboard — even modern full-frame sensors can’t work miracles. Higher ISOs are noisier. That is why, conversely, shooting at a brighter exposure, even if it raises the ISO, might produce better images if it keeps you from brightening the shadows in post-processing.

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