Knowledge Base > Photoshop Tutorials
Noisy Photos
Higher ISO settings on your camera will make it more sensitive to light, making low light shooting easier, due to shorter shutter times and decreasing the chance of blurring. During daylight shooting this will help you freeze the action. But there are drawbacks. Raising the ISO setting will increase the amount of noise. At low ISO settings (amount will vary according to camera) the noise will be subtle, but at higher settings noise will become distracting—especially in flat areas like blue skies, or smooth skin tones.
Here are some steps to avoid noise.
- ISO Setting - Shoot at the lowest possible ISO setting
- Shoot at higher shutter speeds - If you do take long exposures, experiment a little with different ISO / shutter speed combinations to see what works best for your camera.
- Digital Zoom - Turn it off. I have never seen a need to use this feature.
- Lighting - Can you control the lighting in your setting? If so, add more light to the scene (but avoid using the flash).
- Equipment - Are you using a point & shoot camera? If so you might want to consider upgrading to a Digital SLR. The main reason (for noise, that is - there are plenty of other reasons) is the sensor size of your typical dSLR is over 8 times the size of many consumer model cameras (Canon D30 22.7mm x 15.1 vs. Nikon Coolpix 7.2 mm x 5.3 mm)
Fixing Photos
If you have already photographed the perfect shot, but find it has a bit too much noise, there is bit of help available. Programs like Adobe PhotoShop & Adobe Elements have “Despeckle” or “Remove Noise & Dust” filters in them. But be careful with them. Over use of them can result in removal of sharp edges, leading to an overall blurry look to your photo. We’ll look at this in depth in a future tutorial.
Another alternative is noise removal software. Programs like Noise Ninja and Neat Image specialize in removing Noise. Below is a detail of our original noisy image. Rollover the photo to view Noise Ninja’s default noise removal settings. It does a nice job at noise removal, while still maintaining sharp areas.
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