Noise in pictures

[hulseyfam]

What are other things that cause noise in pictures besides High ISO? Seems like my photos have been either blurry lately or have more noise than usual. I have been playing around with settings in my camera, could I have messed something up? I have been mainly shooting in AV and just adjusting aperature and ISO. I would like to reduce both blur and noise (obviously) as much as I can and then maybe when needed use some noiseware. What noiseware do you recommend? I didn't even know it existed until asking a friend why she thought my photos were noisy.

[esther_a]

I have no idea why you would be getting noise but I do use NoiseWare for my high ISO shots. I have the free Community Edition of NoiseWare. It works well. The tradeoff for the free version is that it strips the EXIF data from the image. I can cope with that

[jazzmatazz]

Esther,

I went to Imagetronics site and saw that there was a Community Freeware edition, but when I selected it, it went to a page with NUMEROUS downloads. Is the community freeware ONLY for Windows, or is there a Mac edition? If you have a direct link, I would appreciate it. Thanks!

BTW, I tried to PM this to you, but your PM box is full.

[katrinak]

One of the biggest issues I have had and see with lots of people that I'm teaching is actually blur caused by camera shake/motion blur. Typically both of these happen because shutter speed is simply too slow. It is easy to believe that if I just hold it steady I can outsmart the innerworkings of my camera...but, alas, the camera wins when it comes to blur.

It is important to watch your shutter speed in AV mode as your camera will sometimes pick a shutter speed too slow for you to handhold and too slow to stop the motion in your subjects.

The rule of thumb is that your shutter speed should = your focal length...so

If you are shooting with a 50mm lens you want your shutter speed to be 1/50 of a second (or faster)

Here's a quick way of looking at it.

200mm=1/200
150mm = 1/150
100mm = 1/100
50mm=1/50

To stop subject motion you really want your shutter speed at 1/125 or faster

To stop kids motion you may need to go as fast as 1/500

A tripod is always an option when shooting inanimate objects in lower light with a slower shutter speed.

We focus a lot on aperture but shutter speed brings that sharpness that so many of us like.

[hulseyfam]

Katrina, on the 150mm is it supposed to be 1/150 or 1/250? I guess I never thought of changing my shutter speed in AV because I thought I didn't have to worry about it. How do I change the shutter speed while in AV?

[hulseyfam]

Originally Posted by esther_a

I have no idea why you would be getting noise but I do use NoiseWare for my high ISO shots. I have the free Community Edition of NoiseWare. It works well. The tradeoff for the free version is that it strips the EXIF data from the image. I can cope with that

I'm having trouble finding this one too.

[esther_a]

Oh dear! When I first searched I found it straight away. Then when I search it came up with a bewildering list of options (like you said) and I thought that if I posted a link it would be removed anyway. I shall look again.
But I am on a PC, so I don't know about a Mac version, sorry.

[esther_a]

It does look like the free version is only available for PC.
Here is the company download site: http://www.imagenomic.com/download.aspx

[KerryMac]

You can change the shutter speed in AV mode by using your exposure compensation...the little +/- dial on your camera.

[hulseyfam]

So do you use the community edition in PSE or on it's own?

[esther_a]

It is a separate application rather than a plug-in. If a photo looks noisy I run it through NoiseWare and save a copy before bringing it into PSE.

[sweetpeony]

You guys are so helpful - thanks for the tips!

[rsdtmd]

I've tried neatimage a few times and it does a nice job, I use the free version of it.

[katrinak]

Originally Posted by KerryMac

You can change the shutter speed in AV mode by using your exposure compensation...the little +/- dial on your camera.

In addition to what Kerry has suggested you can change your aperture or your ISO to change it as they all work together. Kerry's suggestion is easier though

And yep, that was a typo on the 150 above, I changed it!

[hulseyfam]

Thanks Esther, I've downloaded it!

And thanks for the other suggestions, I'm still learning. Wish I had more time to practice! I'm still figuring out how they each go hand in hand. I know they do, but I just haven't figured out exactly what! lol

[hulseyfam]

OH MY HECK, that noiseware is U-N-B-E-L-I-E-A-B-L-E. Thank you! Now hopefully I can get my shutter speed correct for the pictures that shouldn't have noise!

[hulseyfam]

Whenever I use the Noiseware, the pictures in my image dramatically change.

[esther_a]

It is very clever, isn't it?! The noise reduction in LightRoom and Photoshop are good, but Noiseware is better!
It's often a tradeoff, isn't it - whether we spend ages (and many dollars on good gear) getting the shot just right in the first place or whether we just patch it up afterwards. Whatever is easiest and gives the result you're after!

[hulseyfam]

Originally Posted by hulseyfam

Whenever I use the Noiseware, the pictures in my image dramatically change.

This was supposed to say the COLORS in my image dramatically change from what I'm seeing in PSE.

[esther_a]

... for the better or worse?!

[hulseyfam]

Worse-WAY muted.

I did a little research and it has to do with LR and PSE it not being set to sRGB. So I've switched that, but trying to figure out if there is anyway I can not re-edit all the pics I want to run through noiseware since they weren't in sRGB. What a mess I've got myself into!

[wombat146]

Well thank you ladies for all of the interesting things I have learnt from reading this thread!! I have downloaded the noiseware program and want to try it out on all of those grainy shots I have!!!