Digital noise reduction is most powerful on the off chance that you begin doing it the minute you’re taking the photograph.
It’s valid that recognizing the diverse programs for decreasing noise available (or even the best mobile apps to lessen noise in photographs) can be beneficial. However, preventing noise from the outset will make it much easier to acquire clean, sharp images.
If using the optimal techniques to decrease digital noise and still experiencing noise, you can learn how to decrease noise in Lightroom or how to decrease noise in Photoshop.
However, in this article from our series “ Noise in Photography“, we will focus on how to decrease digital interference during capturing and how to prevent it from occurring when printing your images:
- Techniques for reducing digital noise in photographs
- Photographic calibration configurations for digital disturbance decreasement
- Suggestions for Printing Photographs Silently
Table of Contents
HOW TO REDUCE DIGITAL NOISE IN YOUR PHOTOGRAPHS
There are many techniques you can utilize to reduce and remove digital noise, both while you’re capturing and afterward, and when you’re editing and processing.
Throughout the following section, we will demonstrate the ideal approach to removing digital noise utilizing the finest camera adjustments. However, bear in mind that if the lighting is poor, noise will likely persist, so you might need to employ noise reduction software after you’ve captured your photos.
BEST WAYS TO REMOVE THE DIGITAL NOISE
Generally speaking, capturing photos without excess commotion is achieved through this approach.
- Capture photographs using cameras with a full framework sensor, since they are able to collect more light.
- Record imagery in Raw. This method captures the most information possible.
- Set the ISO as low as feasible, since sensitivity exacerbates the noise.
- Correctly expose your photos, the golden policy to avoiding noise when shooting.
- Avoiding extremely lengthy exposures, as this could cause the sensor to overheat and lead to color imperfections.
- Use large lenses and optics that capture more light.
- Use Lightroom or Photoshop, the most effective and simple ways to decrease digital noise.
- , such as “ Denoise AI” or “ DXOPureRAW2“.
Also, If you are an advanced photographer and enjoy night photography, I recommend doing tracked astrophotography by using one of the top-rated star trackers available. The difference in quality that you’ll see in your images will be huge!
BEST CAMERA SETTINGS for digital noise reduction
If your objective is to avoid digital interference, the initial and most fundamental action you can take is to use theappropriate camera settings so that your camera does not generate interference.
The best and most critical exhortation would be to comprehend your camera. Each camera is different and knowing the constraints of your hardware is essential.
To reduce unnecessary digital noise, in addition to reviewing your camera`s instructions, you should make gaining experience through practice a priority, especially by taking pictures in diverse lighting situations and conditions.
Best camera settings to reduce DIGITAL NOISE
Briefly, these represent the optimal camera settings for digital noise reduction:
- Shoot in Raw.
- Get a correct exposure.
- Keep the ISO under control.
- Be careful when taking long exposures.
- Use large apertures.
- Turn on your camera noise reduction.
- Take benefit of your camera`s high ISO noise reduction (if you take pictures in Jpeg).
- Use cameras with full frame sensors.
Shoot in RAW to reduce the noise
To strongly stress the significance of avoiding static in digital images, the initial and most elementary step is to capture photos in Raw format.
Jpeg files cannot capture as much information as Raw files, and the Jpeg compression will make any noise more obvious and harder to remove during editing.
GET A CORRECT EXPOSURE
Always aim to properly expose your photos. Stay away from shadows and black areas without information, since your camera will generate noise when it processes these areas.
To ensure your exposure is accurate when shooting, do not rely on the camera light meter alone; instead, employ the histogram, where you can see the image’s darker and lighter areas that will be difficult to edit. You can gain knowledge about interpreting a histogram here.
“Exposing to the right” (ETTR) is widely considered a basic digital noise reduction technique and has created an endless amount of debate in the photography world. This technique uses parameters that cause the histogram to be as exposed to the right as possible, without reaching the pure whites.
ISO and Digital Noise – Keep it under control
The three aspects that make up the exposure triangle are: Aperture,shutter speed, and ISO. Of these, ISO is the most impactful when it comes to decreasing digital noise.
The greater the ISO you utilize, the more sound will be brought about by your camera.
As the level of light sensitivity assigned to your optical sensor increases, you will augment its reaction to illumination. This will induce your camera`s internal mechanisms to generate arbitrary information and, in the process, develop more digital static.
To prevent this, you should try to employ a low ISO whenever possible.
There are indeed scenarios where lighting situations might necessitate raising the ISO, for example, in long exposure night photography so it`s crucial to know your camera well and aim to control the ISO as much as feasible. Also, please check our guide on ISO in photography.
* ISO INVARIANCE/ISO LESS sensors and Noise:
While the previously mentioned Exposure to the Right technique has traditionally been seen as one of the best shooting approaches to avoid digital noise, nowadays some new cameras use sensors identified as ISO invariance (“ISO-Less”). In brief, these types of sensors provide the identical image quality in regards to noise when you shoot at a lower ISO and overexpose the image later in the post-processing as if you were shooting at a high ISO.
Capturing highlights in a photograph, like those of the Northern Lights, lampposts, or other bright lights, carries less risk of being overexposed if utilizing a technique where the ISO is kept low to control for strong lighting.
Some illustrations of cameras utilizing an ISO invariant sensor include:
- Sony A7RIII / Sony A7RII
- Nikon D810 / Nikon D750 / Nikon D 7100 / Nikon D7100 / Nikon D5500
- Fuji XT1 / Fuji X100 / Fuji XE1
- Pentax K5
If your camera is not on the list, test it so you know if your sensor produces consistent results independent of ISO settings.
For more information, I recommend checking our ISO invariance guide where you’ll find many examples and an updated list of ISO invariant camera models!
Be careful with long exposures and avoid chromatic noise
As we have already explained, taking prolonged exposures is one of the most common causes of noise in digital photography.
Given that the sensor temperature rises after being used for an extended period, the quantity of noise will increase, notably the chromatic noise.
To lessen this impact, endeavoring to avoid exceptionally lengthy exposure photography, or capturing many shots without interruption.
Extended exposures are inevitable in certain types of photography, such as star trails or time-lapse, but you should consider this and keep it under control whenever possible. You can learn more about long exposure photography in our guide.
Use large aperture AND LARGE APERTURE LENSES
One of the best approaches to reduce digital noise is to use wide aperturesfor your lens in low light situations.
While the aperture itself does not directly impact the level of noise, using a smaller aperture in low-light conditions will necessitate taking pictures with a longer shutter speed or a higher ISO setting, both factors that will cause photos to have more grain.
It is recommended to utilize lenses with large maximum apertures and low f-stop values when photographing the Northern Lights and Milky Way, as this will help obtain brighter exposures. More information regarding the best cameras and lenses for capturing these night sky phenomena can be found at the following links: Best cameras and lenses for Northern Lights Photography and Best cameras and lenses for Milky Way Photography.
Turn on your camera noise reduction
In order to avoid digital noise, today’s cameras have a built-in automatic noise reduction system.
With this system, after capturing the image, your camera will automatically perform a process where it captures an exposure of the same duration as the original photograph.
Pros of the automatic noise reduction
It allows you to decrease digital noise automatically in the RAW file, without having to use any software later.
Cons of the automatic noise reduction
You cannot use the camera for the entire duration of the process (consistently the same length of time as the original shot).
Therefore, if you take a 30-second photograph, your camera will be busy processing noise reduction for another 30 seconds.
In my case, I don’t use this process, as I prefer applying digital noise reduction more selectively using different noise reduction software.
Take advantage of your camera’s high ISO noise reduction (If you shoot in Jpeg )
If not editing or processing your photos, and preferring to shoot in Jpeg format, one can make use of the automatic noise cancellation on the camera to decrease the electronic noise within images.
In my case, I always shoot in RAW, so this option is disabled on my camera.
Use cameras with full-frame sensors
The size of your camera sensor plays a key role in minimizing digital noise.
One of the main differences between cameras that use crop sensors (APS-C) and cameras that use full-frame sensors, is the amount of noise they generate.
The large size of the full-frame sensor allows for more light collection and information gathering. Specifically, cameras with full-frame sensors will produce much less noise than cameras with APS-c sensors.
In some types of photos such as Milky Way Photography or Northern Lights photography, the disparity from one camera to another will be highly significant. More information about how the camera unit size influences picturesis available here.
If your camera uses a sensor with a smaller image capture area and you plan to take night sky photos or expect to shoot at high light sensitivities, my recommendation is to obtain a full frame camera if image quality is important to you.
High-end cameras with full sensors are not low-cost, however you can alternatively rent photographic equipment for a photoshoot or trip. In my own experiences, I consistently rent cameras and lenses with large apertures through Lensrentals. You’ll gain a 15% discount when using our Lensrental promo code: ATLAS15.
TIPS FOR reducing the digital noise in your prints
Printing images without noise is one of our main goals so viewers are not distracted from the key elements of our image.
How to print photos without noise
In order to avoid noise in your photography prints, follow the tips below to minimize grain and optimize quality:
- Employ methods to reduce noise while recording, as this is the best way to have a sharp and clean print.
- Eliminate the noise in your photographs before creating the print through one of the various options of noise reduction software on the market.
- Pay close focus on the uniform areas of the image that occupy a sizable space and have a consistent tone or color, such as clouds or water, as the noise will be more visible.
- Keep in mind the size of the print, since a larger print will make any errors, such as noise, more obvious.
- Consider the distance from which the print will be seen; even if the print is large, if it’s going to be seen from a long distance away, the noise will not be noticeable.
- Print on paper of the highest quality and use the surface best suited to the specific kind of photography to avoid digital noise. Bright surfaces often fail to notice noise.
- Consult with your lab. They can advise you on the suitable size print depending on the image’s digital noise.
Conclusions about digital noise reduction
As demonstrated, recognizing the most effective digital noise reduction techniques on the camera, always taking pictures with the appropriate settings,and confirming that you obtain an image that’s as clean and sharp as possible.
However, there are situations where, due to conditions such as low light or lack of time, you are unable to secure the ideal circumstances for the shot, and your picture exhibits noise in one or multiple areas.
In these scenarios, learning about software and plugins designed for noise cancellationis crucial, with emphasis on exploring noise reduction in Lightroom and eliminating noise within Photoshop, since these tools provide the most effective means of deleting graininess from images.
Finally, if noise is suspected to be a technical limitation, consider using camera gear created to minimize noise, such as lenses with large apertures and full-frame camera bodies.
If cost is a problem for you, you always have the choice to rent camera/lens equipment for your photoshoot or trip through a photography rental company such as Lensrentals, or purchase used gear through MPB.com (in the US,UK or Europe), as they offer a 6-month warranty.
My last tip is: don’t zoom in and actively look for noise because, ultimately, all photos have noise. Worry about fighting it when it’s visible to the naked eye, but don’t become obsessed with digital noise reduction.
What about YOU? What techniques do you use to reduce digital noise in your photographs?
