This is one of my many oops photos that I discovered recently, while downloading photos from my point and shoot camera. I was walking to my car last weekend and I must have hit the shutter button by mistake and it took this photo of the glaring street lights. Sometimes you get lucky I guess and find something interesting.
I’ve recently received a few emails from photographers asking, how can they get smoother looking photos at high ISO’s with NO noise? Here is what I do and by no means is it the right way, it’s just how I do it.
Shooting: When you must shoot at 1600 ISO or 3200 ISO or more if you can, one thing that I find helpful in preparing the photo, is to NOT shoot the photo underexposed. By doing so, any of the areas that are black in the photos will tend to create more noise, such as shadows etc. You will want to nail that exposure dead on if you can.
Software to reduce noise: There are many softwares out there that can help reduce the noise in your photos. The one that I use is called Neat Image and I have the plugin version for Photoshop. I find the plugin version for Photoshop great, especially if you want to batch a bunch of photos at one time and it’s a pretty inexpensive tool.
Here are 2 samples below and I will run though how it was shot and the settings I used to reduce the noise. Please note these photos are “straight out of the camera” except the one that I used Neat Image on.
I purposely shot this photo in low light and an object being black to show you the noise. This photo was taken with my Canon 5D, 50mm F/2.5 Macro lens, Manual Mode, 3200 ISO, F/2.5, 1/40. Notice the grain and color noise on the photo.
Here is a screenshot of my settings. Play around with the settings and see what works best for you. Please note the green circled area. This is how I adjust how much noise I want to reduce. 100% is really strong and if you use it on people, they will look like plastic “Ken & Barbie” dolls.
Here is the result at 100%. Again, it’s great to use 100% on objects. The only downside of reducing noise in photos, is that you loose sharpness the more you reduce the noise. If you have any further questions or comments, feel free to leave them below. Have a great day!
Yes I know, I’ve been such a bad blogger lately. But I hope I can make it up with this post. Annie & Brian, I can’t even begin to describe how cool and fun these two are, so I won’t. I’m sure the people that know them will sure agree with me though. This past weekend we shot their engagement session at not 1 or 2, but 3 locations! I think it’s always a great idea to switch it up and shoot at different places, especially if they have special meaning. We started the day at Angels Stadium with a special private tour. Unfortunately there was a game on the field and we couldn’t get on the field, but we still had fun. We then headed back to their old high school, where again we were denied access to where they wanted to shoot. I sure didn’t feel like hoping a fence and getting arrested since the police station was across the street, so we just stayed in front. We finished the day at Old Towne Orange, which kinda felt like my old home town. Here are just a few of my favorites from their session and I can’t wait to shoot their wedding next year! Thanks again guys for the wine!
Something just told me it was going to be a great day!
They were actually allowed to sit on the promotional Corona chairs!
Brian was warming up a bit before the shoot.
There’s something so special about two people in an empty stadium.
This was pretty much as close as we could get to the field and almost got hit by a ball!
Annie’s hair and makeup was so excellent that day and it was done by the talented JAC Beauty.
These were taken at their old high school in some beautiful light!
Annie workin’ it! and Brian trying to be the center of attention.
I found this cool little spot while walking in Old Towne Orange. That place has so much character!
This photo reminds me of walks in NY.
There was some serious fun, laughs and modeling that day!
If you’re in search for a talented wedding & event coordinator, look no further! Amanda Auer and her team at In The Now Weddings are the ones you’ve been looking for! I’ve worked with Amanda on a wedding this past summer and I must say from personal experience, that I can’t stop raving about Amanda and her team. No matter how the day is going, she always has things under control and that’s why Amanda is on my preferred list of vendors. This past Sunday, I had the opportunity to take some fun photos of Amanda and her team. We had such a great time that day and the team made sure we never had a dull moment during the shoot. Make sure you checkout Amanda’s blog for what’s going on in her world and ideas for your wedding. Here are just a few of my favorites from the shoot.
Standing in the middle is Amanda in the purple “LOVE” shirt and her husband Josh.
This past weekend I had a chance to hangout with Bich & Blake which I shot their wedding this past summer. I was so excited to shoot their family session down in Irvine Park and I really got to hangout with their son Bradley and watch them all just being a family. Here’s just a few of my favorites.
