welcome to the all new blogsite
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.
Brian! I am dying laughing at these!! Thanks so much! We had such a blast with you on Sunday. 
What a nice looking group! Brian these are so cool I especially love this last one and the one of them walking on the tracks. Well done
awesome photos! love how colorful they are and love the locations!
Cool shoot!!! I’m diggin’ it!!! Nice work Brian!
Hey these are some pretty hip lookin’ wedding coordinators here. Great shoot!
Love the last shot!
Brian! These are soooo great! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I can’t wait to see the rest! :o)
Thank you so much Brian! I had such a good time shooting on Sunday. The pictures came out amazing, and I”m stoked for more. You’ve got serious talent.
Brittany (the girl in the flannel)
Fun pics!
nice brian…the second to last one is frickin’ hilarious man!
Wow these pictures are awesome, all the lively colors and beautiful people make it stand out to the fullest I’m a friend of Alicia’s, just thought I would comment on the great pictures
thats really funny!! we switched locations. we started at the barn you started at the red train. it was so great seeing you guys! are you going to [b]’s poker tonight?? if so we might see you there!!!
I love all of these, but especially the jumping one!
Such a vibrant group– I love their sense of style. Must’ve been fun working with them.
Very awesome dude. Way to rock it out. 
Can’t wait to see u at WPPI!
where is this clandestine location…looks like the santa ana transit station?!!?
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.
Always awesome stuff Brian! I hope to meet you one day! Best wishes, and have a great holiday season!!!
Cute family and great photos! The left photo in the first set, and the right one in the second set - love ‘em!
cute pics!!
Well after a long holiday trip, it’s great to be back home and returning to my daily routine. I had an excellent time back home visiting friends and family and not to mention now I have a new found love for shooting nature. In other exciting news, Helen and I were also back home planning our wedding and I think we found our location for our big day. I’ll have more details on that later, so you’ll just have to wait and see. We’re also looking at August 21st, 2009 for our wedding date, so if you think you’re coming to our party, make sure you’re not planning any long vacations because you don’t want to miss this one!
Here is a photo from our last day in Connecticut. Sitting by the window watching the sun go down, really makes you appreciate all that there is in life. I know i’ve said this many times, but we don’t really appreciate things until they’re gone. So make sure you’re living life to the fullest! Ok I’m done preaching, have a great weekend everyone!
I Hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving as I did. We’re moving on to turkey celebration day 3 tomorrow, which means eating more turkey and spending time with more friends and family. It should be a fun time. This is the last get together before we fly back to California and I’m making sure I eat and take naps the whole day!
A sad highlight of this trip, was not being able to make it to Boston this year due to the high volume of traffic before Thanksgiving. Have you seen the gas prices? Here in Connecticut I’ve seen gas for $1.79 a gallon! No wonder more people are traveling this year. I’m all for lower gas prices and I never thought I would see the day our gas would be under $2!
I decided that since I wasn’t going to have a photo safari in Boston, I still wanted to shoot for myself, so I wandered around our neighborhood soaking in more of Connecticut’s picture perfect scenery. There’s just something about Connecticut that makes me want to shoot nature. Photographers note, the only thing I did to these photos was sharpening. I used my tweaked “Landscape” setting to the add the contrast in camera on my Canon 5D and “Vivid” mode on my Canon G7 point and shoot.
By far one of my favorite fall sky photos from Connecticut.
Gloomy days and black & white, always seem to work.
I shot this photo on the way back from running errands. Good thing I always carry my Canon G7 point and shoot camera with me, which I took this photo with. And yes, in my neck of the woods here, it’s barn and farm territory.
I just want to wish everyone out there a Happy Thanksgiving and I hope you all are spending it with your family, friends and loved ones. This time of year for me, means spending time with family and friends, eating till we can’t eat anymore and appreciating everything we have in life.
I have had such an amazing year and I can’t believe in a short while, we’ll be in 2009! There was so much to be thankful for this year including having such awesome clients that continue to support me, being blessed to meet new friends and being able to continue doing what I love to do. And of course, there are many other things that I am thankful for this year, but I will probably run out of space writing about it.
Although I haven’t blogged about it yet formally, I’m also thankful this year for finally being engaged to the women that has made such a difference in my life, continues to be so supportive and I can’t wait to start a new chapter in our lives together. I feel that I’ve reached so many pinnacles this year and hopefully next year will be just as amazing!
With that said, have an awesome day everyone and don’t forget to save room for dessert!
Brian I hope you and Helen had a wonderful Thanksgiving surrounded by your friends and family. take care and stay warm
we miss you guys!! hope you’re having an AMAZING holiday!!
Thanks for sharing, Brian!
Thanks for the tip