Noise, Noise... EVERYWHERE! C&C Welcome

[Lynnzora]

C&C please. How would I get rid of this noise??? Is it possible? Thanks.

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

Shoot the pic at ISO 100, instead of 1600 in daylight.
There is software to remove noise, often at a cost of sharpness.

 

[Samanax]

Yeah, ISO 1600 is way too high for outdoor with good light. Try sticking to ISO 100 or 200 when outside in good light.

If you use noise reduction software you'll lose some sharpness in the image. If you try to resharpen the image, the noise will come back but the image will start to degrade.

Noiseware Community Edition is a free standalone noise reduction program you can try. Try the default auto setting first to see if you like what it does. Test it on a copy of your picture.

 

[itznfb]

yikes. that's still crazy amount of noise at 1600. but yea, those conditions look like you still could have been over 1/100 at ISO100 or lower

 

[Sw1tchFX]

I can barely see it, and this picture might not be anything that would be printed larger then 8x10, which if it's that size or smaller, the noise would be a non-issue.

 

[musicaleCA]

Look at the skin tones Switch. There's crazy chroma noise in there. Plenty of Luma noise too. >.<

For kicks, I put the image through Topaz DeNoise, to show that yes, removing this level of noise is within the realm of possibility. You'll note the pretty nasty blurring in the hair. Using a full-res TIFF (at least) would reduce this issue. This is also a pretty poor example; there was quite noticeable JPEG artifacting when I edited blue and red separately.

Of course, the best option is to shoot at the lowest ISO possible in daylight.

 

[Samanax]

Wow, what happened to the hair?

I ran the image through the default setting of Noiseware Community Edition and it came out looking a little better than that.

 

[JamieR]

It's not really an issue if you have Noiseware Pro. Just make a duplicate layer, run it through the NR software, add a layer mask to that layer, and paint in where the noise is most noticeable. For instance, paint in the NR software onto the skin, the hair can be left alone, as can most of their clothes.

 

[musicaleCA]

Wow, what happened to the hair?

I ran the image through the default setting of Noiseware Community Edition and it came out looking a little better than that.

Very quick and dirty. DeNoise is better than that. I was just demonstrating that it can be done. I probably just punched up noise suppression too high and left blur reduction a wee too low. I also would've done as JamieR above noted, painting-out the filter where it was too much, like the hair. Meh.

 

[AlexColeman]

As people have given what to do, let me ask one question. Why would you shoot at 1600 in daylight?

 

[Lynnzora]

Look at the skin tones Switch. There's crazy chroma noise in there. Plenty of Luma noise too. >.<

For kicks, I put the image through Topaz DeNoise, to show that yes, removing this level of noise is within the realm of possibility. You'll note the pretty nasty blurring in the hair. Using a full-res TIFF (at least) would reduce this issue. This is also a pretty poor example; there was quite noticeable JPEG artifacting when I edited blue and red separately.

Of course, the best option is to shoot at the lowest ISO possible in daylight.

Cool I need some retouching lessons. I do have it in RAW and was trying to do a whole bunch of altering to get rid of the noise and probably ended up making it look way more funky. Yeah, I admit, I was shooting in auto... Thanks.

 

[Lynnzora]

As people have given what to do, let me ask one question. Why would you shoot at 1600 in daylight?

Yeah, sweety... was totally unaware. I was trying to get the shot really quick. These little boys were all over the place. I stuck it in auto and this is what I got

 

[musicaleCA]

Heh. Just one more reason to never use auto. It picked 1600? With that much light? Yeesh. Dumb machines.

 

[Baaaark]

Heh. Just one more reason to never use auto. It picked 1600? With that much light? Yeesh. Dumb machines.

I'm guessing she was shooting at 1600 for something else, and then when this situation came up, she just grabbed it. Probably the first shot of the day, and was using the camera at night or indoors before. I'm guessing her auto doesn't choose ISO for her.

BTW, great subjects...

 

[Lynnzora]

Yep just found out that the night before my husband was shooting my son at night at the park. So just switched it back to auto and I guess it didn't automatically go down. Well I learned my lesson. PLUS that noise reduction software was a big help. Will keep in case of emergencies. Thanks guys!