Help with "noise"

[loveebugg3]

Okay, so today I went and shot some baseball games and some of the pictures came out wonderful, but the problem is... there is to much "noise". I know that is from having the ISO way to high but I had to because I was shooting at night and the lighting was terrible. Anyway, I was wondering if there was a way I could reduce it. If not its fine but I figured I should ask.

 

[TheNevadanStig]

Most post programs should have a noise reduction feature. You will lose detail/sharpness using it though.

 

[KmH]

Before you even shoot, if there is not a lot of light you need to either add light, use a lens that can let a lot of light in, and/or crank up the ISO setting.

The first step to reducing image noise is by using in the camera exposure settings that keep image highlights to the right side of the image histogram.

Tones & Contrast

• Understanding Histograms, Part 1: Tones & Contrast
• Understanding Histograms, Part 2: Luminosity & Color

That digital photo exposure control technique is know as Expose To The Right, or ETTR.
Optimizing Exposure
ETTR
Exposing to the right - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Noise reduction and image sharpening are directly related.
As mentioned noise reduction generally is going to impact image sharpness so some image sharpening can counteract some of that impact.
The trick is to strike a happy medium between the 2 because over sharpening can also degrade image quality.

 

[robbins.photo]

Noise reduction software helps in post, but the pictures won't be as clear or as vibrant as ones shot in good light. Ultimately for situations like that the best solution is either faster glass (lenses with a wider aperture) or adding light in some way, such as a flash.

A lot of sports venues frown on flash photography so in general I've found faster glass is usually your best bet - the drawback being of course that fast telephoto lenses are expensive.

 

[fazapan]

Many softwares have a noise reduction feature. But too much will make the image blur. You may use a USM sharpen feature after the noise reduction to recover some of the lost details.

 

[KmH]

Digital Camera Image Noise: Concept and Types

Tutorials - Sharpness