Noise.

[twoboysnmygirl]

I swear I must be doing something wrong. All the time I hear people say they would rather just fix the noise than have a blurry shot, but when I fix noise, I GET a blurry shot? When I use noise reduction, it really ruins the clarity of the picture. Is this the norm? I shot an indoor baby shower for a friend yesterday and my shots are full of noise. I can clean up the noise, but then the shot looks soft. Can someone give me any tips? Is noise just not really fixable? I have an OCF on the way, but yesterday I just had to bump up my ISO and I'm not happy with all the noise.

I guess I can post an example.

 

[SabrinaO]

I swear I must be doing something wrong. All the time I hear people say they would rather just fix the noise than have a blurry shot, but when I fix noise, I GET a blurry shot? When I use noise reduction, it really ruins the clarity of the picture. Is this the norm? I shot an indoor baby shower for a friend yesterday and my shots are full of noise. I can clean up the noise, but then the shot looks soft. Can someone give me any tips? Is noise just not really fixable? I have an OCF on the way, but yesterday I just had to bump up my ISO and I'm not happy with all the noise.

I guess I can post an example.

Not much you can do if you have a photo w/ alot of noise. Eliminating noise DOES reduce the clarity so you have slightly reduce noise. What do you use to reduce noise? I use LR3 and eliminate all color noise (if any) and slighly reduce the luminance. Then I sharpen a little. What was your ISO at? I think your options are if you always have noise is get a camera that handles noise better, get an OCF or just simply turn on ALL the lights and open curtains to the windows.

 

[oldmacman]

Here is your second pic sharpened by duplicating the layer and then changing the blend mode to "linear light". Apply a high pass filter to this layer and adjust the sharpness to the desired level. One of the benefits of sharpening this way is that you can mask out things that don't need to be sharpened, like skin. You can also step back a little by reducing the opactiy of the layer. This pic has been over-sharpened to show how far you can go, but I masked for the arm and face.

 

[gsgary]

It was blurred before you fixed the noise because you shot at 1/20

 

[Robin Usagani]

What size are you going to print it? If you just use it for web about the same size, or print on 5x7 or 4x6, dont reduce the noise. It is good the way it is. I love noise on B&W. Often I dont bother reducing the noise if it is black and white.

 

[Overread]

First off what software for editing do you have access to? Finer control over noise will be dependant upon what software you use and thus what controls are possible

 

[KmH]

It was blurred before you fixed the noise because you shot at 1/20

Yep, and had to use ISO 800 because your kit lens at 55 mm can only open to f/5.6.

At high ISO your exposure has to be spot on. Any under exposure will make image noise more visible.

As mentioned noise reduction, by necessity, reduces detail. But noise reduction is only one side of a coin. The other side of the coin is image sharpening.

Here is some info that may help:
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/image-noise.htm

 

[mwcfarms]

Here is your second pic sharpened by duplicating the layer and then changing the blend mode to "linear light". Apply a high pass filter to this layer and adjust the sharpness to the desired level. One of the benefits of sharpening this way is that you can mask out things that don't need to be sharpened, like skin. You can also step back a little by reducing the opactiy of the layer. This pic has been over-sharpened to show how far you can go, but I masked for the arm and face.

I haven't sharpened things much this way but am definitely going to give it a try. Thanks

 

[Overread]

Here is some info that may help:
Digital Camera Image Noise: Concept and Types

Just to emphasise - that is a fantastic site and well worth reading through! A lot of well written and informative articles on there!

 

[KmH]

The bare arms now look fake. I know you mentioned you over did it, but just so everyone knows, that is very easy to do unintentionally.

http://bythom.com/sharpening.htm

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/image-sharpening.htm

http://www.adobe.com/designcenter/photoshop/articles/phscs2at_advsharpen.html

Most if not all digital images require sharpening, even if shot on a state of the art digital megaresolution SLR with pin-sharp focusing....

 

[twoboysnmygirl]

Thanks everyone! Yes, on this shot I had my 55-200 lens on to try and zoom in a little. For the majority of the time I used my 35mm, but after a while it felt limiting b/c they had a ceremony and I was trying to stay out of the way...there's always some circumstance, right?!

I had lights on, huge picture window open...it's insane.

I use Capture NX2 for almost all my editing, but I have PS4 as well, so maybe I will sharpen there. It's a lot of going back and forth between NX2 and PS4 though, and I'm not sure that is good for the quality of the shots either. I shoot in RAW, but if I have to save in JPEG and then move it over to PS4 to sharpen, that can't be good.

 

[KmH]

I shoot in RAW, but if I have to save in JPEG and then move it over to PS4 to sharpen, that can't be good.

PS 4 is really old (mid-1990's), unless you mean CS4? They are not the same thing.

 

[twoboysnmygirl]

Thanks everyone! Yes, on this shot I had my 55-200 lens on to try and zoom in a little. For the majority of the time I used my 35mm, but after a while it felt limiting b/c they had a ceremony and I was trying to stay out of the way...there's always some circumstance, right?!

I had lights on, huge picture window open...it's insane.

I use Capture NX2 for almost all my editing, but I have PS4 as well, so maybe I will sharpen there. It's a lot of going back and forth between NX2 and PS4 though, and I'm not sure that is good for the quality of the shots either. I shoot in RAW, but if I have to save in JPEG and then move it over to PS4 to sharpen, that can't be good.

PS 4 is really old (mid- 1990's), unless you mean CS4? They are not the same thing.

I'm sorry, I'm sitting here sick as a dog and my brain isn't working! I have CS4.

 

[KmH]

I'm sorry, I'm sitting here sick as a dog and my brain isn't working! I have CS4.

Not everyone knows that Adobe® changed to the Creative Suite designation after PhotoShop® 7

PS 1 - Feb. 1990 (Mac only)
PS 2 - June 1991 (code name (*)- Fast Eddy, Mac only)
PS 2.5 - Nov. 1992 (* Merlin for Mac, * Brimstone for Windows)
PS 3 - Sept. 1994, Mac - Nov. 1994, Windows * Tiger Mountain
PS 4 - Nov. 1996 * Big Electric Cat
PS 5 - May 1998 * Strange Cargo
PS 6 - Sept. 2000 * Venus in Furs
PS 7 - March 2002 * Liquid Sky
CS - Oct. 2003 * Dark Matter
CS 2 - April 2005 * Space Monkey
CS 3 - April 2007 * Red Pill
CS 4 - Oct. 2008 * Stonehenge
CS 5 - April 2010 * White Rabbit

Look for CS 6 around Oct. 2012.