Modern technologies allow people to enjoy pictures and photographs, which, in fact, are no different from reality. They incredibly accurately convey the essence of what is happening, they have no interference, blur, bumps and other defects. But sometimes, when you take a picture with a new, high-quality camera, you get a picture with digital noise. What to do in such situations and how to deal with it?
What it is?
Before we begin to explain certain phenomena in the world of photography with scientific words, let's simplify the task a bit. Remember how before (before the appearance of satellite dishes that tell us “no signal”), not tuned channels looked like. The entire screen was filled with a kind of “white noise”, the so-called waves, which do not transform into an image, but exist in a chaotic manner. They are mostly black and white, and if you adjust the volume in the audible range, you can hear a characteristic sound. Digital noise - this is the name of this phenomenon, whose roots descend into the nature of photons, especially their vital functions.
A similar defect can be found in photographs. Often we saw pictures that are fully or partially covered with "fine sand" - dots of different sizes and different colors. They may not match the palette of the photo, which is why they are striking. Photographers, even despite the latest developments in the field of digital technology, are still faced with digital noise.
Film and number
Let's briefly return to the twentieth century. Then we shot on film "soap dishes" and "DSLRs", then the pictures showed up in the laboratory, and such a phenomenon as graininess was very common. You can even notice the gradation - the older the photo, the more “sand” in it, which distracts the eye from the main picture. But in the old days, people were content with this, since in principle photography was a breakthrough. Over time, everything began to change. Small-grain films appeared on the market, which had a low photosensitivity, which made it possible to visually reduce digital noise. We also struggled with this phenomenon through a special technique for developing images, which allowed us to reduce this defect. The advent of digital cameras did not solve the problem. It turned out that it was not the film that was to blame for such deviations, but the very photons that refract and in a chaotic manner literally “fall” onto the image.
Varieties
There are two types of digital noise division when it comes to modern cameras. Here is the first one:
- Constant. It manifests itself in the form of a monotonous point of a specific size, color and shape, which is present in all photographs in a certain place. It's all about the "hot" or "dead" pixels that are in your camera. Most often, such a defect manifests itself during long exposures, when the device overheats.
- Random. It looks different in every new photo. Points have different sizes, colors, and are always scattered in a new way in the picture. Most clearly, such digital noise is visible on monophonic surfaces - skin, sky, curtain, etc.
Photographers also share this defect according to another scheme:
- Luminance noise - manifests itself in the form of subtle dots of black color and is randomly scattered around the picture. Reminds the very grain of the film.
- Chromatic noise is a bright dot in a color other than the photo palette. He catches the eye and spoils the whole picture.
Reasons for the appearance
It’s not enough to know how to get rid of digital noise, it is worth familiarizing yourself with the nature of its appearance from the beginning. Here are some of the reasons that can become the source of such a defect:
- The small dimensions of the photosensor, combined with high resolution, increase the noise level for a particular matrix. Therefore, do not chase the pixels, it is better to ensure that their characteristics correspond to the parameters of the lens.
- ISO, or sensitivity of sensors. The higher it is, the more likely it is to get a picture with noise. First, familiarize yourself with the ISO range acceptable for your camera, and then adjust it manually.
- Exposure The longer it is, the more the device heats up, therefore, interference appears.
Now we come to the main question: how to remove digital noise? This process is divided into two stages: the noise is neutralized at the time of the shot and after it is “erased” or suppressed during editing.
Stage one
It is better to solve problems of this kind in advance, since then in the finished photograph, no matter how successful it may be, it may not be possible to remove all the defects. Therefore, carefully prepare for the process before taking a picture.
- Reduce photosensitivity - ISO.
- Reduce exposure.
- Expanding the aperture of the lens.
- We use additional lighting, such as a flash.
- Almost all cameras have a "noise reduction" function. It adapts to the ISO exposure and exposure time you have, and maximally cleans the pictures, removing all unnecessary spots and dots from them. But with very high sensitivity and exposure, this technology may not be effective. It will only partially clear the image, and at the same time, some “echoes” of noise will still remain.
- We shoot in RAW format. The fact is that this format contains more information about the photograph, therefore, with further editing, you can more effectively get rid of all errors.
Stage Two
The following is the suppression of digital noise using special editors and plugins that are installed in programs. There is nothing complicated in this process, professionals have long learned how to deal with such a defect. Let's find out how they do it.
- You can get rid of noise with the built-in functions of Photoshop or the standard Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.
- There are some macros or actions that are used in parallel with Photoshop. Their main goal is to cope with digital noise and clear the photo of noise.
- There are many plugins also designed specifically to deal with this kind of defect. These are Akvis Noise Buster, Noise Ninja, Neat Image and many others.
- Use the converter for RAW files. There are many additional tools that suppress noise, such as Adobe Camera Raw.
- Digital noise can also be removed by reducing the resolution of the image after it has been completely processed. In fact, after the "resize" the noise size remains the same, only now it becomes less noticeable, since the photo already does not have such a large resolution.
Photography and its features
It is reliably known that the highly sensitive optics with which we take pictures “sees” much more than the human eye. Agree that looking at a beautiful landscape, you see everything clearly (from your point of view), there is no interference, gradations, the picture is just perfect. You want to shoot it on camera, and you already see noises in the finished picture - how did they get there? Yes, if we are talking about constant noise, then the matter is in technology, but when the photo is strewn with "sand", and even multi-colored, the question arises: what is it?
The fact is that in front of us constantly “fly” photons, which we simply do not see. A sensitive lens “swallows” them and displays them on a photo card. If you increase the illumination, the photons will become less noticeable - they will light up, and the image will become as clear as you see it. That's the trick - just the camera sees a little more than you and I.
Conclusion
In order for the photos to be obtained as clear, bright and free from defects, adjust the camera before the picture and carefully edit the finished frames. There are a lot of programs and settings, get used to one of them - and you can take the most amazing photos in the world that everyone will love and appreciate.