Noise Ninja

[thenimirra]

anybody ever use this free application to reduce noise in photos? If so, how did it work and can you fix this pic for me?

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t277/thenimirra/judywedsoscar.jpg

[ColoradoSkier]

I don't think the crazy eyes are from noise... :flipoff2:

[thenimirra]

LOL! My boss was the picture of happiness. I'm talking about the noise around her groom's head primarily...:P

[Hollywood8714]

im not trying jack your thread or anything, but whta exactly is noice? thanks

[thenimirra]

When I printed the photo out as an 8X10, there are a lot of green spots on Oscar's head and some other spots on Judy's head as well near her eyes. Noise is also grainy areas that show up in a pic.

that's how I understand it, but I'm still a noob.

What say you shutterbug gods?

[GrayT]

Noise is best characterized as undesirable "grain."

Noise looks good, usually, in black and white photos because it's chromatic. In color photos, it appears in random colors. The higher the ISO, the more noise (of course, depending on the camera's sensor itself, they have the ability to not show much noise at ISO 800, which is considered high)

It looks a lot like dead pixels on an LCD screen. It's hard to get rid of noise because you must soften the image. By doing this, you lose a lot of sharpness.

If you're good with PS, you can get rid of noise, then use an unsharpen mask to retain the picture quality...

I've heard of Noise Ninja, and that it's good, but never have I seen it in action before.

[thenimirra]

hmmm....should I change the photo then and make it black and white? would that lessen the noise, since I don't have PS?

great definition BTW....

Everytime I set up my manual settings based on the available light, they changed the light! I think this was one of the ones that suffered because of that.

It depends....on my Canon Rebel XTi, I was able to take several shots with ISO 1600 and never saw any grain. I think my ISO was set to 400 or 800 on this shot, but I can't remember. Not sure why there is so much grain.

[Trango]

I thought ISO referred to the film speed, which is not so much a setting as a variable in the environment you have to match to the film stock itself. ????

[thenimirra]

ISO (Sensitivity)
ISO is the number indicating a digital camera sensors sensitivity to light. The higher the sensitivity, the less light is needed to make an exposure.

Digital cameras automatically select the ISO but most have a setting to change it manually. Auto ISO generally works best for bright scenes.

Shooting at a lower ISO number requires more light than shooting at a higher number. Lower numbers result in images with the least visible noise, which is desirable.

The higher the number, the more noise. The amount and degree of noise varies from camera to camera.

Digital single reflex cameras (dSLR), because they have larger sensors, are best for producing noise-free images. However, some consumer digital cameras now have improved sensors that produce acceptable images at higher ISO.

ISO settings
AUTO ISO - digital camera automatically sets the ISO speed according the the brightness of the scene, increasing or decreasing the sensitivity. User has no control over which ISO number is used.

ISO 50 - 80 - for taking photos in bright light; excellent for close-ups, landscape, and portraits. Produces fine detail and image quality.

ISO 100 - for extra sensitivity with little, if any, reduced image quality.

ISO 200 - cloudy and overcast days. Acceptable image quality, with some visible noise.

ISO 400 and above - suitable for indoor photography whether or not a flash is used. Useful for "stop-action" and sports photographs. Most compact digital cameras produce high to very high image noise.

Changing ISO also changes the aperture and shutter speed.


Perhaps my ISO was set too high for this indoor shot even though it was very dark in the room. I know I was using 400 or 800 with flash during these wedding reception shots....Maybe I should have kept it at 200 or 400.

[Trango]

Ohhh digital.

[GrayT]

Film ISO and Digital ISO are both the same. They, like Nimirra said, are just a setting for the sensitivity of light.

Have they taught you about f-stop in class yet, Nimirra? A wider (smaller numerical number) f-stop would have netted same results, but with less ISO. It will decrease your DOF but increase the light intake.

I generally try to stick to 400, as anything about 800 looks too noisy for my tastes.

---

If you still have the original photo, you can look at the EXIF to see what your settings were. This can help you improve on things, also. It tells you what settings work and what settings don't. As I'm sure you are soon finding out, photography isn't about just being able to see the subject. It's much more indepth, huh?

[Hollywood8714]

thanks for the info guys!

[thenimirra]

Hey there Gray, yep my first class is over (it was a month long) and we hit all the basics, including ISO and aperture. I agree....any higher than 400 and I start to get noise too.

I'm waiting for the Dig Cam 2 class to start and I'm thinking about taking that Photoshop Elements class too. Denver Darkroom is a great program and has tons of classes. There's a cool night shooting class I want to take too!


A friend at work helped me finally realize what "correct exposure" is on my camera. It was there all the time...all the information I needed right in my viewfinder. I feel like such an idiot. I still don't always agree with what the camera says is the "correct exposure" ie sometimes it looks too dark for my tastes, but at least I understand now what Peterson is talking about. Since I prefer shooting in manual mode, I understand how the triangle works so much better regarding ISO, aperture and shutter speed.

I've already moved the originals over to my computer, but I think I can still get the properties of the shot, can't I?

[thenimirra]

thanks for the info guys!

no problem buddy....we are all in this together! :)

[GrayT]

Yeah, night photos can be a pain in the ass! :eek:

I can't wait until I go back to school and take a photography class. Even though my major is computer science, I'm taking a class just because I love to shoot. :cool:

[thenimirra]

what I think is funny is that NO one else who saw the photo even knew what I was talking about when I mentioned all the noise.

Apparently, normal folk don't see it...only us photo geeks!

[thenimirra]

Yeah, night photos can be a pain in the ass! :eek:

I can't wait until I go back to school and take a photography class. Even though my major is computer science, I'm taking a class just because I love to shoot. :cool:

what class are you taking?

You should join me at the Denver Darkroom. The classes are pricey, but excellent!

[GrayT]

I'd love to join ya, but I already set up my classes around my work schedule (which is a pretty tight fit for a full load + full-time)

I'll be taking ART-238 (which is Photography 3) at PPCC.

I could barely see any noise in your photograph, but I'm more than positive it was pretty aware at a higher resolution.

Sometimes when I take a picture and it comes out noisy, I'll just straight delete it and my friends will say "What?!" and I reply back with "It was noisy as hell." and they always give me this "What the hell are you talking about?" look. We are photo geeks, huh?! :D

[thenimirra]

I have a place in the world! I am a Shutterbug! hehehehe

What is PPCC?

[GrayT]

Pikes Peak Community College. I'm going there for my pointless AS, then once I graduate I'll be going to UCCS (University of Colorado, Colorado Springs) for my BS.

I tried Noise Ninja last night through a plug-in in PS and I couldn't figure it out...

Maybe we can just learn to shoot noiseless?! :flipoff2: