Keep Down the Noise!

This week I thought I’d write about another subject that I am frequently asked about, noise. First let’s take a look at noise as it pertains to photography. What is noise? Well, noise is the pixelation that happens in your images when you use too much ISO.

Many of the new cameras are capable of high ISO settings, some as high as 256,000 believe it or not. Increasing the ISO on your camera allows you to compensate for low light conditions but is not the ideal way to compensate for it. The ISO setting makes your cameras sensor more sensitive to lighting and your exposure. As you move the number higher, you camera is able to pull in more light from the available light in the conditions. The bad part is when you go too high in ISO, you start getting noise introduced into your images and they start to look sloppy instead of having a nice, fine quality.

Even though most modern cameras can go to large ISO settings, it’s not recommended to do so as the quality of your image will suffer. If you ask most any professional photographer, they will tell you that the maximum ISO that anyone should ever use is ISO 800, as once you get above ISO 800, noise really becomes an issue. Ideally, they will go on to tell you that ISO 50 or 100 is the best to use as it offers the finest quality to the final image. So, how do you keep down the noise if you are shooting in less than ideal lighting conditions? By using a better lens, capable of a wider aperture to allow more light to reach your sensor or by using artificial lighting, such as strobes or continuous, hot light kits.

This image shot at ISO 3200, notice all the noise?

The wide lens option is the best as a lens with a wider aperture will naturally allow more light in. Thins of the aperture of your lens as being the same as the pupil in your eye. When you are in low light conditions, your pupils enlarge so that your eyes can take in more light and allow you to see better. If it’s a bright, sunny day your pupils will become very small as you don’t need as much light allowed in to see. Aperture works the same way as your pupil, when you have a wide aperture lens, say an F/1.4 your lens is opened up allowing more ambient light into your sensor to make the exposure. The down side of wide aperture lenses is that they are generally expensive. Take the most popular lens from one of my earlier posts, the 70-200mm. As I mentioned in that earlier post the 70-200mm from Canon comes in two apertures, F/4 and F/2.8. The F/4, which I currently own is a fantastic lens and takes beautiful images with outdoor light, but if I needed to shoot indoors, say at a concert or indoor sports like basketball the F/2.8 will work better because it can open wider than the F/4 and let more of the natural light in that environment into my sensor. The difference in price is significant, with the 70-200mm F/4 L lens costing around $800 and the 70-200mm F/2.8 costing around $2,100.

Same image shot at ISO 100, notice the fine quality?

As I mentioned earlier in this post, the other option to prevent noise is to use artificial lighting such as a Speedlite external flash, or full blown strobes or even hot lights. These will allow you to keep your cameras ISO down really low if the lights are powerful enough to compensate for the poor natural lighting. Flash is not ideal in most low light conditions such as concerts or indoor sports as the flash is distracting, which is why if you are at a basketball game or watching one on TV you will notice that most all of the sports photographers there will have no flash but will instead be using that big fat F/2.8 70-200mm to get the shots they need for sports magazines and websites.

Now, since most of the AI family reading this post are students, I am assuming you are not rich enough to buy all your lenses at F/2.8 or wider as it is very costly. I would recommend to you that you invest in one expensive F/2.8 zoom such as the 70-200mm and buy the rest of your lenses in whatever aperture you can afford and use. If you do want to buy a good 70-200mm F/2.8, then you can always rent one from www.borrowlenses.com or from www.lumoid.com. I personally love Lumoid as they let you try before you buy and if you want to own that lens, they will split that cost up over three months to make it more affordable. I am not certain Borrow Lenses offers the same option as I have never used them but I know Reuben has and he can probably best answer that question.

Now get out there and make some great images.

Comments/Questions

Night Portraits

   Since photography is literally “painting with light”, one of the greatest challenges in photography is having enough light to do your work. Many photographers buy cameras especially made for high ISO with low noise like the newer Nikons. Other photographers learn and hone their skills using off camera flash like Canon or Nikon Speedlights and still others just avoid shooting in low light situations all together.

    I am personally the kind of photographer who is not afraid of new challenges and always willing to try something new and leave my comfort zone. Yesterday I went out and shot for my personal project as well as my Professional Portfolio class. In the evening, I met with my new photo club to shoot Christmas lights in Conyers, Ga. I have not done a lot of night shooting other than night time long exposures but wanted to try something new, so in addition to shooting Christmas lights around the city, I played around with some night portraits.

    I used one of the clubs member’s son, who was with us and frequently becomes his mom’s modeling guinea pig and made him my victim as well. I did two portraits of him standing in a partially lit alley with only a street light above him and using my iPhone 6 Plus on “torch” mode with it’s LED flash on continuous as a catch/fill light. I am posting them here in both color and B&W as I think the image works either way. I am not saying they are perfect, but I think they turned out pretty good for a first time trying this.

    The point is, in order to grow as a photographer, we need to be willing to try new things and get out of our comfort zone. I know you’ve heard your professors tell you that a time or three and it’s true. To really grow and perfect your skills as a professional, you have to try, practice and experiment. Now get out there and make some awesome photos!
Comments/Questions

Shooting in Low Light

Last Sunday I wrote about how to get yourself out of Auto mode on your DSLR. This week I am going to touch on shooting in low light situations where you cannot use flash.

Shooting in low light can be a challenge for any photographer and many of you will be asked to do it at some point in your photography career, such as shooting bands in bars or night clubs and everyone knows how poor the lighting is in these places and generally you cannot use your flash here at it is too distracting. You also cannot use Auto mode on your camera due to all the variances in the room, your camera will constantly be confused when trying to set the exposure due to stage lights and other things going on in the back ground.

Low light photography such as this is tricky but not impossible and it’s a matter of having the right gear to get the good shots. The following information will help you accomplish your mission.

Use the fastest/widest lens Aperture-wise that you can afford. A lens such as a 50mm F/1.8 to F/1.2 will go a long way in shooting in this situation, plus they are great for group shots of the band and portraits if you move close.

Use a camera with a higher ISO range. I know last week I told you to keep your ISO as low as possible but in this case, you WILL need a higher ISO like 1600 or 3200 to get the images to come out. The thing to remember here is newer cameras are better at high ISO and although I am a Canon shooter, Nikon's dominate here, check any review on Youtube.

Move around. You are not going to get the shots you need unless you are willing to move around. Remember, you are shooting a band so you will have to get around the fans or people dancing so don’t be afraid to move up close to the stage to get the good shots.

Get the candid shots. Don’t be afraid to stick around and get shots of the band after the show or during an intermission. Some of the greatest musician or band photos are of the artists just relaxing after the show either backstage or on their bus. The shot of the bassist holding their bass and relaxing or even practicing their chords before the show can be some really great images.
Get some good group shots. Many times when a band hires you to shoot a show they are going to want to use the images on their web site or even as the cover of their new album. Make sure you get a few good shots of the band together before or after the show.

Shooting in low light can be very challenging but can also be very rewarding. Once you master this type of photography, you are well on your way to becoming an accomplished professional. I want to thank my good friend Jessi James for donating these images showing what can go right and what can go wrong. Jessi shoots band quite frequently, so she has mastered shooting in this low light situation. Jessi is a classmate here at the Art Institute working on her Bachelor's in photography.

 Now get out there and shoot some fantastic images. Give low light photography a try and feel free to post your comment or questions and post your images here or on the Google + Page.


Comments/Questions

Lights and the Season!

Good Day Everyone and welcome to another Terrific Tuesday!

Several weeks ago I wrote about the opportunities that are presented when the Winter season arrives, and as I was reading Saturday post (check it out) my classmate wrote a great post about the aspect of lighting. That was a great post and the information presented was a great one to read and to share with everyone.

Look at the image above, that was taken last week in Nebraska, and then look at the other images in this page, they all share something in common, the quality of the light help in creating a good image and also helps in creating an effect.  In order to get great images on a consistent basis, you need to know your camera and the appropriate settings.

So, for the above image remember to:

1. Check your white balance.
2. Check and double check your aperture and shutter speed settings.
3. Use a tripod, it will prevent camera shake and if you have a remote, use it.
4. Be aware of the ISO at all times.

Ok, so we have taken images in the snow (which is a very bright scenario) and now you have moved back to a warmer State and want to take images of the lights in a low lighting scenario.  Check out these images:

0.3 sec @ f5.0 with ISO 800

1/20 sec @ f5.0 with ISO 400

The above images were taken at about 8:00 PM CST with settings described under each image.  The recommendations for the image in the snow applies to the low light images at night.  My point is very simple, you need to know your camera and play and practice with the available light in order to get the images.  The season is here and it doesn't matter if you live in Nebraska or in Texas, opportunities to take different and great images come around once every year, seize that opportunity!

Want to read about taking images in low light? Here is a good place to start:

http://photographylife.com/low-light-digital-photography-tips

I hope this inspire some of you to go out there and take some images, play with your camera, be creative and get out there and have some fun!

Until next week, very respectfully,

Your Tuesday Ambassador