Removing "Noise" with Lightroom

One of the biggest advantages of digital cameras or DSLR’s over their film counterparts is the ability to switch ISO settings on the fly. ISO is the amount of light that you let into the camera’s sensor and in the days of film cameras this was accomplished with film speed, sometimes called ASA instead of ISO.

So if you wanted to shoot outdoors, you would load a roll of ISO or ASA 100 or 200 and be good to go, but if you then moved into a dimly lit building and wanted to shoot, you needed either a flash on that camera or you needed to have used up that roll of 100 or 200 film and switch to 400 or 800 to shoot well in those conditions.

With the advent of the digital camera, you can shoot outdoors at ISO 100, and then step indoors and with the flip of a switch or wheel, shoot at ISO 800 or even higher like 6400 or maybe even 12,800. The problem is as your ISO gets higher, you get digital “noise” in your photos. Noise is the little dots, speckles or grain look in your image that I am sure most everyone has seen at one time or another.

See the grains of noise in this image. I shot indoors at ISO 2000

 Some cameras are better at others at handling high ISO, low noise, but at some point even the best of these cameras will end up with noise in your images and it can make the image ugly and unusable. Luckily, Lightroom can help mitigate this for you and make this image useable again.

When you load your images in Lightroom and come across an image that has noise, this is how you can clean it up in the Lightroom Develop Module. The two big noise removal sliders are under the Detail section and called Luminance and Color.

After some Luminance and Color noise reduction notice the image is much cleaner

Here is what each does. Luminance: This kind of noise affects the brightness, but not the color, of individual pixels. If you had a picture of a dark grey piece of paper with a great deal of luminance noise it would appear similar to old-school television static with lots of light and dark fuzz.

Color or sometimes called Chroma noise: This shows up as oddly-colored pixels, scattered throughout an image, almost like someone has tossed a handful of red, blue, and green grains of sand at it. Lightroom calls this “Color” noise, but it’s just another term for Chroma noise.
Now, although you can remove considerable noise with Lightroom, you want to make sure you are careful not to use too much noise reduction as it can make the images look fake and give everything a plastic look. A lot of pros will counter some of the effects of the noise reduction by using some sharpening as well for the best results.

A side by side of the before on the left and after on the right.

 As you can see in my side by side before and after shot, the Lightroom noise reduction did help clean up this image a lot.

Comments/Questions

Mirrorless vs DSLR

Today more and more people are asking myself and others, what’s the difference between Mirrorless and DSLR cameras? Which one is better than the other, and why do both exist?

Well, let’s start with a DSLR as most people know what they are. A DSLR is a Digital Single Lens Reflex camera system. This means there is one lens on the camera and a mirror that reflects what the lens sees and feeds that data into the pentaprism so that we can see what the shot will look like through an optical viewfinder. When the photo is snapped, the mirror flips up out of the way so the light and image hits the sensor directly and the photo is taken. DSLRs are the workhorse of modern photography, but they are heavy and can be more expensive than Mirrorless cameras.

                                         Sony NEX 6 Mirrorless camera 16-50mm F/3.5-5.6

A Mirrorless camera is one that has no mirror assembly, the light and image pass directly through the lens onto the sensor and mirrorless cameras have either an LCD to look at and compose the image with or an electronic viewfinder which feeds the image from the sensor directly to your viewfinder and eye and you see exactly what the sensor sees. This is nice because as you adjust your settings, your eye sees a more accurate rendition of what the final image will look like, but the downside is battery life and speed. My DSLR can shoot up to 1,000 images on a battery charge, where my Sony NEX 6 can only last for around 300-400 shots.

                                        Canon 5D Classic Full frame camera 17-40mm F/4 L

DSLRs have a wider range of lenses to choose from and a much faster Auto Focus system then Mirrorless cameras too, so most any serious photographer is going to shoot with a DSLR. But Mirrorless cameras do have their place and they keep getting better and better all the time. If you shoot nothing but landscapes and portraits, you can get by with just a Mirrorless camera and they do come in both crop sensor models like my NEX 6 as well as full frame models like the Sony A7 series and the Fuji X100 series.

So, which platform is right for you? Only you can decide that. Like I said, if you need fast AF and a wide selection of lenses and want to shoot sports you will want to go with a DSLR, but if you shoot non-action like landscapes and portraits only, certainly give a Mirrorless a try. Mirrorless cameras do also tend to cost less, you can get a new Sony A7 series for a little over $1,000 for a brand new full frame model, where a DSLR full frame will run you $1,800 to $7,000. You can even go to a company like Lumoid and rent a Mirrorless for 3 dys and try it out for yourself. How is the image quality? Check out the two images I post here. One is shot with my Sony NEX 6 Mirrorless and the other with my Canon 5D Classic using the same scene for both images. Which one looks better to you if either?

Now get out there and make some great images!

Comments/Questions

Keeping Your DSLR Sensor Clean

    One of the biggest problems we face as photographers is keeping that DSLR sensor clean when shooting, especially when shooting outdoors. Your sensor is the primary component inside your camera for capturing and preserving those moments to the memory card and needs to always be in the best possible condition and clean to take great photos. Dirt, dust, oils and general grime on the sensor will show up on your images and make them look badly such as the example below from The Digital picture.com

    Those two spots you see are from sensor dust and they are imbedded in your image. Now you can remove them using Photoshop, Lightroom and some other editing programs, but why not prevent them all together? I am going to give you some tips for keeping the dust and dirt out of your sensor.

Never touch the inside of your DSLR, especially with you fingers. The internal workings behind your lens are not meant for your fingers so, keep them out!
Only change your lens in a semi controlled environment. What I mean by this is don’t change your lenses outdoors in 35mph winds as you are just asking for sensor dirt.
Keep your camera pointed down when changing lenses. I am not sure why so many people don’t get this one. Holding the camera with the opening facing forward or up just invites the dirt in, holding it down makes it harder for it to get in.
Never change the lens with the camera powered on. Will it ruin your camera to do so, no but it will keep a static charge inside the shutter area and allow dust to be drawn to your sensor like a magnet.
   
    I have found, one of the easiest ways to keep my sensor clean is just limit how often I change lenses. I never change them outdoors if I can help it. I carry 2-3 bodies when I am shooting outdoors and I equip one body with a wide angle lens for landscapes, the second one will have a portrait lens of some sort for capturing people and my third will have a nice telephoto zoom for anything else I might need to shoot. Now I know you are thinking “I’m not rich enough to afford 2-3 camera bodies.” You’d be surprised the deals you can find at local pawn shops or yard sales, often people don’t realize what they have and will sell the bodies cheap. Also, who says you need the latest, most expensive body out there. Instead of buying one $1,000-$3,000 body, use that money to buy 2-3 bodies that are cheaper because they are the older model, like getting a Canon 1Ds full frame for $500 that was made in 2004 but still shoots great, instead of the Canon 1Dx which runs $7,000. Too many people don’t seem to realize that it is not the camera that takes the great images, it’s the person behind it.
    Until next Sunday, this is the Sunday Ambassador saying get out there and make some great images!

Comments/Questions

So Fresh and So Clean!

Keeping your DSLR clean. Source: MyDigitalCamera.us.

The investments we make in our gear are vast. We spend time researching to choose just the right camera and lenses, money to make the purchases, and more time to learn our gear inside and out. If you're not sure of the best ways to maintain and clean your valuable items, read on for some easy methods you can incorporate into your routine.

Lenses - Glass

A microfiber cloth (or disposable lens cleaning cloths) and optical cleaner are must-haves for your camera bag. I also keep a lens pen in mine, which has two ends: one to brush away dust, and one with a flat surface to buff out smudges. An air blower is a big more bulky, so I just keep one at home for between-shoot cleanings.

Lenses and Camera Bodies - Focus Rings

The focus connection points on your lenses and camera body need attention. You can give them a cosmetic cleaning with a microfiber cloth, but for a deeper clean you can dampen a cotton swab with Purosol and gently clean out any grit.

Camera Sensor

Far and away the most intimidating part of the camera to clean, many people choose to send their cameras out for sensor cleaning. This can be very costly, though, and it's relatively easy to do it yourself. The first step is to use your camera's self-cleaning option, but that doesn't always do the trick. For tougher dust specks, I like to use the sensor gel stick by Photography Life. I find it so much better and less likely to do damage than the cleaning kits that require swabbing across the sensor. Again, though, if the idea of exposing your sensor scares you, take your camera to the shop.

When you're not shooting, make sure your gear is stored sealed in bags or cases to avoid dust getting into crevices. Taking regular measures to maintain your gear will make it last much longer. If you have other tips on maintaining and cleaning your camera and lenses, leave a comment!

-Friday Ambassador

Work Cited:

"How to Clean DSLR Camera Sensor." My Digital Camera. MyDigitalCamera.us, 14 July 2011. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.

"Optical Lens Cleaner." Purosol. Purosol, 2011. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.

Wide-Angle Wednesday: Is that spot on the lens or sensor?

Corina Scoggins "Good Morning Saturday" 22 Feb 2014

Good Morning Fellow Photography Classmates and Faculty!

I’m excited to be back in a photography course this term and as expected I have been shooting my little heart out. I recently purchased the Canon 100mm Macro USM lens and I have been trying to achieve the awesome macro shots we have all come to see in macro photography. Below is a mystery rainbow that appeared on my living room ceiling yesterday morning. I'm still wondering what caused the prism to appear, but I used the macro lens to capture the image. It must be noted that my home faces North and South, and the light coming into my home was defused by window blinds. Maybe it was a fore shadow to brighten my day because as you read on, you will see that my day didn't pan out so well.  

Corina Scoggins "Magic House Rainbow" 25 Feb 2014

Yesterday while out shooting for the upcoming assignment I had a moment in which shut down the use of my camera. I had been shooting for three hours when I started to notice spots in the images. I do a lot of outside shooting and from moment to moment I tend to switch out lenses constantly. My biggest worry has always been dust getting on the sensor or on the lens. 

I recently read a thread in a local photography group about this very issue. The recommendation was to change the lens and take a shot. If the spots were gone, then the spots are coming from the previous lens. If the spots were still in the image, then chances are something is on the sensor. Luck was not on my side; the spots continued to appear on the images. This forced me to have to wrap everything up, and head for home.

Corina Scoggins "Hawk at Happy Hollow" 25 Feb 2014

Knowing our little town doesn’t have anyone who specializes in cameras, I knew I would have to solve the issue myself.  With the Internet at my fingertips, I started the search for recommendations. If the Internet wasn’t available, the best recommendation would be to pull out the book, but I simply searched Canon sensor cleaning to find the help page on Canon.com. 

Majority of DSLR cameras have a built in sensor cleaning. I knew my camera had built in sensor cleaning and if I simply would have turned off the camera; the camera would have commenced to clean the sensor. Of course during the moment, my concern was getting home to solve the issue. Little did I know the issue was solved upon turning off the camera. With the looming deadline for the assignment, my mind was not focused. Not having a backup camera, my fear was the assignment would not be complete with the images shot on Sunday and Monday. So I continued to read on to figure out how to fix a problem that had self-fixed.

Corina Scoggins "MP Memorial Grove" 25 Feb 2014

If the initial sensor cleaning had not corrected the issue, Canon recommends two methods. The first recommendation was to use the rubber air blower technique. The second recommendation would be to take the camera to a Canon Service Center. I followed the instructions for the first recommendation and proceeded to use the rubber air blower bulb I had purchased many moons ago and glad I had it available. Other options are talked about on the help page but are NOT recommended by Canon, yet they do write about these options. 

Thankfully the issue was resolved and I will be bearing the frigid temperatures to finish shooting for the assignment due. I’m glad the camera didn’t have to be sent to Canon, but the Girl Scout in me has me thinking if I should purchase a backup camera. Nothing new, something used but most importantly a camera that could be used just in case. Additionally, I really need to better plan for desired shots that will limit the changing out of lenses. Below I have included the links to both the Canon and Nikon self help in regards to sensor cleaning. Hopefully you will never have this issue, but just in case, it’s best to “BE PREPARED”.

Canon Users

Nikon Users

Alright, why didn't I share the images with the spots? I could simply state that I had NO images with spots! Yes it's true, I freaked out about something that didn't exist. Here is the portion of the story in which I left out above. Everything written is exactly what occurred, and the spots I seen had nothing to do with my camera sensor or lens. The spots I was seeing all of a sudden was on the viewfinder! Now I do have to assume that the spots appeared while I had walked away to my vehicle and left the camera on the tripod. I say this because I had not noticed these spots until I walked back to the camera and started to shoot landscape. After everything was said and done, my mood was a little tempered for making such a rookie mistake. Today I can admit that it's a comical moment, and why not share with everyone on PSPN. Punishment for seeing spots and jumping to conclusion...temperatures in the teens. 

Well I hope today's blog will be a guidance in how to deal with spots? Even if spots had appeared in the images, chances are you wouldn't noticed them until you imported the images. If your seeing spots, clean the viewfinder first. Import the images to confirm if the spots are truly an issue on the images. Then proceed with the instructions to fully resolve any issues. 

Question of the Day

Have you ever jumped to conclusions while out on a shoot?

Share your comments, suggestions, and stories below

You're Wacky Wednesday Student Ambassador

Corina