Microstock Photography Forum - General > Photo Critique

Noise

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hatman12:
I used a Canon 350D for a couple of years then changed to a Nikon D200 last July.  Snapped away quite happily and thought nothing more until my snaps got rejected by the microstocks (SS and IS).  Not quite sure why they wer rejected, by the rejection made me concentrate hard on getting the best results possible from my D200.

Many people elsewhere complain about noise from the D200.  Many people on these threads have commented on noise, using Neat Image etc in an effort to get through the inspectors.

One of the things I have discovered with my D200 is that correct exposure eliminates all the noise.  And I mean exactly correct, not approximate.

I spent many days experimenting.  And I started doing something I had never done before - using the histogram.  I discovered that 'correct' exposure could be obtained only when the white highlights were edging on the histogram upper limit (edging, not touching).  Automatic exposure never achieved that.  As a result, all of the fifty odd pictures I have taken in the last week have been manual exposure only.

Using manual exposure with the histogram as a guide prodices simply excellent results on my D200, using RAW.

Here is a picture of a prawn I took last weekend using exactly this technique.  All I have done is convert to 100% quality jpeg in ACR.  No other changes have been made in ACR.  Then, I have applied a very small amount of additional contrast and saturation simply to compensate for the softness of the filter in the camera.  Lastly, a miniscule amount of USM (and I mean miniscule).

No other processing.  No noise reduction needed.  There is simply no noise.

Here's the file:

http://www.pbase.com/hatman/image/74432460/original

Anyway, it works for me and my D200.  Perhaps others can try this approach with their cameras.

leaf:
Although I agree with your approach and that 'shooting to the right' is a valuable technique. Link to tutorial on luminous landscape I think that if you were to shoot a deep blue sky you would still get noise.  Digital cameras have problems with blues.

hatman12:
Well I should have known that you would already have been up to speed on this technique leaf, but at least I can have the satisfaction of knowing that I discovered it for myself.

Yes, I've noticed that blues are a problem, and noise can quickly become apparent when upping the blue level.  Presumably the answer is to have a histogram in camera that can show the blue channel?

leaf:
hmm.. i suppose that might help a bit yeah, but if you shoot to the right you should be getting the image in the best area despite if you have a specific blue area on your histogram.  You can't just shoot the blue to the right and cut off the reds.

And despite the fact that I have heard about shooting to the right before, I am sure there are others who will find this useful.  I was happy to come across it (on another forum) when I first heard about it.

eendicott:
I don't use Nikon but I'll add to conversation that you have the right technique down (and you can probably adjust that contrast and saturation in the camera) but it also depends on the sensor.

The noise will increase on my Canon 20d when the environment around the camera gets warm.  In the heat of the summer, when the camera has been sitting out (like on a car seat or on a tripod) there will be more noise recorded.

This is also true if you are shooting multiple images.  The sensor tends to heat up and it adds noise.

I haven't noticed it as much on my 30d but then I haven't gone through a hot summer with the 30d yet.

My understanding is that it isn't as much of an issue on full frame sensors.

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