sacrafice ISO or speed?

[Grumpy]

Yah, I do that. It was called pushing in the days of film (ha, still is). You underexpose a stop (shoot 50 speed film at 100) and then tell the lab to push the development a stop higher to gain it back. You get some grain but you live with it if you need the speed.

I do that a lot on digital. I look at the histogram and use exposure comp to dial it down to the left end of the histogram. As long as you dont go off the left side you are not really losing data and you can gain it back in the computer later. Pixel peepers will say that it is better to stay in teh middle of the histogram or even towards the right side, but when you need to get the shot and you need the speed then stick to the left end of the histogram. Those pixel peepers spend too much time peeping and not enough out there actually making nice photos.

- darren

I let out an audible gaffaw upon reading the "pixel peepers" remark. In the film days we called 'em "grain sniffers."

Virtually no photographic image will withstand close inspection using a magnifying loupe. Fortunately, most of us -- save the pixel-peeping-grain-snifferds* -- don't view images that way: we look at them with naked eye (some of us with spectacles to correct vision defects) at normal viewing distances for the image size. That's the way to judge whether noise or grain is a problem.

I really like those perfectly graded images, in which details are rendered with superb detail and crispness and clarity, and the transition from one tonal value to the next is creamy smooth (even under a magnifying glass). But sometimes we just have to accept that noise or grain will creep in. To me, as a practical matter, it becomes problematic when noise or grain interferes in some substantial way with the image as it ordinarily will be used or viewed.

*("snifferds" was a typo, but serendipitous enough to let stand -- in good fun)

G.

 

[Tim Seaver]

Noise Ninja

Noise Ninja is an incredible tool ( Photoshop plug-in or standalone) for dealing with noise without sacrificing detail.

Here is the review from Luminous Landscape , and the manufacturer's website.

Give it a whirl, you won't be disappointed! It is FAR better than the existing noise reduction in Photoshop.

 

[kmorgan]

Noise Ninja is an incredible tool ( Photoshop plug-in or standalone) for dealing with noise without sacrificing detail.

Here is the review from Luminous Landscape , and the manufacturer's website.

Give it a whirl, you won't be disappointed! It is FAR better than the existing noise reduction in Photoshop.

Also check out Imagenomic's Noiseware Professional I have it and Noise Ninja and usually end up using Noiseware pro because Noise Ninja tends to over "soften" the images.

Kevin

Oh yeah, and Noiseware Pro can be used in LAB mode whereas Noise Ninja cannot. --KJM