U
NLESSYOU’REFLYINGa top-end
professionaldronewitha MicroFour- ThirdsorAPS-Ccamera,noiseis
alwaysgoingtobe noticeable, evenatISO
- A 1insensor,suchasthatusedbytheDJI
Mavic 2 Pro,is nevergoingtoprovidethe
imagequalityyou’vebecomeaccustomed
towithyourDSLRor mirrorlesscamera.
Thebestwaytoovercomethisissueis to
usea techniqueknownasnoisestacking.
For this,youneedtousetheburstmode
featuretoshootfiveidenticalexposuresin
quicksuccession,whichshouldbe setto
recordasRawfiles.Thesearethen
processedinLightroomandexportedinto
Photoshopwheretheycanbeblended
together toreducenoise.This works
becauseeachexposurehasadifferentnoise
pattern,andwhenblendedtogether the
noiseis averagedin a singleimage resulting
in a significantlycleanerresult.
The moreexperiencedimage editorsout
theremaynowbethinking,‘whywouldn’t
yousimply useLuminanceNoiseReduction
inLightroomorotherRawprocessing
software?’ Andthehonestansweris thatif
you’relookingforthesmoothestnoisewith
maximumclarityanddetail,noisestackingis
muchmoreeffectivethansimplyusing
LuminanceNoiseReduction.Chromanoise
reductionis still worth applyingthough.
REDUCE NOISE
MANYDRONESHAVESMALLSENSORS
PRODUCINGNOISE EVENATISO 100.
DRAMATICALLYREDUCE NOISE USING
THIS IMPRESSIVE TECHNIQUE...84 DigitalSLR PhotographyDecember 2019
SHOOT INRAW:IfyourdroneoffersRaw
shooting– mostdo– it’sworthshooting
DNGs.Not onlydo youhavemorecontrol
overhowimagesareprocessedand
ultimatelylook,but youalsohave more
controlover noisereduction.
TRRY TOSTICKTOISO 100 :Sincedronescan
onlybeflownin daylight,it’smostcommon
tobeabletoshootat ISO 100 in most
situations,whichwillproducethelowest
levelsof noise. Ifit'swindyorheavily
overcast,trytoonlyraiseISOtoamaximum
of 400asa lastresort.
DON’T FORGETTOSETTHEFOCUSPOINT:Some
droneshavea fixedfocus,soyoudon’thave
toworryaboutfocuspoints.Butifyour
dronehasautofocusdon’tforget tosetthe
focuspoint 1 /3 of thedistance into the scene
beyondbeyondtheforeground.
MAKESURETHELENSISCLEAN:It's a no-brainer
but stilleasilyforgotten.Beforetakingoff
alwayscheckthelenstomakesurethatit’s
cleanbecausesmudgesandwatermarks on
thelenswillinevitablydiminishimagequality.
ONLYNOISESTACK WHENSHOOTINGASINGLE
IMAGE:Noisestackingworksincrediblywell
but whenshootingHDRorpanoramic
images, using the technique would makeIMAGE QUALIT Y CHECKLIST
image processingdifficultandoveralla
cumbersome process,soonlyusethis
techniquefor‘singleshot’images.
ALWAYSKEEPANEYEONSHUTTERRSPEED:
Whenit comestoavoidingcamerashake
withdronesyoumustfactorin thewind,too.
Inlowtonowind,youcaneasilyshootone
tothree-secondexposures,butevenwitha
breezeyoumayneedtobe shootingat
1/60secorfastertoavoidblurredimages.
SHOOTSEVERRAL FRRAMES:Ifyou’re worried
yourimagesmaysufferfromcamerashake,
fire offa fewframesof a singlesceneto
increasethechancesof onebeingperfectly
sharp,asthewindspeedoftenchanges
betweenshots,especiallyiftherearegusts.
SHOOT ATTHECORRECT APERRTURE:Withsmall
sensors,consumerdroneswilloftenachieve
theequivalentof f/11 whensettoaround
f/5.6.Stoppingdowntof/8orf/11itself, if
aperturecontrolis availableonthedrone,
willintroducediffraction(softness).
WWATCHOUTFORRHIGHWINDS:Evenwhenthe
windonthegroundislowit canbe much
strongerat higheraltitudesandcancause
camerashake, evenwiththe gimbal.The
dronemaypresenta high windvelocity
warningin thesesituations.ALL
IMA
GES
:JAME
SABB
OT
TConsumerdrones,andevenprosumermodels
suchastheDJIMavic 2 Pro,havesmallsensors
rangingfrommobilephonesizeupto1-inch.So,
toallintentsandpurposes,dronesareessentially
high-endcompactcamerasthatcanfly.Most
models willallowyoutoshootinRaw,whichis
fantasticandalwaysrecommended,butsince
noise(grain)andchromanoise(colouredflecks)
willbenoticeableat evenISO100.Thenoise
stackingtechniquewe’vecoveredhereis a
fantastictechniqueforreducingnoisein images
whereyou’renotshootingHDRorpanoramas,
butwiththesetechniquesthesheernumberof
imagesyou’d needtoshootwouldbeexcessive.
On theplusside,ISO 100 isn’ttoobadandthe
defaultnoisereductionappliedinAdobeCamera
RawandLightroomdoesa greatjobof
minimising noise in seconds.CONSUMER DRONES AND NOISE
ISO 400: WITHOUT NR ISO 400: LUMINANCE NR ISO 400: NOISE STACKEDEssentialGuid