Better Available Light Digital Photography : How to Make the Most of Your Night and Low-light Shots

Digital noise 77

reduction parameters. TLR Digital Noise Reduction is share-

ware; if you fi nd the resources helpful, you should make a

donation via PayPal.

Noise in print

The amount of acceptable digital noise is subjective, like

so many other aspects of photography. Here’s a fun test,

guaranteed to raise the noise level in a room: assemble several

photographers, show them photographs with a variety of

different noise levels present, and ask for opinions. What’s

acceptable to one isn’t for all. The same holds true for publica-

tions. Newspapers, printed on newsprint, of course, can accept

more noise in their images than can a magazine printed on

higher-quality paper. This is because the newspaper press uses

a line screen of around 85 lines per inch. The paper absorbs and

tends to spread the ink from the printing press more readily.

Most magazines and other publications use higher-quality and a

fi ner-line screen, which produces crisper, sharper images. If

these publications showcase the good qualities of an image

better, it makes sense they’ll highlight an image’s imperfections

better as well.

Barry was fortunate to have been working at the Denver

Post when the digital revolution was really taking off. The

paper supplied him with camera, lenses, speedlights, and great

training in their use. When he returned to his own photography

business full-time, he was up to speed on the technology.

This advantage had its drawbacks, however, because many cor-

porate and editorial clients were afraid to accept digital fi les.

The most common excuse: “We have a digital camera and the

pictures from it are horrible, so we still hire only fi lm-based

Instructor, silhouetted against
the screen where her PowerPoint
presentation is being shown. Her
hand gesture and profi le stand out
nicely against the graphic visual,
but there is digital noise caused by
low light and high ISO. Barry has
a new “best friend” in noise reduc-
tion: Adobe’s Lightroom software,
which was used to reduce noise
before this image was sent to his
client. © 2006 Barry Staver.