78 Better Available Light Digital Photography
photographers.” Seems that in efforts to save money, lots of
folks bought cheap point-and-shoot cameras for the offi ce
staff to use. Sure enough, these cameras and inexperienced
users produced noisy, pixilated, poor-quality images, making
the photographs in their publications look amateurish at best.
Barry succeeded in convincing his clients, with one excep-
tion, to trust his knowledge and confi dence in digital photo-
graphy. On more than one occasion, he guaranteed that the
photographs would reproduce to client expectations or they’d
be free.Our take on noise
Have you embraced the aesthetics of noise? Why don’t we
just live with digital noise as we did the pronounced grain
of high-speed fi lms? Heck, have you embraced the look of
fi lm grain? The secret to avoiding noise is to always shoot at
the lowest possible ISO speeds and use the highest possible
shutter speeds. When working under low-light conditions, this
becomes a photographic oxymoron equivalent to “a fi ne mess.”
The main thing to remember about dealing with noise echoes is
something the late Eddie Bafford once told Joe that about
working in the traditional darkroom: “You need somebody
standing next to you with a 2 × 4 to whack you ‘upside your
head’ if you get too carried away.” That’s true for digital noise
removal too.Another silhouette example, this
time showing a technician working
at an electron microscope. Digital
noise isn’t as pronounced because
the ISO isn’t too high. A speed-
light was fi red remotely from the
left, illuminating the back wall so
the subject stood out. © 2005
Barry Staver.