Another key trick to getting good, clean images without too much noise is to make sure that the background and subject have a good dynamic range difference. I shoot at ISO 12,800 on a Canon 5d MK 4 in low light provided that the screen has black blacks and white whites (high contrast). The result is that you get a better overall signal to noise ratio that quashes a lot of the noise. I treat ISO as "gain" in an electrical system (which is exactly what it is) where noise is reduced when the signal is high enough to quiet down the perceived "floor noise." You can take advantage of perceived dynamic range that overtakes actual dynamic range when the image is viewed. In audio systems, this is called perceived fidelity.
My Lumix S5 combined with DXO PhotoLab / PureRaw software gives wonderfully clean images all the way upto 25600 ISO. And of course, I follow all the best practices discussed in videos such as this one.
Great video Mark! My personal preference is DXO Pure Raw. I find the results are better, especially in low light photography. Plus Lr Denoise just takes forever to render!
Just discovered your channel, excellent! Can you comment about the challenge faced when shooting in low light where depth of field is necessary? While you recommend the highest aperture opening for low light, this could make objects of varying distances from the camera to be out of focus. Thx!
Hi Eric, thanks for the comment. That would be a very tricky situation to handle. Because of the low light, you will need to increase ISO to achieve an acceptable shutter speed. To add depth of field, either the ISO would need to increase more, or shutter speed slow down. If the subject is moving, chances are you won’t be able to pull off a shot, but if it’s static, I would grab a decent shot using shallow depth of field to start, then increase the aperture for more depth of field and then keep dropping the shutter speed, take a shot, drop it some more, take a shot, and keep going to see if you can use a super slow shutter speed and manage a sharp shot still. Make sure that the camera is as still as possible. I always advise to go for an “insurance” shot first, then go more extreme with settings and try get that clean, perfect shot. If you fail, you’ll at least still have that insurance shot. A sharp noisy photo is better than a blurry clean photo (unless you want intentional blur). Hope that helps 😊
Excellent advice! The situation was a recent interior photo shoot involving people moving but not excessively fast. I went with 1/250 f8 which kicked the ISO to around 12000. Thank goodness for Denoise!
@@MarkDumbleton I think you'll like it. I'm still using v2 and happy with it. Passed on v3. I am currently trialling v4, but I am finding it to be more buggy than my backyard and can't in all honesty recommend it. If you don't need the new features in v4, v3 is probably a better option if you can still buy it that is. It appears that DXO didn't do any alpha or beta bug testing with v4 imho.
Another key trick to getting good, clean images without too much noise is to make sure that the background and subject have a good dynamic range difference. I shoot at ISO 12,800 on a Canon 5d MK 4 in low light provided that the screen has black blacks and white whites (high contrast). The result is that you get a better overall signal to noise ratio that quashes a lot of the noise. I treat ISO as "gain" in an electrical system (which is exactly what it is) where noise is reduced when the signal is high enough to quiet down the perceived "floor noise." You can take advantage of perceived dynamic range that overtakes actual dynamic range when the image is viewed. In audio systems, this is called perceived fidelity.
Thanks so much for sharing this info Dan!
My Lumix S5 combined with DXO PhotoLab / PureRaw software gives wonderfully clean images all the way upto 25600 ISO.
And of course, I follow all the best practices discussed in videos such as this one.
Thanks for letting us know, that’s excellent!
Thanks Mark .. great advice !!
Thanks so much for watching Peter!
Great video again Mark. Well done and thank you.
Thanks so much Kobus! Appreciate it!
Love this video!! Thank for sharing as low light conditions used to be my kryptonite as I am sure that it may still be for many.
Thanks so much! Appreciate the kind words. Hope you managed to gather a few good tips to shoot in low light 🙌🏻
Great video Mark!
My personal preference is DXO Pure Raw. I find the results are better, especially in low light photography.
Plus Lr Denoise just takes forever to render!
Thanks so much for watching Jackie. I must be honest, I’ve never tried DXO Pure Raw, I must give it a go.
@@MarkDumbleton it is superior to both alternative AI NR options (sticking to the top 2 competitors and ignoring smalling software options)...
Great video, great Lightroom preset packs. 🏴
Thanks so much! Glad you like the presets!
Excellent advice as always!
I appreciate that a lot! Thanks so much for the continued support 😊
Just discovered your channel, excellent! Can you comment about the challenge faced when shooting in low light where depth of field is necessary? While you recommend the highest aperture opening for low light, this could make objects of varying distances from the camera to be out of focus. Thx!
Hi Eric, thanks for the comment. That would be a very tricky situation to handle. Because of the low light, you will need to increase ISO to achieve an acceptable shutter speed. To add depth of field, either the ISO would need to increase more, or shutter speed slow down. If the subject is moving, chances are you won’t be able to pull off a shot, but if it’s static, I would grab a decent shot using shallow depth of field to start, then increase the aperture for more depth of field and then keep dropping the shutter speed, take a shot, drop it some more, take a shot, and keep going to see if you can use a super slow shutter speed and manage a sharp shot still. Make sure that the camera is as still as possible. I always advise to go for an “insurance” shot first, then go more extreme with settings and try get that clean, perfect shot. If you fail, you’ll at least still have that insurance shot. A sharp noisy photo is better than a blurry clean photo (unless you want intentional blur). Hope that helps 😊
Excellent advice! The situation was a recent interior photo shoot involving people moving but not excessively fast. I went with 1/250 f8 which kicked the ISO to around 12000. Thank goodness for Denoise!
Gracias
Thank you 😊
or, you could use DXO Pure RAW which outperforms both Topaz denoise and lightroom denoise AI...
Thanks Dave. I’m definitely going to check out DXO pure Raw and do a comparison video.
@@MarkDumbleton I think you'll like it. I'm still using v2 and happy with it. Passed on v3. I am currently trialling v4, but I am finding it to be more buggy than my backyard and can't in all honesty recommend it. If you don't need the new features in v4, v3 is probably a better option if you can still buy it that is. It appears that DXO didn't do any alpha or beta bug testing with v4 imho.
It's been recommended to me but I haven't tried it yet?
@@eltinjones4542 14 day trial, it's free. Give it a go.
What university did you attend ?
I haven’t attended any universities. My photography is largely self taught.