Image Noise in Photography

In photography, Noise refers to the tiny pixels, specks or grainy veil in a photograph. In simple words, Noise is the visual distortion of the photo. It is one of the most undesired side effects that completely distract your viewer's attention. Low light situations are responsible for more noise in your photographs. Level of noise affected by several factors such as higher ISO settings, long exposure, and sensor size.

Noise is the physical property of photography. There is always some amount of noise in every photograph. This topic sometimes causes confusion. So to clear your doubts and also to increase your understanding of the image noise in photography, Haythem Lafhaj explained the types of noise and how to get rid of it in this article.

Types of Noise

Shot noise and Digital noise are the two types of noise. These types are reasons that affect your photos. They come from different sources. It is difficult to distinguish between these two types of noise in photographs because, in the end, they give you the same result.

Shot Noise

Shot Noise is also known as photon noise because when you are photographing then shot noise occurs due to the photons in the scene which are discrete and random. We can’t see a fixed pattern in case of shot noise. Graininess occurs in the photograph as a result of the shot noise.

Digital Noise

Digital noise is also called as electronic noise because when you are photographing then your camera sensor and internal electronics is responsible for the digital noise. These noises are responsible for the minimizing of your image quality as well as for introducing imperfections to an image. This happens in a fixed pattern and has a clearly visible pattern.

How to reduce the noise

It is a backdrop for every picture you capture. When you capture photos in low light then your photo looks extremely dark. This lack of enough light responsible for the terrible photos. Also, the noise in a photo overpowers the signal or actual information due to this when you try to brighten the image in the computer then the photo looks grainy and discolored due to the large proportion of noise visibility.

There are a few ways you can prevent image noise:  

1.ISO is the setting in the camera that brightens a photo. Higher ISO is responsible for the increase in noise. Lower ISO reduces the amount of noise. This also helps to increase the clarity of detail.

2. The level of noise in a photograph depends on the size of the camera sensor. It is also related to image quality. Larger the camera sensor gathers more information and also responsible for better image quality.

3. Proper exposure results in the reduction in the image noise. Unnecessary noise can be avoided in the photos if the camera getting the proper exposure.