Noise

Noise is the bain of photography. You can see it on photos taken at a high ISO, indoors, with dark backgrounds, and in poor light. It is that pixel discoloration where little squares that should be (often) dark gray somehow appear like a multi-colored disco ball.

“Noise is one of the most common — and frustrating — rejections submitters encounter.”
— Shutterstock

Designers hate noise as it is distracting, so microstocks agencies routinely reject images with even the slightest appearance of noise. How can you reduce noise?

• Use DSLR with large sensor
• Lowest ISO as possible. ISO 400 or lower.
• Avoid long exposure
• Consider additional lighting
• Get correct exposure, underexposure and post-processing will introduce noise
• Shoot in RAW and use conversion programs

“Noise tends to become more problematic in an image as pixel sizes decrease on a sensor, so try to choose the best camera that you can afford with the best sensor available to minimize noise.”
— Shutterstock

Noise Reduction Software

Noise can be used in post-processing with software. However, use this carefully and sparingly as noise-reduction software can make images look soft, smudgy, and plastic looking, with no proper definition.