Brief Explanation Of What Is Noise On Photography / Camera – In recent years photography activities have grown in popularity among the public. This can not be separated from the role of smartphones that are now also widely used by almost all circles. Starting from the young people, to the elderly. Every smartphone always has a camera as a mandatory feature. This is what makes photography easier for everyone who uses a smartphone. So then, it makes a lot of people who become impromptu photographers with only using the camera from their smartphone.
Along with its development, the camera on smartphones is getting more advanced, and able to capture excellent photos. Many of the smartphone users then suddenly became photography lovers after being “addicted” to the results of the photos they captured with their smartphone’s camera. That prompted them to continue playing with the camera on their smartphone.
The camera on a smartphone can indeed be used to take beautiful photos. But of course it still has many shortcomings and limitations when compared to DSLR / mirrorless class cameras. So, the results will obviously be different. One of the shortcomings that are often found in a smartphone’s camera is the frequent appearance of noise in the results of photos. Especially if the photo was taken in low light conditions.
But that doesn’t mean that noise will not appear in photos from DSLR or mirrorless cameras. It’s just that the noise in the smartphone’s camera photos will be seen more clearly visible, when compared to the results of photos from DSLR and mirrorless cameras
What is noise?
Noise is a term in the world of photography to refer to colored dots that usually interfere with the results of photos. So, it will make the photo looks unclear, sometimes looks like a grainy effects, and surely will affect the quality of the image. An example of noise is as we can see in the picture below.
In the picture above is seen an example of a comparison between a clean and clear image (on the left) with an image full of noise (on the right). Still unclear? Below is an illustrated image that shows a comparison between a clear photo on the left, with a photo full of noise on the right.
Usually, the cause of noise is because the ISO value is set too high. ISO itself is a value for assessing the sensitivity of sensors on the camera, as I have discussed in the article about what is ISO. The ISO value is usually in the range between 100 to 6400 and can vary (larger or smaller) in each type of camera or smartphone brands.
The greater the ISO value used, the more noise will usually visible. Normally, the noise is more visible on a photo that has been taken with smartphone’s camera. Some people say it’s because of the smaller size of the smartphone’s camera sensor. So for example, if the smartphone’s camera raises the ISO with a value reaching above 400, then there will appear quite a lot of noise on the photo. I’m not really sure about what the correlation is between the amount of noise that comes with the size of the camera sensor.
But for sure, noise will appear more visible when we take photos in areas with low light condition. Whether it’s at night, or taking photos indoor. Especially if it turns out that we use Auto mode.
Causes of Noise in Photos
When we use auto mode to take photos in dark or low-light condition, usually the software on the camera will force to raise the ISO value. The purpose is to make sure that the image will looks bright enough. However, the side effect is, the resulting photo will looks to have a lot of grainy effects, that also known as noise.
I recommend that you read the article about what is ISO in the camera, because there are already explained various things about ISO in photography. Starting from its function, to the effect caused when changing its value.
As we all know, every camera certainly has a silicon chip sensor composed of millions of pixels (depending on how many “megapixels” it has) that serves to capture light. In theory, when we take a photo, light will enter through the lens, so then received by each pixel of the sensor. Which is then converted into a voltage signal, to then be translated into a digital image.
And the sensitivity of this sensor is expressed in the ISO value, as I mentioned above. The greater the ISO value, the more sensitive the sensor is in capturing the lights. And because of its great sensitivity, the weak signals are also caught by the sensor. Thus, unnecessary signals will also be captured in the picture. And these unnecessary signals will then appear as noise in the photo.
So, to be able to minimize the noise in the results of the photo, we can try to lower the ISO value. But of course, we have to change and adjusting the aperture and also shutter speed, so that the photo can look bright. Especially when you want to take photos in areas with low light condition.
