Having read up a little on noise in close up shooting, today I kept the ISO to 400 or below and shot some images. I noticed that it was almost impossible to get a really sharp image (suspect as I was handheld only, but I can shoot sharp close ups by hand normally). I’m guessing this is the pay off somewhat with close up settings.
Hand held: f/5.6, 1/320s, ISO 100, 47mm focal length.
Later on I took this image – handheld, but changing the settings to f. 8.0, 1/640s, ISO 1000, 35mm. Still a low aperture to isolate the subject, faster shutter, sharper image. But look at that background noise.
Still, that’s why we have PS – to reduce noise, amongst other things! See below.
The background in the above image has been subjected to noise reduction in Photoshop. It looks less grainy (noisy), but the object loses some of its sharpness too. It seems to be all about pay offs between settings. I guess I’ll use a tripod more often and stick to a low ISO.
Clare Lusher Photography 