LOW LIGHT AND HIGH ISO PHOTOGRAPHY: Do what the best low light photographers do!
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My name is Simon d'Entremont and I'm a professional wildlife and nature photographer from Canada. In this video, I show you my top tips for shooting in low light. I'll explain what causes noise in your images, explain how ISO works, and help you capture more light and get cleaner images.
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00:00 Introduction
00:53 How much light is available?
03:02 Lenses and aperture
05:28 Shutter speed
08:14 What is ISO?
11:00 What causes noise anyway?
12:10 Camera sensor sizes
14:43 Processing noisy images
Please ignore all these “Text me…” messages…they’re not from me!!!!!
I know. I'm reporting them. Telegram is a dead giveaway.
Reported it too. 🤔 Disappointed though, I mean what if it was a box of Twirls in the so-called mystery box...??? LOL 🤣
Not to worry. Yours is not the only channel hit by these low-life scammers. KZhead has to play a part too in stopping this practice.
@@psoon04286 agree!
don't worry, most people are smart enough. thanks for the tips, I will definitely try using higher iso values from now on... i was always a bit afraid to
I'm a concert photographer and more often than not I'm shooting at 1/250, f2.8 and ISO 6400. I've had artists use my work on albums and merchandise. I can say first hand, don't be afraid of high ISO.
Right!
at what number is shutter speed considered fast, is it 1/250 or even lower?
@@pannonianfit1582 It's a bit subjective, but I would say a fast shutter is anything fast enough to freeze the motion of your subject.
@@pannonianfit1582depends greatly on the lens too.
Thats not all that high on mirrorless or somewhat modern cameras to me. High is anything close to or at 12800 to me
It isn't fair! Why weren't you there ten years ago when I was starting to learn about digital photography? You are an incredible teacher and your explanations are always clear, concise and easy to understand. Thanks again for putting these helpful videos together. I can't wait for next week's video!
Wow, thank you!
Same thoughts 👌👍👍😊
Same for me! These are the best videos I’ve come across explaining digital photography! I am soooo glad 🙏🏻
@@evelynb2321 Welcome!
I thought the same lol ! i'm about to venture out in coming days...
I'm an instructor in a different discipline who dabbles in photography. Simon d'Entremont is one of the best youtube teachers I've ever seen, succint and with great delivery. Subscribed.
Very kind!
Thinking about the ISO as a "messenger" of how much light is available is a really helpful concept. I will definitely keep this In mind when shooting in the future.
Great!
I hate to publicly gush, but... oh my gosh, this is undoubtedly one of the BEST tutorials I have come across in my time as an "I'm stuck forever as an Amateur because I'll never know how they get those incredibly sharp pictures" photographer. Your ability to explain things - and your willingness to go against "conventional wisdom" in explaining what ISO is and how it works - as well as your pace of teaching has been so incredibly helpful AND encouraging. We're just now entering the winter season here in east Texas, so the opportunities for photography have almost completely come to a screeching halt, but I can hardly wait to get out and try some of these techniques you've explained…especially the next time I want to go out and try to capture a sunset/sunrise. Again, I really feel silly "gushing" like this on a public forum, but thank you so much for sharing your experience with the rest of us. This has been one of the best tutorials I've come across yet and I genuinely appreciate you taking time to help those of us who are in a real struggle to master this craft. Thank you!
Thanks Steve! You’re more than welcome!
Steve, I’m working on a video course for wildlife photography. Can I use your comment in promotional material, with attribution? Thanks
I came here to gush but Steve said it all so well!
Wow, a creator who gets straight to the point, clearly and precisely, and also takes the time to read through the comments and answer questions. You got my sub! Great job!
Thanks!
Yes I noticed this. Too many big channels ignore us do this very welcome
I just get t my first camera. It is the Nikon Z fc and you have fought me how to use my camera you are the best teacher and explain things so understandably and clearly, you’re work is remarkable and beautiful. I have a sweet spot for wildlife photography especially birds…hummingbirds are my favorite thing to shoot. I will post pictures when I learn how to get them from my camera too my phone or computer lol. I am brand new to this and I’m loving it. My father is French Canadian and they are from various parts of the country from BC to Montreal Quebec and Ontario my dad was born in Toronto ❤ I would love to shoot in Canada it’s my dream 😊 thanks so much for sharing your experience and knowledge you rock!
PRO TIP: go to 14:43 if you are familiar with why a photo has noise. This is where it explaines how to remove noise. Thank you for this video Simon I've learned a lot
Thanks!
Sometimes you just have to accept that your picture is going to be noisy, because the alternative is not taking a photo. My best photo of an urban fox (so far) was shot at 11pm with the only source of light being a single lamp post quite some distance away, I used my 6D and a vintage 300mm f/4 and I had to shoot 1/30th of a second on a tripod at ISO 25,600 but the alternative was not getting the shot and it turned out pretty great with the right post processing actually. I find that having a longer lens is better than having a faster lens to a point, if you can't get closer to your subject. The details in your photo covering a larger area of the sensor makes them clearer than the slight reduction in noise going between even f/1.8 and f/4 if it's choosing between say an 85mm and a 300mm at the same distance the 300mm will make a better photo at f/4 than the 85mm at f/1.8 because you can actually see the details.
When someone knows something very well, he/she have the natural ability to easily explain it and make others understand it without any problem. Tyvm Simon!🙏🙏🏽🙏🏿
Too kind!
Simon, You are a WONDERFUL and gifted teacher. You really have a way with communicating and sharing complex information in such a digestible way and your tutorials are top notch! It's clear you put a lot of time and energy into your videos and it is deeply appreciated! Thank you so much for the amazing high quality content you create ! ❤😊👌👍🙌
True. I wish my high school chemistry teacher was like Simon. I would probably become biochemist today as I was fascinated by it.
Seeing the difference in light between a sunny day and a starry night really makes you appreciate the human eye. I've had nights where it feels like the moon and stars are roasting the side of my face and I can't sleep. Yet if you wanted to take a photo of that "too bright" room you'd need the shutter open for several seconds, and you'd be fighting grainy noise and all sorts of issues. If your aperture was limited to human iris size, forget it. Yet we see in 200fps+ VIDEO in that light.
I have been using my first camera these days with the settings that other videos are saying, low ISO, low exposure for better editing, and now with this information I have better performance in low light environments, as a beginner photographer I could say this information is gold
Great to hear!
Since getting into sports photography, in particular downhill mountain biking, the learning curve around ISO has been a long, hard ride. This video has given me even more insight, thank you. Friends have always told me to shoot as close to ISO 100, but after underexposing 1000s of images, and trying to edit it out, I eventually learnt that ISO wasn't my enemy. I generally shoot on manual and have recently increased auto ISO from 4000 to 6400. Still producing clean images, particularly for web viewing, and even recieved some prints that look a million times better than underexposed / over edited.
Excellent!
As a Olympus shooter, I long ago stopped worrying about noise (within reason), simply because I had to. In the end, my best shots haven't always been the cleanest. I get for nature trophy shots it's the detail that matters, but if you've captured a "moment" of drama or cuteness or whatever, it's almost irrelevant, and sometimes it's even a "feature". That said, the stabilization lets me hand hold 600mm equivalent at 1/125th or even lower, so that can be leveraged to reduce ISO as well.
Great observations!
The explanation of ISO made a lot of sense. ISO makes me think it's similar to an audio DAC with the volume knob increasing or decreasing electric amplification. The background noise is already there you're just amplifying it by increasing the volume.
100 pct
Thank you Simon! I was doing a "ghost" photoshoot with my friends dressed as specters, and you saved me from having to give them noisy photos.
Glad I could help!
I'm really blown away at how well you explain the whole issue of shooting in low light. Thank you for being such a good communicator about this challenge. Explained concisely, with examples and specs on f-stop and ISO are truly helpful. What a lesson.
Thanks, Simon, for a great and informative clip. There's so much art AND science in photography so it's truly refreshing to watch someone who can explain concepts clearly!
Very good explanation of everything. No unnecessary water, no stupid advices, only pure practice.
Thanks very much!
4:18 hahahahah I couldn't help but bust out laughing at that reveal "And for this problem, I've got this $10k bazooka!"
Thanks so much for these great tips, Simon! I took your advice and shot some elk at twilight tonight, first several at ISO 1250 (1/125 s) and the rest at ISO 2500 (1/250 s). In contrast to elk shots I took last night (ISO from 200 to 680), tonights' elk eyes were crystal sharp and glistening. Gorgeous! And all because of your suggestion to embrace high ISO! I so appreciate all your videos!
When I was shooting general amateur, I eventually fell into a routine that I called "shooting 800-800." I found that film speed ISO 800 for my 120 and 35 mm cameras (today's digital "medium" and "full frame" equiv.) and keeping the shutter on 800 made for intuitive photography without even having to break out the light meter. I eventually just simply "knew" where to turn the dial on the aperture to correctly expose the shot, based on the available light that I was seeing. I didn't care whether the "bokeh" in the photo would be at its maximum state of creaminess -- I cared about a sharp, well exposed subject -- and even without a light meter, I almost never missed the shot. I am about to get my first digital camera, and I will soon find out if this strategy will work well with digital, too. I expect it will.
I shot one of my favorite night architecture photos, handheld, on a Nikon D5500 @ 22mm, f/3.8, 1/200 sec, ISO 10,000! High ISO can really help you out. Thank you so much for explaining what I've been trying to wrap my head around for years.
I upgraded from an 11 year old d5100 to a Zf three months ago, and the difference in ISO performance has been incredible. I did a home shoot with two of our dogs at ISO 12,800. The photos have noise, obviously, but they feel more like film, and it isn't distracting. They turned out beautifully, and definitely good enough to print. Taking the high ISO advice to heart for sure
Mean function? I don’t know about this function. Where can I find it?
Thank you for your channel. I have been doing photography for about 15 years... at least seriously, but I still find nuggets in your videos to help me improve. However, while I do agree it is low light that forces high ISO, there is a source of noise that you may not be aware of. Depending upon how ISO is implemented in the camera, it can be a source of noise as the ISO is like the gain control on a radio receiver. It increases the sensitivity of the sensor by amplifying the electronic signal produced by the sensor. You may not be aware, that all electronic components generate noise. If you turn an old TV set to a dead channel, you will see snow on the screen. On a radio, it is the hissing sound that you hear when there is no signal as the automatic gain control increases the amplification of the signal. So, a resistor in a circuit can create 'noise' that, in a camera, manifests itself as noise on the photo. So, high ISO, i.e. gain in the signal amplifier can be a source of noise. I worked for 35 years in electrical engineering and have measured just this phenomenon. Please do not think I am criticising you, far from it. I enjoy your channel and have learned much from you. Please keep up the good work. It is much appreciated!
Thanks for the addition! Yes, where they place the analog-to-digital converters and how much circuitry is involved can really impact noise too. lots of causes or things that can make it worse!
Fantastic tutorial! Your practical, no nonsense, no mumbo-jumbo delivery is exactly what most of us want and need! So easy to follow and comprehend ... I am inspired and motivated. Thank you! Cheers! With love from Atlanta.
You're very welcome!
Stick with this guy, he's giving the viewer immeasurable value at no cost!
Some channels in KZhead need "Gold video" icon because of the informations they share... Believe me, after watching some videos here you are enlightening like you met god. This 19 min. about light and the sensitivity is actually equivalent to hours of hours lessons and thousands of photos. Thank you, Mr. d'Enremont.
Wow, thanks
I am so guilty of the ISO fear! Great message. Thank you!
You are so welcome!
Topaz Denoise has taken away my ISO fear
I just upgraded from a 5D MkII to an R6. I had no idea what I was missing. I usually didn't want to cross an ISO of 800 on the MkII. I think these new bodies have opened the door to low light/high speed photography at a significantly lower price than 10 or 15 years ago. I would've needed a big fast $12k prime to get usable photos in low light with a 5D, but now you can buy a $2k body and make usable images with a $1k lens! I love it!
Excellent!
Only 3k 🤣
@@PeterMurrayj It's all relative brother!
Great Video - I Learned a valuable lesson on high ISO event. I was shooting high school indoor basketball game. The lights were “fair” and obviously no flash. I used a Canon 1Ds and shot in RAW. I was able to get by with f2.8 and 1/800 and auto ISO. As I checked the ISO while shooting, they were 10,000 or 12,500, so I was concerned. But the exposures were good, and freezing action was good. When I processed in Lightroom, I used the noise reduction and sharpening tools. This was the first time I shot at 10,000 ISO and really surprised at how good the photos came out. I was always fearful of higher ISO, but not now. Again, great information.
Im having a very hard time getting clean images in the woods. The red and blue dot example really made sense to me. Thanks so much.
Glad it was helpful!
Simon, I can very easily understand why I subscribed to your channel. The content that you deliver for a newbie like me is incredible and I make a point of always rewatching each of your videos again, once I've had time to absorb what you're sharing. Thankyou millions 🙂
Welcome aboard!
Hi Simon, another great video, with a clear roadmap to better picture taking. I believe many older photographers ( like myself ) equated ISO in digital cameras to that of the actual film we used , where grain of the film most definitely increased as you went up the ISO/ ASA scale. Shooting Kodak 32 ISO/ ASA Panatomic X vs Tri-X at 400 ISO/ ASA and sometimes pushed in development to 1600..sure increased the grain / noise. It was the major reason I switched to medium format for wedding photography many years back. It’s a brave new world with digital, old ideas or myths die hard, but your explanation has helped this old dog learn another new trick. Lol😊. Cheers Mike…in snow swamped Cape Breton.
incredible video! thank you very much for the amount of details in all the explanations!
great job as usual! I'm also a graphic designer in my late 40's and we use to accept and even like some noise on photos, to the point of adding some in Photoshop for that cool look on some layouts. I'm back to photography personally after some years when I also study photography for 2years in college -we had to use analog cameras in full manual mode. Later, professionally we'd hire a photographer for best results and time management, but we always had a camera in house laying around for small stuff we need. I recently bought an APSC hybry sony and I still think this sharp "no noise at all" to be an overrated issue, its fine, but people get to obsessed over it. As long as it's not completely uncontrolled the story is far more important. I remember the days you had to choose the ISO and even the brand o film you put on camera..and went from there. Now with this new cameras, quality and resolution is far and ahead we might need in real life. Printing at 300dpi ..hell you can use a smartphone image for printed stuff nowadays.
I’m a beginner photographer and it is very daunting so I just thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and on this platform where it’s easily accessible. I learned so much from you in this video.
Great video, Simon! Love all your good tips and information! I believe that in photogrpahy it's really key to learn from experts from you and others who have experience to pass along, especially in bird photography. So, thank you and I'm looking forward to your next video! :)
Welcome!
As usual, instructive, to the point, clear. I always learn something new. I really appreciate the work and knowledge it takes to put these videos together. A real "masterclass".
Noise in digital images occurs when the range of the scene exceeds the range of the sensor. The pixels on the sensor are like an array of buckets which collect the photons. The camera closes the shutter when the highlight pixels max out and in high contrast lighting, such as bright sunny cross lighting, the exposure ends before the pixels in the shadows receive enough photons to record any image detail. So when the analog voltages of the pixels are read and converted to digital values what is read in the deepest shadows is just any residual voltage or “noise” in those pixels from the previous exposure. This is why noise is most apparent in the shadows and cameras with physically larger pixel sites and scenes with lower contrast lighting, such as light overcast, will produce images with less apparent noise. I started in photograph back in 1969, and in the 1970s apprenticed with a top wedding shooter, where I learned to use flash to fit scene ranges to the range of the color print media, then worked in the National Geographic photo lab doing photo reproduction. moonlighting as a college photography instructor. My career then took me into printing management using some of the first generation analog scanners and making the transition to digital reproduction technology in the late 1980s and digital photography in the 90s. I started using Photoshop with V1 in the early 90s and my first digital camera was an Apple Quicktake 100 I used to publish photos on a web page in 1994 so I have perspective on the technical limitations and challenges and how things have evolved to address them. Wildlife photography is challenging technically because in most situations - hummingbirds being an exception - it is not possible to use flash to change the range of the scene to fit the range of the sensor. One must expose for detail in the shadows and look for situations where the contrast of the lighting is as close to the range of the sensor as possible - light overcast or flat sun at back lighting angle. Something I realized when switching to digital was the highlight overexposure warning in the playback of the last shot taken was the best indicator of exposure and a test shot taken of white towel, black towel and 12% gray card (not 18%) was the best indicator of whether or not the lighting conditions would fit scene range to sensor. The white and black towels will create spikes on the right and left of the histogram, respectively, and the 12% gray card a spike in the middle. Adjust exposure until the only thing blinking in the highlights of the playback are specular highlights then look at the left side of the histogram and image of the black textured towel in the playback to determine if the sensor range is long enough to record detail in the shadows. Even when an animal subject is not close enough to the camera for flash to affect the exposure of the shadows it will produce specular reflections in the fur and feathers, something to keep in mind when shooting pets outdoors. With human subjects the best approach to fit the entire range to sensor is to put the back of the subjects to the sun and adjust exposure to keep the sunlit highlights under clipping then use dual flash on the front of the subjects to supplement the indirect light from the sky. I use dual flash with fill on a bracket over the lens and second off camera key light 45° to the side and above the eye line. The best lighting tool outdoors for human portraits is a ladder. If the camera is at eye level with the subjects the brow will shade the natural fill and no matter how much flash is added on top of it the eye sockets will be darker than the nose and cheeks. Raising the camera position and have the subjects look up into the camera until the skylight reaches the eyes, then add the flash on top of the ambient modeling and fill to match the intensity of the sunny rim light. My favorite method of editing photos is masked adjustment layers in Photoshop. I created Actions which create duplicate masked layers set to screen, multiply and soft light mode. By erasing the masks areas of the photo can be lightened and darkened selectively then blended in with opacity slider. The advantage of using the mask approach is the ability to edit the mask as needed by painting in back with a black brush. I use a similar masked duplicate layer approach for sharpening and noise reduction often using several dupe layers with varying degrees of sharpening, blurring and noise reduction, blending to taste with opacity sliders. The perception of 3D texture in fur and feathers is the result of them having millions of flat faceted surfaces which create specular reflections. The inherent nature of the digital pixel matrix turns them into mush to some degree. Making a duplicate layer and over sharpening it, then blending it into the background layer at 40-50% can give the reproduced image that same seen by eye look.
Thanks for sharing!
Great tips and reminders on dealing with high noise images. As I wildlife photographer who shoots in low light often, it is a constant battle to not under expose my images and end up with even more noise.
Same here!
Great video. Im new to photography and your tutorials have been the best explained i have seen. You have certainly helped me improve and get rid of some of the myths and bad habits i picked up along the way. Thanks Simon.
Welcome!
Low/bad light shooting is probably one of the most challenging aspects of (wildlife) photography. Add rain, and it makes for some interesting outdoor sessions so thanks for all those tidbits of information, it all helps :-)
I've watched about 10 videos now...but one thing is clear, Simon is madly in love with his big f4 400mm lens 😅
he is!
@@simon_dentremont That's amazing my good sir! Thank you for the videos, I recently started photography mostly as a hobby but also shooting events and parties but your videos have been quite helpful especially about the fear of ISO. I currently use the M50ii with a 70-250mm f5.6, hope to upgrade some day! I'm Loving what I do 🫶🏽! Much love from Uganda, East Africa...❤️
I’ve learn so much from your videos in the past 3 weeks. Thank you for all the knowledge you share! Keep up the amazing work.
Thank you! Will do!
I shoot auto ISO but cap it at 8000. You're right, as long as I don't try to crop much or overly lighten the darks, it still looks good, especially for online viewing.
Righto!
Hey Simon, binged on many of your videos this afternoon- great fun, learned a lot, can’t wait to try a few of your tips. Keep up the good work!
Glad you like them!
This has changed my way of looking at my camera. I am just starting back into photography in my late 50s after having done some in my 20s on 35mm film. With film your iso was always a fixed value of the film. Having run a mostly manual film camera for years I understand aperture and shutter speed and their effects but variable iso has really changed things for me. Your series has helped me a lot. Your presentation and explanations are first rate. Thanks for sharing all this knowledge.
Bravo Simon for telling it like it is. I'm shooting mostly wildlife with a Panasonic FZ 1,000 which has a 20mp 1" sensor. Single lens 24mm to 400 mm (constant F4). Always in manual with auto ISO which tops out at 12,800 in auto. I shoot at the lowest possible speed but often that is 2500th. I completely agree the worst noise is caused by underexposed dark areas when you try to lighten them up. Never underexpose to hold down your ISO. In poor light keep your histogram to the right side. I use AI software to effortlessly remove virtually all the noise and preserve all the detail in my raw files. That software is the biggest bargain going.
It is indeed great at reducing noise.
Which AI software do you use?
@@kadavyI believe that DXO Photo Lab elite edition has the best AI noise reduction (Deep Prime). Photo lab does sell a standalone version of the noise reduction software but the word is it's not as good as deep prime that is included in the elite edition. Deep prime only works with raw images. It is virtually fully automatic with generally no input required by the user. I use topaz Labs sharpen AI for sharpening and I also use topaz Labs Gigapixel. With the gigapixel I will often take a crop as small as half a megapixel out of a 20 megapixel image and then enlarge that crop back up to 15 to 20 megapixels in size and have a perfectly usable image.
@@stephantafeen2499 Thank you! Lots of stuff for me to look into!
@@kadavy DeNoise. Works great.
Great content transmitted in a super-clear manner. Thank you Simon 🙏 Ohh, and your shots are stunning!
Many thanks!
Thank you for creating this content. I loved the explanation of noise. This video, along with your aperture video, really helped me understand the fundamentals much more, and will enable me to troubleshoot my images to make them better. It’s easy to see the issues, but not how to fix them. Thank you and please keep making this thoughtful, concise practical content!!!!
You're very welcome!
One of the best photography tutorials I have seen. Very clear explanations with comprehensive examples. It was a great recap for me. I am not afraid of using higher ISO and my pictures usually turn out fine. I shoot in Fujifilm XT4, with the 35mm f/1.4, so I rarely need to default to increasing the ISO unless the location is truly dark
Great!
Hello Simon, thanks for this eyes opening video. I didn't realize that high ISO is not responsible for noisy photos. I actually have photo of squirrel in dark woods which is perfectly OK and is taken with ISO 6400 on APS-C camera (Sony alpha 6500). And I also have other photos of animals taken on the same camera with ISO 800 which are too noisy because they are too dark. Thanks again for the content you are sharing with us. I like the rapid flow of your videos, no blind pauses, that's what I appreciate. 👍
Welcome and thanks for the feedback!
I've been fooled all my life when everyone told me that high iso made more noise and I always thought there was something not quite right. Now that you've clarified this fact, I think what you said is completely logical.
Thanks!
Hi Simon, since watching your vids, I have changed to shooting in manual with auto iso and had actually changed to a "nifty fifty" to better capture mountain bike racing in shaded forests, before watching this vid. It's been a game changer, thank you.
Answering the question at 13:43. The highest ISO photo I've taken that I'm proud of was taken at ISO/ASA 800. I took it on a Canon A1 using Portra 800 film. Early on in my day at a WWII event I shot a C-53 Skytrooper on the apron at the airport the event was happening at. Later on when it was brighter and the airshow was going on I started using Fujifilm C-200 and Superia X-Tra 400 to shoot the planes flying overhead against the bright sky. For that I had my Aperture stopped all the way down to try to get the slowest shutter speed so that I would not freeze the props. It was a fun day. Also, Portra 800 is the fastest film I have shot thus far in my photographic journey.
Cool!
For indoor sports i have no problem pushing my ISO to 12800 on my Canon IDX II. Its a bit noisy but i just incorporate it to my style. It is almost like film grain, it ads alot of texture to the images especially in black and white. And for wildlife i have no problem shooting at 10000-12800.
Agree!
I shoot a lot of live music. Sometimes I get very good light but in smaller venues, that isn't the case. I shoot in manual with auto-ISO like described in the video. I often have to make adjustments to keep things sharp but I get best results using this approach. Concerts often have deep shadows and I have learned the trick to keep things as noise free as possible and that is to let the shadows be shadows. Often people are too hung up on recovering data from shadows but I don't bother. In concert photography you will have both light and shadow and that is just fine.
Agree! Thanks for sharing.
I've shot live music on film Scotch 640 tungsten pushed a stop. Noisy as hell, but a bit of grit and grain/noise on live music is better than motion blur or DOF problams so high ISO doesn't bother me unduly.
I've shot live music in small venues extensively for 12 years on digital and a number of years in the pre-digital age on an old Olympus OM-40 And I get young photographers asking me all the time what settings I use looking for that 'fast track' to great images, my reply is always the same and your comment on Auto ISO proves that there is no 'right way' or 'wrong way' to shoot live music, its what works for each person as they develop their own style. Personally i would never use Auto ISO, as on my Nikon D750, once things start going past ISO 3200 the dreaded noise creeps in. But I know people who shoot the same venue as me will happily use ISO 6400 and beyond but tolerate the noise and try and mitigate it in post. I would also never shoot manual, simply because the camera can make the decisions far quicker than I ever will be able to, by the time I have realised I can tweak the aperture or shutter speed the lighting has changed and that moment has been lost. As I say no 'right' or 'wrong' way to do it
@@neilmccarty944 I would rather get the shot with a bit of noise than to miss it altogether. I also use a d750 and shoot often at 8000 or 9000 ISO, I also have keepers at 12,800. A little grain doesn’t hurt a concert shot.
The shadows are the drama in most cases. I shoot live music photography and videography.
I am an experienced photographer who bought his first SLR in 1959 but it has taken your video to wean me off the idea that high ISO= noise. With film, of course, this was the case, but I look forward to putting my new knowledge into practice.
I have to agree with everyone else here this is by far the best tutorial i've ever seen. I've been trying to improve my very much amateur photography but none of the videos/articles explain it so simple to understand and so well. Also your photos are amazing Simon :)
Glad it helped!
Mario, I’m working on a video course for wildlife photography. Can I use your comment in promotional material, with attribution?
Brilliant! Love other Photographers such as Steve Perry and Mark Denney. As much as I like them, you have provided a Vlog that nobody else seems to have. Appreciate all that you do. PJ
Hi Simon. I just subbed to your channel. The one tip that did it was about noise in different ISO vs exp., and result of raising shadow in darkroom. You really clarified that concept. Also I like your style. No nonsense. Confident. Personable. Gets right down to business.👍👍👍 I'm shooting with a Nk D500. It's sensor is weighted for action, speed, so it tends to blow highlights. Conversely, it holds detail in dark shadow. I shoot a stop under when bright contrasty. In the darkroom the shadows have very little, almost undetectable noise. Even when raised. After this excellent tutorial I can fine tune my technique even more.
Great!
Just reviewing my pictures from my shoot this morning at 6:30 am. Once again, I came to your video library for a solution to the error I encountered in most of my photos. Too low of an aperture setting for the amount of available light is the culprit. Back to the field in the morning with more education! The Ducks, Geese, and Cranes are still migrating, so I have some time to nail this. Thanks again!
I love this message. And especially the way you explain it using signal theory. Everyone is too shy to crank up ISO.
Thanks!
I love-hate how the cameras and lenses are in focus while you're not. It really amplifies what you're saying about the amount of light available indoors, and it also makes me think that high iso can sometimes be better than using a large aperture. I really liked what you said about high iso not being the reason for noise, but rather a symptom of low light conditions, I will now increase the maximum value that I allow auto-iso to pick on my sony a7r iii from 6400 to 12800. And from 12800 to 16000 on my sony a7 iii. Of course I will still try to use the longest exposure and widest aperture that I can "afford".
Thanks for sharing.
You earned my sub when you explained how people won't raise their iso's but adjusts it later in another program, i am GUILTY of this and you taught me it is better to open my aperture and shoot longer instead...bloody brilliant !! I love learning new things like this.
Excellent!
Thanks Simon, love the content. Your explanation and insight/tips help alot for understanding light to noise issues. I now understand the difference of having quality light even when it's getting darker versus blaming the ISO. Two of my favorite shots were: a Green Heron on perch in a lake and an Osprey getting it's fish from a boat launch. Both shot with a R7 100-500 at ISO 12800.
Awesome
As somebody who somewhat specializes in astrophotography, this was still pretty interesting for more action-rich photography. One thing I'll note for astrophotography in particular is to get to as dark of skies as possible! That really increases the contrast in the sky and allows you to get much more detail, even though the scene on average is technically darker. I definitely used to severely underexpose images because I thought high ISO was the issue, I think it's a frequent issue for beginning photographers in dark situations.
Great observations!
Absolutely the best summary I’ve heard on handling noise. It took a while to figure out the tools and I am using many of those techniques you’ve described while shooting and in post processing. When I finally went to manual shooting without fear of “auto-ISO,” the number of usable photos increased. I do use exposure compensation on top of that. Example, maybe +1.0 eV for dark birds or birds against a skylit background, and -1.0 eV for white birds on a bright day to keep from burning out the highlights. I still struggle with indoor shooting. Interesting how our eyes adapt quickly to indoor lighting and our cameras let us know it’s not as bright as we think. Thank you for this video.
Excellent!
Excellent. Every photographer needs to hear this explanation! Very clear and concise. Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it!
This was excellent Simon. This was probably the best video I've seen about the noise issue. Well done.
Thanks very much!
Awesome video. Some advice here is directly opposite of some of the things I used to do but they make perfect sence. Looking forward to experiment with it!
Cool, thanks
Awesome, how mislead was I with High ISO and as a result higher noise. Thank you Simon, for such a great and clear explanation.
Wow Simon! So much information on ISO and noise reduction. I'll definitely be watching this video again to make sure that I fully absorb as much as I can. The vast knowledge here is so useful in gaining a much deeper understanding of noise and actual impact of ISO vs light.
Found one of your videos randomly in my feed and then watched another. I'm impressed! You present a ton of useful into in a straightforward and practical manner with useful samples from your work. Wow! Thanks, I've subbed and look forward to more!
Glad it was helpful!
Hi Simon, Thanks for the video I enjoy them a lot. The highest ISO I use and have had good results is 12800 on my OM System OM-1. Sensor tech has come a long way 😀 Phil
Sounds great!
Only recently have I stopped fearing raising my ISO. Before your channel, I would always shoot no more than 400, which ruined all of my forests shots. Now as I've learned and improved, I just got one my best shots ever of a Red-shouldered Hawk on my 7D MkII with ISO 3200. A few months ago, I wouldn't have even tried it. Thank you as always!
Excellent!
Hi Simon, first up I have to say “ your coming across as a bloody nice bloke, if your ever out my way it’s my shout, I watched quite a few of your videos and what stuck me more than anything, besides your professionalism, is your ability to make your audience feel at ease, on the same page, love your tutorials, you have helped me so much, thank you.
You make excellent videos sir. I thought of myself as pretty knowledgeable as far as a hobbyist goes, but you always give extra insight and "higher education" per topic than pretty much anyone else I've seen, and most likely better than a lot of college course teachers out there. It just makes me reflect on the power of the internet, when used in good faith, especially in terms of education. I really hope for a future in the near term for education is a lot more decentralized, because I know from MY industry, what I've learned post-post secondary AND the things I review from time to time are higher quality than what I paid 10s of thousands of dollars for in school. Anyways, kind of off topic, but thank you for the time you put into this and the quality of information you share!
Great point about iso. Another tip that is more about personal taste is that sometimes noise isn't that bad. One of my favorites photos was taken at 12800 with no noise reduction. It was completely dark and my subject's face was lit only by her phone screen. Her face was well-exposed but the dark background was super noisy, which I thought was a great effect.
Agree! Some black and whites look better with some grainy texture to them.
Thats why in the 70s we talked about 800 ISO vs 200 black and white film. Do you want a picture or do want a feeling ??
The explanation of iso being merely the messenger of darkness was excellent. I'm just starting out really. Usually shoot auto iso and control aperture and shutter. You've given me a much greater understanding of the process. Wish I had watched this a couple of days ago before capturing a coyote late in the day! Cheers!
Welcome!
This is by far the best youtube tutorial on low light photography period! Thank you for sharing everything
I was taking pictures of a barn owl here in the UK, which only came out when it was almost dark! I had my Canon R5 on auto-ISO and when I looked at the shots later, I realised the ISO was 52,000! I used Topaz De-noise software which gave a reasonable rendition of the images but obviously I'll keep an eye on this in future.
So so helpful Simon, can’t thank you enough. Such clear explanations - you’ve really brought back my enthusiasm. I’m telling all my photography friends about you 😃
Great to hear!
Lynette, I’m working on a video course for wildlife photography. Can I use your comment in promotional material, with attribution? Thanks
@@simon_dentremont - Yes of course 😀
Simon: wonderful video on low light photography. It is always a delight to listen to your very clear and detailed explanations. I will keep this video among my favorites because I'll have to watch it more than once to get to know your techniques on handling low light.
Thanks!
Thank you so much for this video! For the first time I've been able to capture some really good images (if I say so myself) in low light when I wouldn't normally have bothered. I never had any success before, so I stopped trying unless the light was perfect. I really appreciate you sharing your knowledge and expertise like you do as not many professionals are willing to do this. I found you through Gavin (more chocolate) but I prefer to do wildlife photography over landscape. You are a great help 🙂
Glad it was helpful!
This was pretty much the best explanation of ISO that I've heard. Nice. Also I took one of my best photos yesterday on a APS-C camera using ISO 12800 :)
Awesome!
One of the best explanations I have ever seen about ISO and managing image noise. Thank you so much.
Glad it was helpful!
That's great information Simon. I'm guilty of always trying to keep the ISO low, which I suppose is sensible when light allows for it, so talking about ISO being only the messenger is what I'll think about now when the light is not so good. Thanks for that and maybe my photos will improve a bit.
Go for it!
Good reminders. I went to a party to shoot and could have taken faster lenses. When I arrived I immediately saw low light and could not use a flash. Indoor, household light conditions, strong light through windows backlighting the subject(s). A fast lens would have helped enormously and in the hurry to leave for the airport I didn't think it all the way out. I even have a canon 50mm F1 !!! Dang...
Haha thanks for sharing.
Another awesome video! It is pretty scary to see people on KZhead making it seem like high ISO is the worst thing you can do when in reality they are just not understanding how to use the camera and the features. I shoot a lot of astrophotography and have taken several images and printed them with ISO above 12K. Great video, keep up the awesome info!
Thanks!
Have you considered an intro to photography tutorial? If not you should. Your clear, straight forward explanations would be very helpful to beginners.
Its on my list!
Absolutely the best. The information you put out is so easy to pick up. Clear and no bull. Thanks Simon.
Very welcome
For some reason, my Nikon P1000 gives me some grief on manual mode, and limits how low I can set my F to despite being able to do f2.8. I presume it's related to the other settings, but these videos of yours are teaching me so much, and helping me stay excited to learn more.
The high ISO = more grain is a legacy from the days of film. High sensitivity in film was mostly achieved by using larger silver halide crystals. X-Ray film used large crystals because you absolutely had to reduce radiation exposure. Once the grain of silver halide was 'activated', then the entire grain would be reduced to silver which gave us black. The digital camera does not increase ISO by increasing the size of the pixels in the sensor, obviously, but, that might be cool. The number and size remains the same.
Thank you for explaining about what causes noise in photos. I was always keeping my ISO at 500 and under, but frustrated with blurry wildlife shots. I got a nice environmental shot of a wren at 3200 ISO at 400mm on my Sony a7IV.👍🏽
Yes 500 ISO is low for wildlife and faster shutter speeds needed to freeze the action. Your A7IV can easily handle ISO 3200 if you’re not cropping. Better noisy than blurry, as noisy can be fixed.
Great video. This past summer I was in the Tetons on a sunrise shoot when I came across a moose in the water with mountains behind him. I didn’t think I’d get any keepers with my 24-105 @ ISO 3200 and shutter at 1/60 but to my surprise I got a few. I was new to the R5 and realized the IS and in body stabilization works exceptionally well.
Awesome!
Thank you for this! I just purchased my full frame sensor camera a couple of months ago and the Lightroom tips towards the end of this video are especially helpful for cleaning up my high-ISO shots!
That last tip is a hard pill to swallow but absolutely true. I'll be trying to pay more attention to the surroundings of my subjects and incorporating landscape into the photo when I am unable to get closer
You can do it!