Keep noise to a minimum

Unless you’re using a tripod and shooting long exposures in low light, you have to push up your camera’s sensitivity (ISO) setting to get sharp images. Consequently, noise will be a feature of your shots, but you can reduce its visibility either in-camera or using image-editing software post capture.

In-camera noise reduction can be effective for JPEGs and can be applied at different levels, but it doesn’t take account of the content of the image. Large even-toned areas, for example, can often benefit from a stronger treatment while areas with lots of detail usually require a more cautious approach. As a result, it’s usually best to apply a bespoke level of noise reduction, ideally to raw files. This means that you can tailor the type and degree of noise reduction that’s applied to individual images. And in some cases,