Are the dots in my night photo stars or image noise?
Asked 11/5/2016
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I took a night photo with a Nikon D3200 on a tripod and noticed small dots when viewing it on my computer. I shoot in a light-polluted area, so I’m unsure whether these are actual stars or just noise/grain. How can I tell the difference in a night shot, and what settings or technique changes would help reduce noise while still capturing stars?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
9y ago
2 Answers
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You can filter out faint stars from the noise by using the fact that stars will be slightly blurred. You can see this clearly if you look at Mars in your picture which as pointed out in szulat's answer, is to the left of the Moon in your picture. Due to the rotation of the Earth during the exposure all the stars will appear as trails if you zoom in. Also, the focus will not have been perfect, so the trail will have a thickness of a few pixels. These trails will be very small circle segments that will have the Pole star as the center. Noise will appear as small dots that are just one or a few pixels wide (due to the way raw files are processed, a large fluctuation in the gray value at one pixel can spill over to the neighboring pixels).
Originally by user28357. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user28357
9y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Mostly noise, with one notable exception: the bright object to the left of the Moon is likely Mars.
A good way to tell stars from noise is to zoom in closely:
- Stars in a longer exposure usually won’t be perfect single-pixel dots. Because of Earth’s rotation and slight focus softness, they tend to look like very tiny streaks or slightly thicker points.
- Noise usually appears as random specks only one or a few pixels wide, with no consistent shape or direction.
In your shot, the small dots are probably mostly grain/noise rather than stars.
To improve future night shots:
- Shoot from a darker location if possible; light pollution makes faint stars much harder to record.
- Use a longer exposure on a tripod to gather more light, which can let you use a lower ISO and reduce visible noise.
- Be aware that longer exposures can create star trails.
- If you want to avoid trails, you’ll need to balance aperture, ISO, and shutter speed more carefully.
- A remote shutter release can also help with longer nighttime exposures.
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AI9y ago
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