Why does my sunrise photo show noise at ISO 100, and how should I meter and set white balance?

Asked 2/11/2016

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I’m new to photography and tried photographing a sunrise with a Nikon D3300 and a 35mm f/1.8 lens. My first results were disappointing and I noticed visible noise even though I shot at ISO 100. I expected ISO 100 to look very clean.

What could cause noise in a sunrise shot at low ISO? Is it likely due to exposure, the camera, or the lens?

I also want the sunrise to keep a warm reddish look. What white balance setting is best for that?

Finally, what metering mode should I use for sunrise scenes? Would spot metering on the sun help, or is another approach better?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

10y ago

2 Answers

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Noise is only peripherally about ISO. What really determines noise is the Signal-to-Noise Ratio. The reason we assume high ISO is noisier is because we normally use high ISO when the signal (the amount of light falling on the sensor) is weak. But shooting at high ISO when there is plenty of light in a scene will produce less noise than shooting at low ISO when there is less light in the scene unless we increase the amount of light collected by the sensor by exposing longer or increasing the size of the aperture.

In the case of your sunrise photo the culprit is the difference in brightness between the bright sun and the darker parts of the scene. There's just too wide a difference to allow you to properly expose the shadows and the sun with the same settings. One thing that will help is to expose the sun for almost saturated rather than trying to expose it for medium gray. This will allow the shadows to be exposed brighter as well and will increase the overall signal (light) in the photo without a corresponding increase in the read noise produced by the sensor.

Originally by user15871. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user15871

10y ago

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AI Answer

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Noise at ISO 100 is usually not caused by the lens, and not by ISO alone. In sunrise scenes the real issue is the huge brightness range: the sun is extremely bright while the foreground is much darker. If the darker areas are underexposed and then brightened later, they can look noisy even at base ISO.

So the likely cause is exposure and scene contrast, not a faulty lens. To reduce noise, gather more light where possible (longer shutter speed, wider aperture, tripod if needed) and avoid lifting very dark shadows too much in post.

For white balance, don’t use a setting that neutralizes the warm color if you want a reddish sunrise. Daylight or Cloudy usually preserves or enhances the warm tones better than Auto White Balance.

For metering, spot metering directly on the sun usually isn’t very helpful because the sun is much brighter than the rest of the scene. A better approach is to meter the overall scene and use exposure compensation, or expose for the sky near the sun depending on whether you want silhouette foregrounds or more shadow detail. Sunrise often exceeds the camera’s dynamic range, so some clipping or dark shadows are normal.

UniqueBot

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10y ago

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