Every once in a while, I take my dog out after dark (which happens a lot more often this time of year), look up, and am inspired to take some photos. To be honest, the amount of noise in the iPhone night photos continues to frustrate me, even with the iPhone 5S.
But, recently, I was teaching a workshop and I asked if anyone had seen a creative use of noise (all the grainy speckles) in photography and a couple of folks commented that it could be used to create an antique effect. I’m not sure I’ll ever get to where I make noise a goal, but it does open up some possibilities.
So, tonight, I looked up and saw Venus chasing the moon. I immediately pulled out my iPhone and gave it a shot. The images in the gallery were edited using the free, iOS version of iPhoto on my iPhone (see Lessons 84, 85, 86, and 87). As you can see, they are noisy, but Venus and the moon are worth some noise.
Although the crescent moon turns into a blob, I’m pleased that Venus shows up in most of the images.
Your Assignment: Don’t be afraid to go for broke on night images just because you’re using an iPhone. Don’t let any Nokia Lumia-owning friends intimidate you! However, as you may recall from Lesson 3, zooming on the iPhone is a digital zoom, which will make the noise factor that much bigger. Instead of trying to zoom in to get a close-up of heavenly bodies at night, try artistically placing landscape features in the scene, giving the sky some perspective.
Snap Great Photos 