If you take pictures for yourself or your friends on Facebook, noise might not be a huge factor for you. However, if you sell your images as stock, or to paying clients, you will want to keep it to a minimum. As an image inspector for iStockphoto, I have seen all kinds of images from every type of camera, and I’ve learned that no matter what you use to record your images, there’s always a chance you’ll end up with some noise. In fact, when an image is rejected for inclusion into the collection, noise/artifacts is very often the reason. So here is a short list of some of the most common ways the dreaded artifacts might appear.

Shooting and Working in JPG

When a JPG file is saved, it compresses the data and causes some quality loss. Even if you save at the highest quality setting. If you shoot in JPG, your image is compressed even as it is being saved onto your memory card. Every time you save Continue reading →