Here is a quick tip on achieving tack sharp images with low noise while photographing in low light. In order to maximize the quality of the image, reduce noise and increase dynamic range and color space a low ISO is preffered. For landscapes that generally means opening the shutter for longer periods of time to get the right exposure. So how can you have the best of both worlds? This is one of those “Have your cake and eat it too moments.” 🙂
Tack Sharp Results with Low Noise
This tip is all about combining two exposures. One with the low ISO for reducing or eliminating noise and another to freeze the motion in the scene. You obviously need a stable tripod to keep the camera steady. This technique can work especially well when there is wind or movement like in this scene. Here the water is rocking the shrimp boats slightly and the winds are playing havoc with the rigging. 🙂
This is the original low ISO image with a one minute shutter after some basic lightroom adjustments. 
Most of the scene is just fine except for the first boat and some of the rigging in the second boat. Due to the water movement and wind movement the entire boat is moving and a complete mess. I really liked the movement in the clouds, but I needed the boat to be tack sharp. So I bumped the ISO up to 1000 and captured another exposure getting the tack sharp results I wanted for the boat and rigging. This is the second exposure captured after some basic lightroom adjustments.
I then took both of these images into photoshop were I merged them using Layer blending to bring back the first shrimp boat and the rigging that was moving. After some final adjustments to the image I ended up with the following. Having and eating one’s cake can be very cool indeed!!
Let me know if this helped you out and what other topics you’d like covered.
