Don’t Fear the ISO: Understanding Noise: From Capture to Clean Finish

High ISO has a reputation problem. It’s blamed, feared, and avoided.

In this inspiring and practical online workshop, OM SYSTEM Ambassadors Lisa Cuchara invites you to make peace with higher ISO and learn how to use it with confidence, intention, and control.

This session is designed to help you stop sacrificing moments because the light is low. Birds at dusk. Owls after sunset. Slowing the shutter and hence the ISO is fine for landscapes, but it is not an option for action. You will learn how and when higher ISO can be your ally, how to expose properly to protect image quality, and how modern denoise software can rescue images that matter. Better an image with noise than a blurry image.

Together, we’ll demystify noise from capture to post processing, showing you how small decisions in the field ripple all the way through your final image. You’ll see real RAW ORF files, real histograms, and real examples of what helps and what hurts.

Tuesday 3/24/26 6pm ET, and recorded.

In this session, you’ll learn how to:
📸 Read and trust the live histogram for real-time image assessment
📸 Avoid underexposure and the noise it introduces during post-processing
📸 Understand ISO, what noise actually is, and what causes it
📸 Recognize the difference between noise in RAW ORF files and noise introduced by software defaults

📸 Expose properly and use ETTR (Expose to the Right) to reduce noise at capture
📸 Compare OM Workspace rendering with common Adobe defaults and see how noise can be added unintentionally
📸 Identify situations that amplify noise, including heat distortion, distance, and small subjects in low light
📸 Work with high-resolution files without fear
📸 Know when noise reduction is helpful and when it’s unnecessary
📸 Confidently use denoise software when conditions demand it and know and how when to batch denoise and when to denoise after editing a RAW file.

Lisa will share her real-world approach: avoiding noise, avoiding destructive edits in post, and applying noise reduction when it serves the image. You’ll also see examples from challenging scenarios, like short-eared owls emerging after sunset, where light is scarce but the moment is unforgettable.

If you’ve ever hesitated to raise ISO, worried about grain, or wondered about denoise software, this session will change how you see noise and how you shoot in low light.

Come curious. Leave confident. And stop letting fear of noise keep you from the images you want to make!

Join OM SYSTEM ambassador Lisa Cuchara for this online Zoom session 6pm ET (recording will be available for four weeks if you are unable to attend) to learn about Noise: From Capture to Clean Finish

Explore histograms, how to best expose to reduce noise, understand noise in the ORF RAW file versus noise introduced during post-processing, show the RAW file in OM workspace as compared to the defaults that Adobe has set (which introduces noise into the image), talk about heat distortion and things that can make small far away subjects especially noisy regardless of the system or glass used, discuss high res files, demonstrate some noise reduction software as there are times when the light is low, and the ISO is high and the exposure is under-exposed, like short-eared owls who come out after sunset. Tom and I do everything we can to not introduce noise during post-processing, but we embrace high ISOs and noise reduction software when the subject necesitates it.

Please note that this and all classes/workshops have no refunds. By signing up for our classes/tours/workshops, you agree to our terms and conditions, see http://www.lisaandtomphotography.com/p/workshops.html