Pear, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.

This is a photo of pears from our garden. I took the image with my new Canon Powershot G9. For a “toy” camera (and I mean no disrespect), the G9 makes beautiful captures at an impressive 12.1 Megapixel capture size.

I’ve been experimenting with the idea that noise can be beautiful. Just as film grain could be used for aesthetic purposes in the days of analog, noise can be used visually in the digital era. I shot this photo at a high ISO, expecting plenty of noise. Actually, the noise wasn’t as extensive as I had expected, and it was qualitatively attractive noise at that. I post-processed, using the Noise Ninja Photoshop plug-in, for the noise selectively, allowing the central pear to stay relatively noisy, and smoothing the edges of the image.

Obviously, at f/8 there’s more depth of field because of the sensor size than I’d expect from my dSLR (see Sensor Size and Depth of Field).

[Canon G9 fixed lens, appx. 70mm in 35mm equivalent terms, macro mode, f/8 at 1/100 of a second and ISO 1600, tripod mounted.]