Have you ever looked at your photo and seen unusual lines or colours? This is a moiré pattern, and it can be an annoying part of any photographer’s job. There are many ways to spot, avoid, and remove moiré. You won’t need to worry about moiré patterns at all if you use the right techniques.
In the past, the best way to remove moire was to shoot with the right equipment. Many old (and modern!) cameras have an anti-aliasing filter (also known as AA filter) that removes moire effect in-camera. The point of the filter is to help avoid moire pattern even when you’re photographing tiny details. The disadvantage of anti-aliasing filters is that they create more blur. This blur is a problem if you want your details to stand out. For this reason, many of today’s cameras don’t support this filter anymore.
There are many ways you can avoid and remove moiré patterns on your own.
Objects Which Create Moiré Patterns
To avoid moire patterns, you need to know where they appear most often. Typically, anything with lots of small details will create unusual distortions.
If you’re a portrait or lifestyle photographer, watch out for:
- T-shirts or suits with tight patterns
- Fabric (e.g. lace curtains)
- Screens (laptops, TVs, and even phones).
These moire patterns can slow down your photoshoot and complicate your editing process. But this doesn’t mean you have to avoid them all the time. In some cases, you’ll need to photograph these subjects to make your photos more interesting. You might need to shoot a specific product for an advertisement. Fortunately, there are solutions to this.
What Causes Moiré in Video?
Patterns and thin lines usually cause moire in videos. The more tiny details there are, the harder it is for your camera to capture everything. These patterns create unusual curves, colours, and effects that might ruin a video
Some moiré patterns are very close to another subject. The moiré slider might desaturate or blur them. You can fix this by clicking on Erase, choosing an appropriate brush size, and brushing over the area you’d like to fix.
Want More? Try Our Beginner Photography Course
Do you want to master the basics of photography so that you can take stunning photos in any situation? If you don’t know which settings to use, you will often miss capturing beautiful moments. But cameras are complicated and it’s hard to know where to start. That’s why we created this course.
Colour moire is a part of the moiré effect. It usually appears in photos of details that are very close to one another. The colours tend to be yellow, purple, or green. You can generally find colour moiré in photos of patterned suits, t-shirts, and other kinds of fabric.
