Shadow noise or luminescence noise is an effect that digital lightening has on an image, specifically on the darker, or shadowed areas of the image. Brightening the image, especially in underexposed photos, brings out the "shadow noise" in such areas. Noise in digital photography is the analog to film photography's grain, or visible distortion that appears on an image. However, film grain tends to be less noticeable than noise, which can appear as distorted colors or artifacts on an image. A suitable analogy would be when a television begins to "snow" or experience "white noise", when static begins to appear on the screen, distorting or obscuring the image.