Grain

oblivion

oblivion

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235
Name
Richard
Edit My Images
Yes
Visited the zoo today. Sunny dry weather so set ISO to 100 as I have noticed grain lately on a few pics. Fast shutter speed using 55-250mm telephoto. Pics look crystal clear but I noticed when zoomed in on animals there is quite a lot of grain. Silly question but will the outcome of a picture look more grainy if I originally zoomed in whilst taking it? If I had not zoomed in to take and then zoomed in to view on my laptop would I still have had the grain I am seeing?
 
My alternative theory would be to use even faster shutter than I was but I need to know how to stop this grain as I'm blatantly doing something wrong here. Thankfully not everyone would naturally zoom in on my pics to look at them
 
It's all about correct exposure. If you were very underexposed you may well get a graininess to images. No matter the ISO.
 
If I remember how to post I will put one up later as I'm on my phone currently
 
Ok here goes. Shot using 550d. 55-250mm lens. ISO 100, f-8, 1/125sec

Pic looks fine but like I say when zoomed in not only can I see grain but its blurred too. The hawk could not have been stood any stiller at the time.

8012621033_0b8bf40128.jpg
[/url]
Blurred Shot Zoomed-7088

2nd Pic again same lens. ISO 100, 1/160sec f5.6

8012667159_1d99f7e463.jpg
[/url] Blurred Shot Zoomed 2-6968[/IMG]
 
oblivion said:
Can you see the pics as I can on my Laptop but not my phone?
Click to expand...

On the phone/iPad you need to click on the individual post to see the photos. :thumbs:
 
Ahhh thanks, how come as when I look at other post the pics are shown within the thread ?
 
I'm viewing on my iPad but it looks like you missed focus on the bird and the other one looks okay, I can't see any graining.
 
oblivion said:
Ahhh thanks, how come as when I look at other post the pics are shown within the thread ?
Click to expand...

No idea, I thinks it's a "feature" of the app. :)
 
Come to think of it it was about that time of day when I flicked between ai servo and spot so that may explain a few pics
 
As for the second picture then, should it be clearer when zoomed in or is the slight blur just down to the lens I used (as in not being an L series) ? I know in the past I have taken shots of my daughter with the same lens and even zoomed in they are crystal clear with no blur at all so I can only assume the blur is down to distance
 
Ok, what grain are you on about? The second image, viewed large on flickr, shows no grain. Nothing out of the ordinary at least. You didn't upload the original size. But, remember, nobody looks at images 100% - or very rarely. I only do when processing my own, when I'm performing detailed corrections or tweaks.
 
Hmm, I may need to take another look. I have noticed the grain on pics which happen to have an Iso of over 800 which explains the grain. I should have re thought my question and which should haver mentioned a slight blur and not grain. But that appears to be a focus issue.

As for the large beaver looking animal then which my wife tells me is a Capybara. I took this whilst the camera was stationary on a brick wall, automatic focus with IS enabled. So why would that be slightly blurred or could it be because IS was on which I hear still moves slightly
 
oblivion said:
Hmm, I may need to take another look. I have noticed the grain on pics which happen to have an Iso of over 800 which explains the grain. I should have re thought my question and which should haver mentioned a slight blur and not grain. But that appears to be a focus issue.

As for the large beaver looking animal then which my wife tells me is a Capybara. I took this whilst the camera was stationary on a brick wall, automatic focus with IS enabled. So why would that be slightly blurred or could it be because IS was on which I hear still moves slightly
Click to expand...

TBH there doesn't appear to be much wrong with the second picture - nothing which a small amount of sharpening wouldn't cure anyway.

And at 800 ISO you will notice some "noise" especially in the darker areas, but not much at 100 ISO.

.
 
oblivion said:
Hmm, I may need to take another look. I have noticed the grain on pics which happen to have an Iso of over 800 which explains the grain. I should have re thought my question and which should haver mentioned a slight blur and not grain. But that appears to be a focus issue.

As for the large beaver looking animal then which my wife tells me is a Capybara. I took this whilst the camera was stationary on a brick wall, automatic focus with IS enabled. So why would that be slightly blurred or could it be because IS was on which I hear still moves slightly
Click to expand...

When using a tripod or brick wall in your case you should switch IS off.
 
I can't see any grain/noise. The problem with the bird is that it is not in focus and it is also a bit blown (troublesome white birds!)
 
Both these shots are suffering from tricky lighting, which in turn can cause an overall loss of contrast (and sharpness) across the frame.

The blurring, well you would be surprised just how much movement there is on something that looks still. 1/125 to freeze motion in animals is somewhat low, you could do with going at least 1/250th. For the bird that would have also sorted the over exposed highlights.
 
I'm finding it a little troublesome to get use to shutter speeds. I took some shots of my kids playing and it amazed me just how fast a shutter is required to capture something still. I need to find an easy way of remembering a quick shutter speed guide. I tend to start at 1/30 for just holding the camera and work my way up the scale with some test shots. I'm not great at remembering numbers but am good at remembering acroynms
 
oblivion said:
I'm finding it a little troublesome to get use to shutter speeds. I took some shots of my kids playing and it amazed me just how fast a shutter is required to capture something still. I need to find an easy way of remembering a quick shutter speed guide. I tend to start at 1/30 for just holding the camera and work my way up the scale with some test shots. I'm not great at remembering numbers but am good at remembering acroynms
Click to expand...

I wouldn't be starting at a shutter speed of 1/30.

To help avoid blurring due to camera shake keep your minimum shutter speed at the reciprocal of the focus length.

i.e. if you are shooting at 200mm keep the shutter speed at or above 1/200s. Also bear in mind that your camera has a cropped sensor so you need to multiply that time by the crop factor - 1/200 * 1.6 = 1/320.
Faster moving subject will need an even higher shutter speed - kids running about may need a speed of about 1/1000s.
 
Having looked at both pics in large size on your Flickr page the first one looks like a slight misfocus, maybe because of the size of the actual focus point, and the second looks good to me.

Neither shots look to have an overtly large amount of grain, the background on the bird photo looks nicely blurred to make the bird stand out and the Capybara foreground and background would of been better with a wider aperture, but f5.6 is the widest you can go.

You might of got it a bit better if you'd gone for a faster shutter speed but not much better. When I went from a 550D to a 7D I was surprized to find how much more accurate 'spot' focus points are compared to normal size. I use spot focus on my 5D3 all the time and really miss it on my 60D.
 
Thanks for your responses. I have taken note of the slightly over exposed bird and had another bash at it in lightroom. Please take a look and let me know what you think. Ps, its the same bird but a different picture. I believe when I first edited I made the whites a little too white and the exposure was slightly increased. I have done the opposite this time. I'm not sure now whether this one looks a little too dark but then I have read that "correct" exposure is a controversial topic

8017141108_579fddb163.jpg
[/url] IMG_7089 by oblivion204, on Flickr[/IMG]
 
Increasing exposure in LR (or any other software) will add to the amount of noise you see as well. Best to get it right in camera as far as possible.
 
Ploddles said:
I wouldn't be starting at a shutter speed of 1/30.

To help avoid blurring due to camera shake keep your minimum shutter speed at the reciprocal of the focus length.

i.e. if you are shooting at 200mm keep the shutter speed at or above 1/200s. Also bear in mind that your camera has a cropped sensor so you need to multiply that time by the crop factor - 1/200 * 1.6 = 1/320.
Faster moving subject will need an even higher shutter speed - kids running about may need a speed of about 1/1000s.
Click to expand...

was just about to type this.....

Can really see much noise or "grain" on all 3 images, in fact can't really see much wrong with the second shot at all! The two bird images do look to have suffered a bit from motion blur, either caused from the bird or from you not keeping the camera still enough.

As ploddles says, try to use it as a guide that you should always try to have your shutter speed higher than the focal length you are using (also try factoring in the crop factor too when using longer focal lengths)
 
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