Beginner Grainy shots

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Tjm2986

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Name
Terry
Edit My Images
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Hi

I recently switched to Raw format and subscribed to adobe lightroom to have a go at tweaking my own images. I have noticed I am getting grain in alot of my shots. Its getting frustrating as I don't know what I am doing wrong. Its not my camera as I get grain whether I use my olympus OM10 Panasonic LX100 or Panasonic GX80. I am considering switching back to Jpeg untill I get a little better. Good Idea?
 
Putting it very simply:

Remember that 'raw' isn't a photograph. It's a representation of one using just the raw data from the camera.

A jpeg is an image that has had processing done to it by the camera.

To get an image from raw data, you have to process it in some other way.

Take your raw data from the camera and process it using Lightroom. You will be able to reduce what you see as 'noise' when you adjust that data to produce an image that is to your taste.

Noise in a digital photo is normally attributed to either underexposure or a very high ISO setting that will introduce sensor noise.

There are lots of YouTube tutorials on using LR, so don't be so quick to give up. You'll get much better results by using LR than you will letting the camera do the processing for you.

IMHO if you're saving your images in jpeg, you may as well leave the camera on 'auto' and just let the camera do all the work.
 
Sky said:
Putting it very simply:

Remember that 'raw' isn't a photograph. It's a representation of one using just the raw data from the camera.

A jpeg is an image that has had processing done to it by the camera.

To get an image from raw data, you have to process it in some other way.

Take your raw data from the camera and process it using Lightroom. You will be able to reduce what you see as 'noise' when you adjust that data to produce an image that is to your taste.

Noise in a digital photo is normally attributed to either underexposure or a very high ISO setting that will introduce sensor noise.

There are lots of YouTube tutorials on using LR, so don't be so quick to give up. You'll get much better results by using LR than you will letting the camera do the processing for you.

IMHO if you're saving your images in jpeg, you may as well leave the camera on 'auto' and just let the camera do all the work.
Click to expand...

I'll stick with it ofcourse as I want the best results possible. I will do some youtube digging to try and figure out how to reduce the grain in my photos.
 
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Lower your ISO
Ensure the image is not under exposed

And if you want noise free shots either change to a larger sensor system or try the Topaz DenoiseAI software (free trial).
 
GreenNinja67 said:
Lower your ISO
Ensure the image is not under exposed

And if you want noise free shots either change to a larger sensor system or try the Topaz DenoiseAI software (free trial).
Click to expand...
I don't mind a bit of noise as I expect it in low light shots. I'll work on it. I am just being impatient lol. I can't afford any more gear just brought an Olympus EM10 Mark 4.
 
Last edited:
Welcome to the learning phase.

Noise bothers photographers more than 'uneducated' public. For low noise select the lowest ISO, make sure exposure is good (as bright as possible without blowing the highlights (you can dial back brightness in LR).

When you sharpen the image, apply no more than about 55 or 60 units of sharpening and also add a little noise reduction IF NEEDED.
 
ancient_mariner said:
Welcome to the learning phase.

Noise bothers photographers more than 'uneducated' public. For low noise select the lowest ISO, make sure exposure is good (as bright as possible without blowing the highlights (you can dial back brightness in LR).

When you sharpen the image, apply no more than about 55 or 60 units of sharpening and also add a little noise reduction IF NEEDED.
Click to expand...
Thanks for this I'll give it a try tonight. :)
 
When I first started processing raws I struggled to understand what the various noise and sharpening sliders did and what settings to use and I sat there for ages trying this and that slider at different values to see the effects but as there are any number of reviewers and commentators on line these days to save brain ache you could possibly google your way to some suggested settings that you could use as a starting point. Toni has given some settings above and maybe someone here could post some more for you?

I use CS5 and the controls are slightly different to lightroom so I can't really help except to say that after processing you should get acceptable results from MFT cameras even at high ISO's. It also helps if you can as well as pixel peeping also evaluate the picture as a whole picture at the size you intend it to be. Looking at 1:1 often means you'll see things that won't necessarily see in a whole image.

Good luck with it. I'm sure you'll get there :D
 
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