Grainy photos taken

[xintiandi]

Thanks all for replies. I am already using the max pixels avail for D300. Each of my photos are usually 6+ mb size.
I will try using spot metering next time to see if I can get better results.

Normally I do my exposure corrections in adobe lightroom, so I tend to just capture the moment and then correct later.
I am just surprised that due to exposure, the noise can be so obvious

Any tips on what mode to use for best exposure? I normally use Aperture mode.

Thanks.

 

[Rashkae]

Any tips on what mode to use for best exposure? I normally use Aperture mode.

I usually shoot in aperture priority mode too. Not too sure what's messing up your images.

 

[ct8407]

The grain appears more like the cause of underexposure.

 

[thedaniel]

Since you do not post your original file, it's hard to deduce from the reduced size and limit info from the exif you provided.

From the reduce size and info provided, I can only say that the shutter speed is too fast and ISO not high enough to capture sufficient light of the room.

Did you process the picture in editing software to brighten it up?

 

[thedaniel]

Thanks all for replies. I am already using the max pixels avail for D300. Each of my photos are usually 6+ mb size.
I will try using spot metering next time to see if I can get better results.

Normally I do my exposure corrections in adobe lightroom, so I tend to just capture the moment and then correct later.
I am just surprised that due to exposure, the noise can be so obvious

Any tips on what mode to use for best exposure? I normally use Aperture mode.

Thanks.

Since you mention that you actually shoot first and correct later, this could be the problem. If you shoot at iso 400 and later found that the picture is too dark and correct it in lightroom by increasing the exposure by 2 stops, the noise level will be similar to shooting in iso 1600.

 

[lsisaxon]

Thanks all for replies. I am already using the max pixels avail for D300. Each of my photos are usually 6+ mb size.
I will try using spot metering next time to see if I can get better results.

Normally I do my exposure corrections in adobe lightroom, so I tend to just capture the moment and then correct later.
I am just surprised that due to exposure, the noise can be so obvious

Any tips on what mode to use for best exposure? I normally use Aperture mode.

Thanks.

I am interested to know how many stops underexposed your original shot is. Usually if you shoot in JPEG, you cannot be more than 2 stops under before the JPEG will fail to encode the shadow details properly.

If you have not understood exposure, I suggest using P mode and auto ISO for the moment and start to have a basic idea about what exposure is all about.

 

[deklan]

I guess u "over processed" ur photo, when u shoot in JPEG which is already a compression, and edit it again, u cant adjust much...
thats how i guess ur Noise came abt, u brighten up ur picture too much in processing?

 

[xintiandi]

I am interested to know how many stops underexposed your original shot is. Usually if you shoot in JPEG, you cannot be more than 2 stops under before the JPEG will fail to encode the shadow details properly.

If you have not understood exposure, I suggest using P mode and auto ISO for the moment and start to have a basic idea about what exposure is all about.

HI Isisaxon,

Thanks for your advise.

Hee hee, there's still so much for me to learn, it's really not surprising if my understanding of exposure is minimal. How can I check how many stops is the shot underexposed?
Normally I just use the histogram to judge if my exposure is fine (when it's a bell curve at almost the centre, am satisfied, or am I wrong?:embrass. I am just glad that this problem is probably due to human error rather than my precious D300.

Talking about exposure and P mode, I have a question on Aperture mode. If I use aperture mode, shouldn't the shutter speed be adjusted accordingly by the camera so that the exposure will turn out fine? I know D70s needs constant exposure compensation, but I thought this does not happen with D300?

 

[xintiandi]

I guess u "over processed" ur photo, when u shoot in JPEG which is already a compression, and edit it again, u cant adjust much...
thats how i guess ur Noise came abt, u brighten up ur picture too much in processing?

Hi deklan, even before I did any PP, the photo was already with the noise.
Is there somehow I can show the original photo without any size reduction? I tried both flikr and clubsnap gallery, I cannot post my original photo without size reduction...

Thanks!

 

[Reportage]

Interesting choice of settings for the D300 at lowlight.

Exposure Bias: 0/6 EV

Metering Mode: Pattern

White Balance: Manual

Gain Control: Low gain up

Whats the reasoning behind the settings?

If you like to take picture in jpeg which is a damn good idea, be sure to convert to .tiff or at least photoshop format as that way wont lose as much data as editing it as a jpeg.

 

[xintiandi]

Interesting choice of settings for the D300 at lowlight.

Exposure Bias: 0/6 EV

Metering Mode: Pattern

White Balance: Manual

Gain Control: Low gain up

Whats the reasoning behind the settings?

If you like to take picture in jpeg which is a damn good idea, be sure to convert to .tiff or at least photoshop format as that way wont lose as much data as editing it as a jpeg.

Hi Reportage,

Thanks for the tip on converting first to .tiff format, will remember this.
But this noisy photo has not been PP yet, so the noise is not due to post process.

May I know how you will have set it during low light conditions? Low light conditions is one of my major challenge, since I hate using the inbuilt flash (till i buy SB800, i suppose).

Thanks!

 

[Reportage]

Hi Reportage,

Thanks for the tip on converting first to .tiff format, will remember this.
But this noisy photo has not been PP yet, so the noise is not due to post process.

May I know how you will have set it during low light conditions? Low light conditions is one of my major challenge, since I hate using the inbuilt flash (till i buy SB800, i suppose).

Thanks!

You may find this hard to believe but i would do exposure bracketing using both aperture and shutter priority instead since i can control some of the photo variables like the subject for instance. This would have been prohibitively expensive on Film cameras. Most of the time, you will get useable pictures and there isnt much PP that needs to be done other then color adjustments if needed. Leave all other settings on default.

Then again, what you get is what you get so do what you can to make the best use of the picture. for example from the photo taken, i can do this

If you print it in 4R size, most if not all noise would not be easily noticed. One of the many ways to rescue a picture. Can make it even finer to reduce even more noise but you start to lose significant detail after a certain point.