grain

[jocose]

Photo Gurus,

I have a question for you. I was reading through the thread of defs and concepts for newbies (like ME). It's great!

Someone (sorry I can't remember who) was talking about grain and how to get more or less in your prints. I'm curious, is there a way to control grain in a digital camera? I know you can go into software like Adobe Photoshop and play around with the image to get these kinds of effects, but is it possible to do it directly from the camera?

Also, I guess while I'm at it, a similar question is is it even worth it? That is, one of the things I was really excited about when I get my camera was that I could go from B/W to color right in the camera, but recently I have just taken the color pic and then removed the color in Photoshop.

 

[ksmattfish]

The equivalent for grain in a digital camera is noise. You can increase noise in-camera by increasing the ISO, or by underexposing. Some cameras have noise reduction filters/functions that can be turned on and off.

I would rather add noise in post-processing if that's the look I want.

 

[jocose]

hey, thanks for the reply. I kinda figured you would rec post production. That was why I mentioned the B/W thing.

Thanks for the info...I will check and see if I have a noice filter on my camera...even if I don't use it, it's nice to know how to use my camera

 

[ksmattfish]

Setting a digital camera to take BW pics just means it's desaturating a color image with software in the camera. You'll have a lot more control and options if you take control of the process.

 

[jocose]

can you buy good digital cameras without all the bells and whistles--since you can do all of it in programs like photoshop?

 

[Big Mike]

What do you mean by that? What would you consider a 'good digital camera'?

Most 'Point & Shoot' (non-DSLR) digital cameras do not allow you to shoot in RAW mode. They save the images in JPEG or TIFF format. They also manipulate the image...sharpening, compression etc. With some cameras, you can change the settings slightly, but the camera is still imposing it's settings onto your images.

With a DSLR (or high end P&S) you can shoot it RAW mode...which is the image...as shot...with no manipulations.

Some people don't like shooting in RAW mode because it requires more work. To get to the final product, you have to do more of the steps yourself...However...you have more control...which, for an artist, is very important.

So back to your question...the cameras that tend to have all of the 'bells & whistles' are also the ones that can give you the most control over your images. The simple 'automatic' digital cameras give you less control. If we compare it to film, it's like dropping your film off to get prints in one hour vs making your own prints in the dark room.

So if you wanted to get a grain effect, your best bet would be to take as much control as possible and create the effect with a combination of exposure settings and photoshop work.

 

[jocose]

Big Mike,


So your basically saying that you don't want a camera that does it all for you, but neither do you want one that doesn't do anything at all...use a combo of the camera and photoshop?

I am asking mostly because I'm getting into taking pictures, and while I really like my camera, I'm thinking of moving up to a DSLR, so I'm trying to get info.

Anyway, thanks again for the info.

 

[SLOShooter]

I thikn he's saying that to get the "most" control of digital images you should shoot in RAW and do the post processing yourself as many of us digital shooters do.

Since companies are trying to sell DSLR's to as wide a market as possible they add "bells and whistles" like, frames and desaturation, and filters to the in-camera processing software so that they will have more items to put on the back of the box at retail. However for those of us that want total control thoose are the very first features that get turned off.

Even a professional DSLR can be turned into a Point and Shoot by switching it to AUTO mode, but you will rarely see a professional using it this way.

 

[ksmattfish]

can you buy good digital cameras without all the bells and whistles--since you can do all of it in programs like photoshop?

Not right now. Maybe in the future they will offer simplified models with the same high quality sensor. But for now the more expensive the DSLR, the more bells and whistles, and the better the sensor. What is an important feature to one photographer, may be useless to the next. The manufacturers want to make a few cameras that will cover the needs of the widest range of photographers. Once digital quality gets about as good as it's going to get (or as good as we possibly need), they will probably begin making more specialized, and niche models.

 

[jocose]

thanks for the responses. It has helped. As I mentioned, my current camera has a goodly amount of bells and whistles, but I think that I would prefer to do all of the manipulation when I get home, rather than worry about while I'm taking the pics...so I think we are actually all on the same page, but it also seems moot in that you can't get a camera without the Bs & Ws.

Thanks.

 

[Marctwo]

You'll never find a dslr without the 'B&W's simply because a pro will find it easy to ignore them but a beginner will find them invaluable.

The more you get into post-processing the less you will use the 'B&W's because you'll find you can do a better job yourself in PS.

 

[Hertz van Rental]

I'm still trying to understand the mentality of the person who decided to incorporate a sepia mode into my DSLR. Why, for God's sake?

 

[ksmattfish]

I'm still trying to understand the mentality of the person who decided to incorporate a sepia mode into my DSLR. Why, for God's sake?

You think that's bad, the 20D has a "purple tone" mode in addition to "sepia tone". It also has BW modes for red, orange, and yellow filters. I think it's like what was mentioned above; they want to have a long list of features to print on the box. I know that the 20D is supposed to be "prosumer", but why does it have all the icon auto-modes? I wouldn't mind if I was allowed to reprogram them to what I want, but I'll never use them as Canon has them programmed.

 

[SLOShooter]

I'm still trying to understand the mentality of the person who decided to incorporate a sepia mode into my DSLR. Why, for God's sake?

It's obvious your not in marketing.