Grainy pictures and snow?

Curiosity Cosby · Jan 26, 2009

Not sure why this picture has turned out quite so grainy. Taken about an hour ago, ISO 640 I think (?) can't quite remember. 50mm F/1.8. Shutter speed was 1/30th I believe. Anyone have any idea why this happened like this? Thanks for taking a look!

Jaszek · Jan 26, 2009

was it snowing?

Curiosity Cosby · Jan 26, 2009

Yeah it's coming down pretty hard right now. Do grainy pictures and snow just go hand in hand?

Jaszek · Jan 26, 2009

Well Im guessing you are talking about the "grain" that you see around the lamp which is clearly snow since it was 1/30 SS so that wouldn't be enough to freeze snow in its path. You can see how they "stretch" from up to down. If you see grain elsewhere please tell me b/c if you do I might be going blind....why? at such a young age? lol

Curiosity Cosby · Jan 26, 2009

Well, I can tell that around the lamp it's snow, but everywhere else, even amidst the black, it is just grainy to me. It is possible it is still just very fine reflections of the snow everywhere, but I don't know yet. Still too new to photography to know.

Jaszek · Jan 26, 2009

OK now I finally saw it lol. the pixels are blue so most likely its high ISO noise...even though I would be surprised of getting noise from a d80 at 640.There is also a possibility that it's the snow reflecting the blue light wave (ok Im sounding too nerdy lol). You can try editing the noise out in Lightroom or noise ninja if you want to keep the shot (personally doesn't do much for me)

Curiosity Cosby · Jan 26, 2009

Sweet, thanks for helping out!

Sw1tchFX · Jan 26, 2009

It's grainy becuase it was shot at ISO 640 and most of the image is in shadow. High ISO + shadows = more noise then the average bear.

You use a remote, shoot on a tripod, ISO 100, and there won't be any noise whatsoever.

Curiosity Cosby · Jan 27, 2009

Haha when I got out I looked in my trunk only to find the insert to my tripod missing, realizing that that exact same moment that for whatever reason it was inside my home about a mile away. Apparently I wasn't too dedicated to getting that shot or else I would have gone home to get it.