I've had an "Oh Crap!" moment~ Help please!

[jenn76]

I just finished a shoot for a friend of her baby. This was a "gift" for her in lieu of a baby shower gift. I don't see her much, so the little guy is 6 months old. Anyway, it's not like I charged her or anything, but she drove almost an hour for this... I was looking at the pics after I dumped them onto my Mac, and noticed they were all grainy! So I checked my photo info, and they are at an ISO of 1600!!!! Crap!!!! I have just begun shooting in manual, and I switch back and forth between Av, manual, and auto (if I'm having issues with a manual setting, since I'm still new at it). So I'm not sure when it happened (since I never set it at 1600 myself), but every photo I've looked at is set at that. So can these be saved? I don't have photoshop. I have Gimp, but I'm not very good with it. Any ideas? Thanks in advance!

 

[tsaraleksi]

There are a couple things you can do. One is to look into getting noise reduction software that will do a lot to smooth the noise out of the images. Another is to try converting some of them to black and white-- grain often looks better in black and white where the color aspects of it do not stand out.

What kind of post-processing software do you have/use?

 

[jenn76]

I've just been using iPhoto (Mac stuff) to do some general brightening, contrast, etc. I have Aperture and Gimp, but haven't had much time to play on those yet. I don't have any noise reduction software. Is there a free one I can download online?

 

[TBAM]

Hi Jenn

As I know you are looking to eventually move into doing photography as a profession, I would strongly recommend purchasing a full copy of Photoshop, or the creative design premium pack.

It costs around $450 AUD (which would probably be around $400 USD) if you can get someone to vouch for you as a "student" and is well worth the money.

There are many noise reduction options through photoshop. With noise reduction you will lose a bit of quality, and the photos will look quite soft, however you should be able to develop a balancing act between quality and usability for your client to a point where when they are printed off (which will probably be the 6x7" sizes for most) they will look as though you didn't have any problems with ISO at all.

If you post some pictures, some of us with working versions of photoshop might be able to fix them up a bit.

Unfortunately I don't have much spare time (reason for logo delay) at the moment, but i'm sure others may like to help.

 

[tirediron]

I've just been using iPhoto (Mac stuff) to do some general brightening, contrast, etc. I have Aperture and Gimp, but haven't had much time to play on those yet. I don't have any noise reduction software. Is there a free one I can download online?

Not that's going to be worth your time. Noise Ninja is one of the better products: http://www.picturecode.com/purchase.php and for the results I've seen, quite reasonably priced.

 

[jenn76]

This is one of the worst ones as far as grain... (most of them aren't this bad!) but I cropped quite a bit and had to sharpen some and brighten. Ugh. I couldn't get it any grainier if I made a mosaic picture of him using actual grain! Is Noise Ninja good enough to fix this? If so, I'll buy it!

 

[mudthirsty]

I see what you mean. Aside from the grain, looks like its a good pic! Maybe you could offer a re-shoot, and you could drive there?

 

[jenn76]

Hi Jenn

As I know you are looking to eventually move into doing photography as a profession, I would strongly recommend purchasing a full copy of Photoshop, or the creative design premium pack.

It costs around $450 AUD (which would probably be around $400 USD) if you can get someone to vouch for you as a "student" and is well worth the money.

Yes, I do plan to get Photoshop. I have to get CS3 or better to work on my Mac. I have been purchasing so many other things (umbrellas, light stands, backdrops, backup battery, new camera bag) that I haven't made the big purchase yet. Gimp is really similar (I've used photoshop before, just don't have it), so I thought I could get away with using Gimp for a while, and it's free. Also, I have Aperture on my Mac, and it's supposed to be a pretty decent program... just haven't had time to learn to use it yet! I have been able to do enough to get by, but I am setting aside some time after I get back from Europe to learn both Gimp and Aperture.

 

[TBAM]

Just a bit of a question for future work.

Did you check your images after shooting them, on the LCD screen? High noise often comes up quite clearly, or atleast if you zoom in.

Alternatively, was there a point where you thought: "Hey this is really easy, i'm able to get some great shutter speeds in this light"

I've had the same problem (ISO accidentally set way too high), but I normally pick it pretty quickly, either with the LCD review, or with noticing that i'm able to use a much faster shutter speed than what i'm normally used to in similar situations.

 

[hankejp]

Hey Jen,

I ran you picture in Photoshop 6 and despeckeled it. I'm not sure how well it did:

 

[RebelTasha]

Jenn
I don't really know much about editing but I do have a free program called
Photoscape never used it for noise or anything but I ran your cute little chap through on low and he came out like this.. he's sooo adorable!!
Perhaps if you sharpen him after it will look better.. so noise first then sharpen.. maybe?

 

[blowjustinup]

Here's my go at it.. Quite soft, but I think it looks good.

 

[Kegger]

Here's a pass through Noise Ninja.

It does soften the image a bit but pulls the noise down considerably. And you can buy the stand-alone version.

 

[Ls3D]

BTW - Reduce noise is a better option than de-speckle IME,.. I put a little cyan in the highlights (ctrl b) to reduce the red cast. I can do your best shots for you if you like. The last one has some manual blurring and highlights.

-Shea

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[hankejp]

Here's a pass through Noise Ninja.

It does soften the image a bit but pulls the noise down considerably. And you can buy the stand-alone version.

I think this definately looks the best so far. How much is that Noise Ninja?