Photos came out grainy

[Aapoll]

Good morning everyone. I am in the beginning stages of photography that's for sure. I received a canon t1i just about 4 years ago and have started taking it more seriously in the last 2 years. I have bought books and have just been taking a ton of pictures. I have also been dabbling in some basic editing. Exposure has finally began sinking in after purchasing my 50mm f1.8 lens. The next lens I plan on purchasing is a 28-75mm. Now to the point of this post.

Monday we had our thanksgiving family get together, and I was asked to take pictures of the entire family. I thought that was great, more practicing. I brought my tripod and remote, and started to set up about an hour and a half before sunset. I used my 50mm lens since my kit lens is kind of finicky. I also picked a shaded area to avoid dappled light. This was a larger group then I have shot before, and included my husbands grandma who is 88 and needed to be sitting in a rocking chair. I spent until last light taking various photos of various groups. When I got home and put the images onto my computer and zoomed a little, I noticed my pictures look grainy and not sharp at all. With some editing they are usable for what they were intended (a calendar), but will never be able to be a picture you would put on the wall.

Now I am trying to figure out why they were so grainy. I am not quite sure on the mm of a lens yet, for whatever reason my ADD won't let it sink in. Would using the 50mm on a large group have caused that, because of being farther away? I really don't know what happened, I took group shots of the kids before and they turned out a lot sharper. I had my camera set on av, the aperture was set on 11 for most shots. I switched my ISO to automatic and the highest it went was 500. Can anyone shed some light on this for me?

I can try and post some of the images later if that would help.

 

[tegeltka]

probably high ISO but maybe also underexposure, zoomed in too much later, dust on sensor...

Post a picture and you'll get your answer immediately.

 

[pgriz]

What you see as "grain" is probably sensor noise, coupled with lack of sharp focus. Did you take your pictures in JPEG or Raw? If JPEG, then you're probably also looking at the compression algorithm pixelation. I only postprocess the RAW file images, and then I get to control how much sharpening/brighening/smooshing happens to the image.

 

[Seventen]

Maybe you could show some example pictures with the exif data added to it. It sounds like the auto ISO had chosen a high ISO as you was using F11 and guessing indoors, which caused the grainy pictures. As you was using a stand the shutter speed could have been kept a bit lower to compensate for the ISO being as low as possible.

 

[KmH]

Digital images don't have grain. They have noise, and there are several different types of image noise.
Digital Camera Image Noise: Concept and Types
Image Noise: Examples and Characteristics

Image noise is commonly caused by using a high ISO setting. As the ISO setting is increased, the amount the pixel voltages get amplified is also increased. The increased amplification adds image noise.

Because of the way digital images work, under exposure makes image noise more visible even at lower ISO setings, particularly if exposure is added post process using image editing software.
One approach that can be used to minimize digital image noise is known as Expose-to-The-Right (ETTR) which refers to making sure the highlights in an image are displayed near the right edge of the image histogram.
Optimizing Exposure
ETTR

Tones & Contrast

• Understanding Histograms, Part 1: Tones & Contrast
• Understanding Histograms, Part 2: Luminosity & Color

 

[Aapoll]

Thank you guys for the quick replies. I only shoot RAW. Looking through the pictures again I did find a few were under exposed but most were right where they should be. I'm not sure how to post pictures with the exif data, I am kind of new to forums and posting pictures actually. I will post a few pictures from them group I just took and hope the needed info is there. If anyone could offer any advice to try and make them a bit smoother if would be greatly appreciated. I have photoshop elements, cs6 and lightroom 5. I did toy with some of them already to try and make them sharper.

 

[Aapoll]

picture number 1 was: ISO 500 f/11 1/60
number 2: same
number 3: ISO 400 the rest is the same

I have others that were ISO 100 and have the same noisy look. They just aren't sharp.

Thank you KmH, those links were very informative.

 

[The_Traveler]

I wouldn't shoot at f 11, that's probably not the sweet spot of your lens.
1/60 is really at the lower edge for shooting hand held
You are in pretty deep shade, it looks like, very blue and no directional light.
What you want is open shade where there is no direct sun but where there are shadows, that's what makes things look sharp.

You would be better shooting at f 8, 1/150.
These need mostly to be color corrected and sharpened and they'll look a lot better.



Then warm these up considerably

 

[Aapoll]

Thanks The_Traveler that looks a million times better. It was absolutely more shade then I would have like, we were behind the house. My only other option was dappled light through the trees. The area had some directional light when I set up but it went behind the house fairly quick. My camera was on a tripod so that's why I wasn't really concerned about shutter speed but I can see now f/11 was a bit too low. I never shot a big group before so I went with halfway through the range to avoid blurring the people on the outsides. This is all part of learning but I have honestly never been so disappointed. Can I ask what steps you took to make the faces that smooth?

 

[The_Traveler]

Sure,

Ran it through Noiseware by Imagenomics (there is a free version)
Warmed it up considerably using a photofilter in PS.
(In Lightroom develop module, just raise temperature until you like. Watch that whites don't get reddish cast.)
Then sharpened to taste.

If you have problems, just PM me.

Lew

 

[dsm.iv.tr]

I'm going to split hairs for a second, solely because it might help the OP. The base ISO - which is fixed, and does not change - of the sensor is, say, ISO 100. Shooting at ISO 500 would have been just fine, had they recognized that they're effectively trading highlight detail for faster exposure times and compensating accordingly, deciding what to keep and what to throw away. Just as an example: in a situation like group portraiture, one might be "keeping" the ability to freeze faces (by using a high ISO and fast shutter speed at a given f-stop), but "throwing away" detail to noise. It's all trade-offs, and frankly, I think the OP did a wonderful job. These are really not bad at all!

Subjectively, I agree that they're a bit cool for me; warmer definitely helps.

Cheers!

 

[Designer]

I'm not sure how to post pictures with the exif data,

Most times the EXIF stays with the file, as it has in your examples. Sometimes that data gets stripped off, however, depending on what all was done to the file on its way to the forum.

 

[Aapoll]

Thank you dsm. Large groups are not really what I want to do. I find it really hard to get everyone looking and trying to pose people is a nightmare. I just don't like any of the shots. Thanks for the info about ISO I appreciate any advice I can get.

It's also good to know the data stays with the file.

 

[dubiousone]

What's wrong with them? I think you captured the moment most eloquently! I like #2, yes posing kids is hard but that's what makes this shot adorable to me. I agree with Traveler; F8 1/150. 1 & 2 are a bit cool, editing should make them quite nice I would think.

 

[Steve5D]

What's wrong with them? I think you captured the moment most eloquently! I like #2, yes posing kids is hard but that's what makes this shot adorable to me.

Yeah, that shot is classic!