Grainy photos

[HaraldHeim]

Photos that were taken under bad light conditions usualy are quite grainy. When sizing them down, the image is interpolated which removes the noise. That's why you also can't see any noise in small thumbnails.

You can make sure that photos don't get too grainy by always setting your digital camera to a low ISO setting (ISO 50, 80 or 100) or using ISO 50 or 100 films for analog cameras. However, the drawback is that under bad light conditions the photos become more blury and sometimes nevertheless contain noise.

So the best solution is to try to make your photos under good light conditions or take some studio lamps with you . If you already took the photos, you can remove the noise by sizing the photos down if possible and practicable. Alternatively you can try some grain and noise removal tools, e.g. PSP's ones, but you should be careful not to overdo it with them. Sometimes the natural photo noise looks better than the results that some grain removal tools produce.

If nothing helps, simply declare the noise in the image as an artistic touch . You could try to intentionally add a certain kind of noise to you photos. It surely would be an nice artistic challenge.

[mikekel]

I've found this happens after adjusting the gamma settings in some editors. Too much of the dark tones are removed and replaced with lighter pixels, therefore the grainy look.

[HaraldHeim]

Yes, some photos have hidden noise in the dark area. If you lighten up the dark areas, this noise becomes visible.