# My photos are soft/noisy/grainy. What am I doing wrong?



## Soon2bSavvy

I'm attempting to DIY some product photography for my stationery design business. 

I have a light box + 3 lowel lights set up. I'm shooting with a Nikon D300S and a 35mm lens.
The photo below was taken at f1.8 , 1/500s, ISO 200. I have not altered it at all, only cropped it in a bit.

Can you tell me what Is making my photo grainy/soft? It seems even when the photos are under/over exposed they remain soft and noisy/grainy.


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## KmH

Don't use the lens wide open at f/1.8. Wide open for a fast lens usually means using a fair portion of the lens edge area which contributes to soft focus.

Stop it down to f/4 or f/5.6 so the lens is using the central portion of the lens. Your focus should become sharper by being in the lens focus 'sweet spot'.

Digital photos do not have 'grain'. They have image noise.

You need to nail the exposure to minimize image noise, even when using a relatively low ISO like ISO 200.

For digital photography exposure needs to be controlled so the highlights (bright areas), of the image are properly exposed.
a way to check the exposure is to look at the image's histogram. Highlights need to be to the right side of the histogram, so the concept is known as Expose-To-The-Right , or ETTR.

ETTR
Optimizing Exposure
Exposing to the right - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Here is the histogram of the exposure of the photo you posted. Note it is not all the way to the right of the histogram:





Here I have added 0.7 EV (3/4 of a stop) more exposure to move the histogram to the right edge:





and here I have corrected the white balance to eliminate the rose tinted color cast in the photo:


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## Soon2bSavvy

Hi,

Thank you for the advice and for correcting my phraseology. I tried re-shooting at f4.5-5.6 and a variety of shutter speeds till I found ones that were "to the right" on the histogram. I adjusted the white balance a bit, However the soft/noise issue remains?


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## KmH

Your subject isn't moving, so shutter speed considerations are only valid relative to camera shake/mirror slap.

Lens quality also influences image sharpness as does the AA filter in front of the image sensor in your camera. You don't say which make/model 35 mm lens you are using.
For product photography I would recommend Nikon's  FX AF-S 35 mm f/1.4G lens or Nikkor 35 mm f/1.4, and not the $200 consumer grade DX AF-S 35 mm f/1.8G.

AA filters make sharpening a required post process step. Sharpening is best done as a multiple step process - capture sharpening, local sharpening, and output sharpening.
Real World Image Sharpening with Adobe Photoshop, Camera Raw, and Lightroom (2nd Edition)


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## dmunsie

Just some noob guessing here, but isn't lighting (shadows), poor subject alignment / framing, causing problems as well?


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## Soon2bSavvy

I agree my alignment/framing etc is not good, but when the photos look like balls of fuzz that is hardly the point of my question, don't you agree? I was simply setting things up and trying to get a good quality image out of my camera before I worried about anything else...that stuff can be fixed later.

Ok I'm not understanding. Aperture + Shutter Speed = Exposure correct? So when you asked me to move my f stops to the middle range of my lens (reducing the amount of light coming into my camera) I would have to adjust the shutter speed slower, to allow the appropriate amount of light to come into my camera correct? Otherwise the photos are too dark...?

I was not using an AA filter for these shots. I appreciate the advice on lenses,and the ones you recommend are definitely an improvement over what I have (the basic/consumer lens). However, I'm just starting out and paying $1600+ on a new lens when my camera, 2 lenses, light box and lighting didn't cost that much total would not be something I could not do at this point.  I'm trying to learn to take good shots with the equipment I can afford. If this is the best this camera can produce I might as well throw it in the trash. I'm sure that is not the case though... I just need to learn what I'm doing wrong... hence why I posted in the "newbie" forum.

Thanks for the advice. I will move on.


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## ceeboy14

Another consideration is the camera may have some internal focusing issues. There are some simple tests to determine this (youtube) and apply a remedy. If your camera is incapable of doing this, and it is still under warranty, send it back to Nikon and have them recalibrate the focus.

To clarify dmunsie's observation, you cannot have a crisp focus on all edges of a flat subject unless the whole subject is parallel to the lens plane; that's asking more of a lens than it can produce. The first image you posted shows a good clarity in the clip holding the cardboard but an obvious loss of clarity at the top of the board. This is far more a result of non-alignment than anything else. I see the noise as soft focus, not ISO issues. I have the same 35mm and if I did the same setup, my results would mirror yours.

Rather than moving on, do a reshoot under ideal conditions so the members can have a better idea as to both the "problem," and a solution.


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## SCraig

Soon2bSavvy said:


> I agree my alignment/framing etc is not good, but when the photos look like balls of fuzz that is hardly the point of my question, don't you agree? I was simply setting things up and trying to get a good quality image out of my camera before I worried about anything else...that stuff can be fixed later.
> 
> Ok I'm not understanding. *Aperture + Shutter Speed = Exposure correct?* So when you asked me to move my f stops to the middle range of my lens (reducing the amount of light coming into my camera) I would have to adjust the shutter speed slower, to allow the appropriate amount of light to come into my camera correct? Otherwise the photos are too dark...?


Close but wrong.  Aperture + Shutter Speed + ISO = Exposure Value.  With a 35mm lens you do not need to shoot at 1/500 second to get sharp shots.  Shoot at 1/60 second and close your aperture down 3 stops to f/5.0.  Same exposure value.



> *I was not using an AA filter for these shots.* I appreciate the advice on lenses,and the ones you recommend are definitely an improvement over what I have (the basic/consumer lens). However, I'm just starting out and paying $1600+ on a new lens when my camera, 2 lenses, light box and lighting didn't cost that much total would not be something I could not do at this point.  I'm trying to learn to take good shots with the equipment I can afford. If this is the best this camera can produce I might as well throw it in the trash. I'm sure that is not the case though... I just need to learn what I'm doing wrong... hence why I posted in the "newbie" forum.


Yes, you were.  The anti-alias filter is built into your camera.  It is right in front of the sensor.


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## KmH

ceeboy14 said:


> Another consideration is the camera may have some internal focusing issues.


Few cameras have front or back focusing issues.

The issue for most inexperienced photographers is that they just don't know enough about how a camera/lens works to enable them to use the camera/lens effectively.
Understanding and controlling depth-of-field is a very common focusing issue for inexperienced photographers.



Soon2bSavvy said:


> I was not using an AA filter for these shots.





KmH said:


> *the AA filter in front of the image sensor in your camera.*


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## ceeboy14

Mine did and I had to send it back to Nikon twice before they corrected the focus. I was out in the back by enough to just make me nuts trying to correct. But, the D7000 had this issue with a lot of the first cameras...so it goes. I agree however, the issue is far more likely related to experience than an internal issue.


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## BigDM

I also suggest, since it appears you are shooting a sheet of paper/cardstock, etc, that you LAY IT DOWN on the table.  There is no need to have it standing up and then needing to deal with the curve effect the force of gravity imposes upon you!  By having it laying flat, you can more easily get the plane of your camera sensor in exact alignment (or at least as close as possible) to the object your are photographing. That will make the overall focusing issue a little easier. Also, like the others have suggested, stop your camera down to at least 5.6! By doing so you are getting more of the center portion of the lens glass, or its "sweet spot" so to speak and as a result, your image sharpness should also improve.

Now you see why we commercial photographers specialize in what we do! It's also why we charge what we do for our work - it isn't easy, minor problems sometimes can give us a migraine, but in the end, our work is easily identifiable as having been done by a professional...


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