Image Quality!!

[Ray]

I think we'll need a few more details than that, Andrew. But it looks as though you might be using a 'point & shoot' digicam in automatic mode. The camera has chosen a high ISO setting owing to poor lighting conditions and you're stuck with a noisy shot. If your camera gives you a choice of ISO, choose the lowest number.

Failing that, there's a low cost program called Neat Image which does an excellent job at removing noise or grain.

Best of luck  

[Bobtrips]

Andrew -

As the others have said, you didn't provide enough information for anyone to properly answer your question.

Here's what I would suggest.  First, review the shot using the information in the EXIF file.  

I'm going to assume that you're just getting started, don't know some of the basics.  The EXIF file is information about the particular shot that is attached to the image by the camera when the shot is taken.  You will need software that will let you read that information.

The software that came with your camera will probably do the job.  

If you're using a PC I highly recommend that you download a free copy Irfanview at www.irfanview.com.  Using Irfanview, go to 'File' and 'Open' the image, click on 'Image' and then on 'Information', then click on 'EXIF'.  When you do so you will see the resolution, the compression, the aperture, the shutter speed, date/time and much more for that particular photo.

Then when you ask a question you can ask "I shot at 1200x1600 resolution, f 2.8, 1/500th, etc."

Second, open an account at pBase, Yahoo Photos, or any other posting site and post the picture in question.  Then you can point people to the image so that they can see what you are talking about.  You won't have to rely on your ability to describe something that you might not understand all that well.

BTW, Neat Image might be the solution.  You can download a free, limited function version that works extremely well to clean up noisy shots.

[Jeff Donald]

PAL and NTSC mini DV video cameras are low resolution imaging devices.  You don't notice the video is low resolution because your viewing 30 frames per second (25fps PAL).  The rapidly moving images hides the low resolution.  If you want to do high quality stills you'll need to switch to your film camera.

[Andrew]

G'day,

        I have taken a picture of a flower, it looks fine on the small LCD preview screen of the camera, but once i open it up in Photoshop it looks grainy.
Could someone please explain to me why it doesn't look good, or give me some advice to help "tweak" it to make it look good?

Thanks

Andrew

[Joe Hardesty]

Hi Andew,

As Ray mentioned, you really did not give us much info to go on, but here a couple of thoughts.

You cannot rely on the LCD preview for image quality. The tiny preview image will only give a rough idea of exposure and composition.

Most digital cameras have a menu option or setting where you can choose the image quality. These can range from very low quality small images to large high resolution images. The default setting for your camera may be a low quality image. Check you user manual or menu options for "image quality" or "image size" options.

Beyond those simple suggestion, we will need more info about your camera and level of experience in order to help further.

[Andrew]

Hey

Thank you for your suggestions and opinions... I didn't think i would get a response. I used a panasonic miniDV  which is a digital video/camera.  I own a Canon AE-1 P :: which was my fathers.  I thought i'd get more experience before going out and blowing my money on something highly professional as i just started to get involved with photography recently... besides, i'm only 16.
Thanks again for your replies!

Andrew