Engagement Shoot- Grainy-ness?

[ClayScots]

EXIF:

Canon 50mm f/1.8
50mm
f/1.8
1/30 Sec.

My question is, why is this image grainy when you zoom in? Is it the result of my PP? I know this will affect my prints, and the last thing I want is for hundreds of people to see my work and notice an interesting image that unfortunately looks like it was taken with a cell phone camera....

Any thoughts? Thanks!

[PhotoGnat]

I really like the shot I think it works very well. I can't enlarge it to see any noise, but what was your ISO? Also I have noticed that when I use layers to do highpass it does amplify the noise a bit, but a little noise reduction filter usually helps clear some if not most of it up.

[ClayScots]

Thanks for the quick reply!

My ISO was at its lowest...100 on my Canon.

I did my PP in LR3. Some minor tweaking of exposure and saturation...would this be enough to create this grain?

[autofocus]

could you be confusing flare with grain?

[ClayScots]

I don't believe so, though I know what you mean. I guess it's just the problem that when I view this image in Viewer on my Mac, it looks very grainy/noisy.

I believe you should be able to see what I mean if you view the image on Flickr and view any of the larger versions.

Thanks for the suggestion!

[autofocus]

where exactly are you seeing most of the grain?...I really can't see it. You definitely have flare from shooting wide open into a backlit subject

[ClayScots]

I agree that there is flare. How might I look to eliminate that in future?

I am seeing the noise/grain in the OOF portion of the image, but it is present in some of my other images that are shot at much more conservative apertures (5.6 and higher).

Maybe I'm just seeing things, and there is no noise problem, but I just needed another set of opinions before submitting this collection to the couple who paid me.

[autofocus]

I agree that there is flare. How might I look to eliminate that in future?

for starters, choose your backgrounds carefully. Even though you've blurred it considerably by shooting wide open there are still some unattractive areas. You also could have stopped down the lens as f/1.8 is not going to be the sweet spot for that lens. When you shoot wide open into a bright background you are going to lose both color and contrast on your subject. It does, however, seem to be a popular style, but once again, choose your backgrounds carefully if you like the effect.

I am seeing the noise/grain in the OOF portion of the image, but it is present in some of my other images that are shot at much more conservative apertures (5.6 and higher).

The primary cause of grainy images is high ISO's, however, you will also get grain to show in dark and/or underexposed portions of the image

Maybe I'm just seeing things, and there is no noise problem, but I just needed another set of opinions before submitting this collection to the couple who paid me.

You can do a curves adjustment layer to bring up the contrast levels..it should improve the image appearance somewhat. And being that the ring is the subject, is it tack sharp? I really can't tell with this reduced quality image

[ClayScots]

I'll remember that tip for reducing the flare in my photos. I agree that shooting at my widest aperture is not the best for this, but I had wanted to really isolate the ring, but missed focus instead. Perhaps shooting at f/4 would have been wiser...

[autofocus]

Originally Posted by ClayScots

I'll remember that tip for reducing the flare in my photos. I agree that shooting at my widest aperture is not the best for this, but I had wanted to really isolate the ring, but missed focus instead. Perhaps shooting at f/4 would have been wiser...

If you missed focus on the ring I would not give that to the customer..give her only your best shots...and f/3 - f/4 probably would have been a good call. Remember, it's not only f/stop that contributes to DOF, closeness to subject will also influence it (whether physically close, or zoomed close)