Digital Picture Developing


  #1  
Old 11-25-06, 08:33 PM
diyplank's Avatar
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Williamsport
Posts: 708
Received 3 Upvotes on 2 Posts
Digital Picture Developing

I have a Nikon Coolpix 6.2 mp camera. I take the pictures in the best setting on the camera, when I upload them to the computer the size is roughly 2.2 - 2.6 MB. I resize them to about 300 - 500 KB so I can upload them to my York Photo account. I can upload the normal size picture, but it takes less time to upload the resized pictures. Well I have ordered about 350 pics through York and never had any problems. This last time about 20 pics or so came back grainy some very grainy. I emailed york photo and they of course didn't tell me how to fix the problem. So I am asking you pros!!!! I had an HP program I was using from my existing camera to resize the pictures, but for some reason that quit working last week. So I found a free program online called Irfanview. I have never heard of it but I love using it. Much easier than the HP prog. I was using. So anyone with info can you please help. Should I buy the photoshop program??
 
  #2  
Old 11-26-06, 08:27 AM
B
Member
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: United States
Posts: 2,484
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
Grainy pictures are usually caused by improper exposure. There's not enough light for a proper exposure. If a digital camera is on auto, it will try to compensate by going with a faster "film" speed. Like film, the higher iso results in more grain. I remember seeing reviews of a coolpix showing lots of grain at 1600 iso, even some at 800 iso.

Another problem with digital pix is jpeg artifacts, analogous to radio static. Good photo software can reduce/eliminate this.
I don't use photoshop. I use Paint Shop Pro 9. It does what I want for a fraction of the cost of Photoshop.

In fact, there are a couple of good programs that specialize on noise and do an excellent job. I use noise ninja. Noise Ninja cleared up some really noisy pics taken with an old, cheap digital camera. The current home version is $35.
 
  #3  
Old 11-28-06, 11:15 PM
GregH's Avatar
Super Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Manitoba
Posts: 9,500
Received 68 Upvotes on 62 Posts
diyplank,

When you resize the image do you still have the original.
If so you should be able to see if it's the resizing or the photo lab that makes the prints grainy.
If you aren't keeping the originals you might want to consider doing so.
 
  #4  
Old 11-29-06, 01:25 PM
R
Member
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Fruit Heights, Utah
Posts: 280
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
another vote for noise ninja....
 
  #5  
Old 11-30-06, 08:36 PM
diyplank's Avatar
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Williamsport
Posts: 708
Received 3 Upvotes on 2 Posts
No I keep all originals and have a file for thumbs. On the computer they look awesome. But when I got them back from York photo they were grainy. Mainly the one's of my 5 month old son in a pumpkin costume which is a bright orange. The majority of them are grainy. Also about 8 other pics that don't have any bright colors. I am thinking it is just the costume, but I am not sure. Thanks I'll look into that noise ninja
Chris
 
 

Thread Tools
Search this Thread
 
Ask a Question
Question Title:
Description:
Your question will be posted in: