Grainy pics?

So I was comparing the pictures I took last weekend (see thread) and comparing them to similar shots on jp.net, with the obvious goal of one day being able to shoot pics suitable for submission. Some of them (most notably ATA and Continental) are pretty grainy. I tried sharpening them, but it didn't really help. Is there anything I can do with my camera to keep this from happening? Is there something I can do to fix it in post-processing? I'm using GIMP right now, but I can get Photoshop at a non-prohibitive cost if it's really necessary. I'm a little new at this, so I didn't want to get anything at any cost until I know I need it :)

Thanks.

Yeah, they are grainy and undersharpened (and sharpening will add noise...) Photoshop is pretty much a must, but the noise and undersharpness come from your camera.

What kind of camera do you have? What ISO setting were you shooting at? Looks like you had enough lighting to be shooting at lower ISO speeds. The higher you have it set, the more noise it will add in the picture especially in low lighting situations. This is where using a DSLR is more useful because the larger sensor allows you to shoot at higher speeds and faster moving subjects because it retains more light. They still can have alot of noise but not as much as a point and shoot. Adding color also causes more grain. Also noise is not a result a sharpening, its just magnified when you do so.

He is using a Canon S3 IS, and according to the EXIF data, his ISO is unknown.

EXIF:

Make: Canon
Model: Canon PowerShot S3 IS
Exposure Time: 1/1600 Sec
F Numer: F3.5
Exposure Program: Unknown
Exposure Bias Value: 0
ISO Speed Ratin: Unknown
Metering Mode: Pattern
Lens Focal Length 6.9mm
White Balance: Manual
DateTime Original: 2007:07:22 17:36:48
EXIF Image Size: 2816*2112

Quote:

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Originally Posted by njgtr82

What kind of camera do you have? What ISO setting were you shooting at? Looks like you had enough lighting to be shooting at lower ISO speeds. The higher you have it set, the more noise it will add in the picture especially in low lighting situations. This is where using a DSLR is more useful because the larger sensor allows you to shoot at higher speeds and faster moving subjects because it retains more light. They still can have alot of noise but not as much as a point and shoot. Adding color also causes more grain. Also noise is not a result a sharpening, its just magnified when you do so.

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Ah ha. I can definitely lower the ISO; too much light has been a bigger problem than not enough light at this time of year :). Those pics were actually darkened a bit. I had been using high ISO and a very fast shutter speed because the planes are moving very quickly at the distance I was shooting from and I was afraid of blur. Maybe next weekend I'll try lower ISO and longer exposure if the weather is good.

(I know I could do better with a DSLR, but I got a great deal on the S3, and this isn't a $1000 hobby for me yet. I'll see about a nicer camera when I get my raise and bonus at the end of the year.)

I just discovered that there is custom firmware that allows you to shoot in RAW mode with the S3. That should help too.

Definitely try to keep the ISO down; higher ISO means more grain/noise, which is true of both film and digital. You need to try to balance that against the need to keep the shutter speed up. I'd say that unless you're really up close to the planes, and they're zipping through your field of view really quickly, you can drop the shutter speed to about 1/800 or less and still have shots without blur.

Even with a dSLR, you don't want to go too high on the ISO if you want to submit to JP or Anet. I've had photos rejected from JP as "noisy" that were taken at ISO 200, though they look fine to me; I could probably put some effort into cleaning them up and probably get good photos up to about ISO 800, if the subject and light were right (darker, shadow areas develop noise faster than brighter, highlight areas).