Photo Clarity

<p>I am a little worried about my photos right now. I have never had this issue before... but the last shoot I did, the pictures turned out rather grainy and unclear. They didn't appear that way on the camera screen. But, when I uploaded them, they looked horrible. What could have caused this? </p>

<p>Possibly a setting which you changed by mistake which caused the images to be underexposed. Have a look at the EXIF data in your RAW converter and see if you applied exposure compensation or a very high ISO by accident.</p>

<p>Also, look at the histogram on the computer and compare it to the histogram on your camera. I assume that you have not deleted the files from your memory cards yet, right?<br>

<br /><br />It's odd that the images looked good on the LCD, though. Maybe it's an electronic problem? Let us know what you come up with regarding the histogram and the EXIF data, anyway.</p>

<p>Many computer programs (the free program Irfanview is one) will give you a thorough readout of the EXIF information that is attached to any digital photograph, which includes the shutter speed, aperture, ISO, exposure compensation and so on. If you compare the EXIF for a picture you were pleased with, and that for a picture that looked bad, perhaps you can spot a difference. </p>

<p>On Nikon digital SLR's, you can open the playback menu and choose among various display options. There is one called "overview" that gives the most basic EXIF info, and also a histogram of the shot. That's a very handy one. I imagine others have something similar. I think the Canon will give you information if you push the "info" button while in display mode.</p>

<p>My first guess would be that somehow the ISO got shifted, or if your camera has auto ISO that it went too high. </p>

 

<p>Remember that the image is being recorded at much higher resolution than can be displayed on the camera's LCD. When you're looking at it on the camera's display, you're seeing a significantly down-sized display. That can suppress the appearance of noise from shooting at a high ISO. </p>

<p>Allison, it'll be easier for us to share some ideas if you can mention which camera you use, post example images and/or maybe describe the circumstances in which you made them, and which settings you used.<br>

The problem you describe can have a lot of causes, so without more info, all we can do is guess.</p>

<p>It's useful to remember that this forum's software does not strip out EXIF data. If you make sure that your software does not lose it when resampling and resizing (don't use "save for web."), we can probably read it here.</p>

<p>What are you using to upload them? Sounds like it could definitely be a setting that needs to be adjusted. The ISO getting shifted would also be a good guess as someone mentioned before. </p>