need some advice (Page 2): Yes Loony, that was more camera shake than motion blur. The stage and railings are out of sharpness, and they probably weren't moving all that fast! :lol:...

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

loony wrote:

I did not use a flash because I was too far away.

I had good support that was not the problem. I had my elbow sitting on the armrest and I was supporting the front of the lens with that hand. here Is one of the photos the only thing I did was adjust the exposure. This is not focused well but you will be able to see what I am talking about.

Yes Loony, that was more camera shake than motion blur. The stage and railings are out of sharpness, and they probably weren't moving all that fast! :lol:
You needed better support. You need a faster lens, or light, or both.
When in doubt, use a cell phone, they always work.
I know it's disappointing after the fact, but we've ALL been there, that's how we know! ;-)
SS

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

loony wrote:

I did not use a flash because I was too far away.

I had good support that was not the problem. I had my elbow sitting on the armrest and I was supporting the front of the lens with that hand. here Is one of the photos the only thing I did was adjust the exposure. This is not focused well but you will be able to see what I am talking about.

Here's one thing that I will say; I think you chose wrong on your settings.

You used 1/30 as a shutter speed, and ISO 400. I don't know what your aperture was but I'll just assume that it was as wide open as the camera will go and leave it at that.

Assuming these settings you could have went up two stops of shutter speed to 1/125 and then would have had the ISO at 1600 assuming the aperture didn't or couldn't change.

That might have resulted in better images.

What "mode" were you shooting in? Aperture priority, Shutter priority, P, ...etc.

BboH Loc: s of 2/21, Ellicott City, MD

To quote Rob Sheppard from his article "Digital Mythbusting" that is in this month's Outdoor Photography "All Noise is Bad...To the contrary noise can be helpful. For example, an image with even a slight bit of noise often will look sharper than an image without an noise." There is more, but that's the thrust.

Hjalmarg1

ISO 400 in 7D shouldn't have been that grainy. I think the problem was too slow shutter speed that make the images not as sharp.
I was able to shoot with 7D and ISO 1,600 as images were with acceptable noise.

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

Interesting one can improve Loony's photo by squinting.. it eradicates visually some of the blur on the edges of the images. Resurrection of the photo, to some degree, can be achieved with Topaz deNoise, inFocus, and then Detail.

Ten years from that day, even with poor focus, noise, and other errors... the photos will be a memory trigger for the person graduating. Photos need not be perfect to be appreciated as time goes on.

Psergel Loc: New Mexico

What I've found is that you are far better off pushing the ISO to 1600 or 3200 (depending on your camera) and getting a proper exposure than trying to keep the ISO down and pulling things up in post.
In the 1st case you have a properly exposed image with a little noise. In the second you are trying to bring up detail that just isn't there, giving you not much BUT noise.

oldtool2 Loc: South Jersey

loony wrote:

It was a collage basketball stadium if that helps. I had to slow my shutter speed to 1/30 to get enough light. and then the picture was still a little dark. I shoot in RAW so I was able to lighten up the picture. Is it possible that adjusting the exposure in Lightroom is causing the graininess?

I would doubt it. Most likely due to poor lighting. With the 7D you could have increased the ISO to 800, allowing you to shoot a little faster. I think it was MT (sorry if wrong poster) that said it was a poor camera lens combination and he is probably right.

On almost any indoor event you need an f2.8 lens such as a Canon 70-200mm lens.

You may be able to clean up some of these shots with a good noise plug-in.

Jim D

jr168

A sharp, noisy picture is always better than a blurry picture. Get your shutter speed to at least 1/250 to stop motion and raise your iso to get correct exposure. With the 7d you could easily have gone up to iso 3200 and fixed the noise in post.

LFingar Loc: Claverack, NY

loony wrote:

Last night I went to a High school graduation and came back with hundreds of picture. The problem is that with all the indoor pictures came out extremely grainy. All shots were taken at 400 ISO wide open aperture. I am shooting a Canon 7D with a 100mm-400mm and my kit lens 28-135. Does anybody have any idea as to why this would happen?

Try checking your menu settings. My previous 70D and now my 6D both have high ISO noise reduction settings. I don't know if the 7D does or not, but changing the setting on my 6D definitely makes a difference.

Stage Light Loc: Northeast

loony wrote:

Last night I went to a High school graduation and came back with hundreds of picture. The problem is that with all the indoor pictures came out extremely grainy. All shots were taken at 400 ISO wide open aperture. I am shooting a Canon 7D with a 100mm-400mm and my kit lens 28-135. Does anybody have any idea as to why this would happen?

I often underexpose by a stop with these types of conditions; this gives me an extra stop to get rid of movement. I run Nik Define 2 to reduce the extra noise. (I shoot plays, mostly musical productions.) I also use auto ISO.

Jim Plogger Loc: East Tennessee

loony wrote:

Last night I went to a High school graduation and came back with hundreds of picture. The problem is that with all the indoor pictures came out extremely grainy. All shots were taken at 400 ISO wide open aperture. I am shooting a Canon 7D with a 100mm-400mm and my kit lens 28-135. Does anybody have any idea as to why this would happen?

I think you have your answer as to WHY, but now that it is done run them through a plugin such as Topaz DeNoise. That will clean them up nicely. Post one of your images and click "store original". You will find several UHH'ers who will tell you how to reduce the noise.

MtnMan Loc: ID

loony wrote:

I did not use a flash because I was too far away.

I had good support that was not the problem. I had my elbow sitting on the armrest and I was supporting the front of the lens with that hand. here Is one of the photos the only thing I did was adjust the exposure. This is not focused well but you will be able to see what I am talking about.

The blurriness is mostly due to camera movement. Subject movement shows up only on the moving parts. Focus problems show up at particular distances.

You should use your image stabilization if handholding, even with some support.

Even so you should use min f-stop and raise your ISO until you get a shutter speed that is the reciprocal of the lens mm; e.g. with a lens at 100 mm zoom you should use a shutter speed faster than 1/100s.

You will get noise in the dark areas at higher ISOs but that can be fixed somewhat in post processing. Also, your camera might have choices for noise reduction when creating jpegs. But it is better to shoot in RAW in such circumstances and do the processing later as you'll have more dynamic range and flexibility in processing.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

Rule number one: Noise hides in the shadows.

loony wrote:

Last night I went to a High school graduation and came back with hundreds of picture. The problem is that with all the indoor pictures came out extremely grainy. All shots were taken at 400 ISO wide open aperture. I am shooting a Canon 7D with a 100mm-400mm and my kit lens 28-135. Does anybody have any idea as to why this would happen?

Papa Joe Loc: Midwest U.S.

loony wrote:

Last night I went to a High school graduation and came back with hundreds of picture. The problem is that with all the indoor pictures came out extremely grainy. All shots were taken at 400 ISO wide open aperture. I am shooting a Canon 7D with a 100mm-400mm and my kit lens 28-135. Does anybody have any idea as to why this would happen?

Download "Noiseware Community" (free), and it will help remove some of the 'graininess' you're describing.

Meives Loc: FORT LAUDERDALE

[quote=loony]It is best to post a blurry picture and click on "store original" so we can check all the data. What was shutter speed? You will get great advise with the download. David