Grainy photos - Rebel T7

[wildreinphoto]

I recently got a canon rebel t7 for Christmas 

I mainly shoot with horses and people . 

I am shooting in manual and feel like my subjects faces are not sharp enough and/ or pretty grainy . Even if they are standing still and there is no movement . 

Basically the persons face is very grainy  and sometimes even the whole picture 

Here is a photo for reference . Can anyone help and tell me what I’m doing wrong ? 

[Tronhard]

Hi and welcome to the forum:
Unfortunately there is no sign of a photo. 
However, my first question would be why you are shooting in M mode rather than Av.  If you do shoot in AV mode how does the noise work out?

[rs-eos]

Unless you are very familiar with all aspects of the exposure triangle and need complete control over all variables, then agree that Manual mode should be avoided for now.

While Aperture priority mode (Av) is definitely a far easier mode to use, also look at Shutter priority (Tv) since I imagine your subjects move quite a bit. Tv lets you control how you want to either show motion or freeze motion. Av is great when you want to control the depth of field. i.e. how much of the image will be in focus or not.

Grainy images are a result of ISO values being high. Do note though that depending upon what lens you are using and what the current lighting conditions are, it could be that you are at the limits of your equipment.

For example, if you are in an indoor area with a kit lens of EF-S 18-135mm such that it’s zoomed at or near 135mm, the aperture will be f/5.6. That won’t let in much light when the overall lighting in the area isn’t really bright. So one option becomes to slow the shutter (but if subjects are moving, that will lead to blur). And so the final option is to raise ISO which increases noise.

[Ceevee4110]

Hi Ricky. I take pictures of my daughter. I took the photos outside in the shade. They looked amazing on my camera until i uploaded them. They seemed a little grainy. What should my iso be at? 

[Tronhard]

Another common cause for noise is under-exposure. Without clear, unprocesses images with the shooting data, it is very hard for us to assess the sitaution. Are you shooting in RAW or JPG format?

If you can put an unprocessed image on a sharing site and send a link, that would help.

[stevet1]

wildreinphoto,

In addition to the suggestion for using Av mode, (which Is a good suggestion for subjects that are standing still), try this:

For a little while, put your camera in P (or Program) mode. Get yourself a little notebook and take a handful of pictures.

For each picture you take, jot down what the conditions were like. Was it indoor and dark? Or was it outside and sunny. Write down the settings that your camera selected for the exposure it chose - the shutter speed, the aperture, and the ISO.

This might help you in deciding for yourself what settings to use in the future when using Manual Mode under varying conditions.

Steve Thomas

[kvbarkley]

Also, make sure you are shooting at the highest resolution: Large Fine JPEG or Raw, if that floats your boat.

How are you determining "graininess" *all* digital images get grainy at enough magnification.

[zakslm]

I have the same camera.

Another thing you may wish to try is using the pop up flash for fill light when you shoot subjects within 3 to 15 feet.   The T7 is pretty smart and does a nice job figuring out the right amount of fill flash in M, Tv, Av, P, Green Square and Portrait Modes. 

Unless you manually set the ISO, the camera usually defaults to ISO 800 when you pop up the flash. Don’t be reluctant to manually set an ISO other than 800. The shutter speed will not exceed 1/200th when using the pop up flash.  An external speedlite gives you more options and flexibility. 

I suggest experimenting to see what works for you and the type of shooting you do. For instance, with a subject 10 feet away, set the ISO to 400, Camera to M, shutter speed to 1/125th or 1/60th and the f stop to f8 or wider. Then take a few shots and see what happens, adjust the settings along the way and see what happens. 

Maybe do the same thing for each of the modes I mentioned except Green Square and Portrait where no adjustments can be made and P were limited adjustments are possible. 

Good luck!