HDR photos coming out grainy?

[Canonman13]

I recently tried HDR and I think it is fun, I just have a problem with it coming out grainy. I am using a DSLR so I do not know why it is soo grainy any ideas to fix this. I do use a low ISO..
Thanks!

[Colin Southern]

Hi,

We're going to need some more info ... Did you shoot RAW or jpeg? How many shots in your exposits bracket? How many stops apart were the shots? What software are you using to merge them?

Do you have a sample you can show us?

[Danielk62]

Hi,

On my Canon 450D, I can shoot at a maximum ISO of 1600. If the ISO-settings is <= 1/4 of the maximum ISO, there is no noise in my pictures. If I try ISO800, pictures are not that 'clean' anymore. Also, it can happen that after using Photomatix, processed photos show noise. In a tutorial by Captain Kimo, I read that a DeNoise program/PS-plugin makes a big difference.

Cheers,
Dan

[Doomvolvo]

I role out a lot of HdR images and frankly most of them have to be binned. The processing tends to add a lot of noise to images and the darker they are the more noise there is. The main problems I have is the sky as it always turns purple. I have been looking for a reason why but not found anything to explain it.
I believe Tray Ratcliffe uses a 3rd party software to reduce the noise in his images. I have learnt much from his work and the occaisional gem of information he lets slip with.

[Jo Brown]

I remember a tutorial on HDR where the author (Russel Brown) was pretty clear that if there is noise in your images the HDR process will exaggerate it considerably. As I recall he said that it is best to try and deal with the noise in each of your images before merging them.

I have used a Photoshop plugin called Noise Ninja with success in dealing with noise.

[Canonman13]

I do have a picture and here it is. I shoot in RAW and I use 3 exposure bracketing. I used a photoshop plugin to get rid of the grain. This is the picture of my backyard.

[Dave Humphries]

I do have a picture and here it is. I shoot in RAW and I use 3 exposure bracketing. I used a photoshop plugin to get rid of the grain. This is the picture of my backyard.

Hi Tyler,

Welcome to the CiC forums from me.

Are you shooting jpg or RAW?

What stop separation were the above taken at? 0, +1, -1 or something else?
and the iso? (EXIF says 100, but it might be wrong)

I'm jealous of you having a track in your backyard, does anything other than a fox run on it?
(that's a reference to a picture on Tyler's Flickr site for those that haven't guessed)

Do you have an annual/season ticket to the local zoo too?
Thre's a lot of decent captures there

Cheers,

[Nass]

By definition one of the images used for your HDR is an underexposed one. That's where the noise comes from.

[Colin Southern]

By definition one of the images used for your HDR is an underexposed one. That's where the noise comes from.

Since the under-exposed shot would be one of the bracket of shots taken to preserve highlights, I would have though that the software would have been smart enough not to use the dark + noisy pixels from that frame.

[Doomvolvo]

Photomatix comes with noise reduction built in when you are merging if you tick the right boxes. It still hella exagerates it though

[Colin Southern]

Photomatix comes with noise reduction built in when you are merging if you tick the right boxes. It still hella exagerates it though

Anyone thought of trying _GUI_'s ZeroNoise software?

[Doomvolvo]

I do intend on getting some software to help me out a bit but I have stepped back a bit from HdR and am learning more of the versatile skills before I invest too much time on the hdr.

[Canonman13]

Anyone thought of trying _GUI_'s ZeroNoise software?

I actually am trying the NIK DFINE software which is a GREAT noise reduction plugin in photoshop cs5.

[Canonman13]

I shoot in RAW and I take it at -2,0,+2. Yes I believe the ISO was at 100 too.