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Question from Crystal: “I often check my pictures in camera for sharpness and when I first open them for post processing. However, I am noticing those previously sharp pictures are very grainy and not so crisp when I am done with them. What am I doing wrong? I shoot in RAW and just crop and adjust ever so slightly in LR4. It’s frustrating to have this happen to pictures that are nice and sharp in camera. And I’m almost embarrassed to send them to clients like that.”
Dez: It might be worth checking your crop settings in LR.. set it to 300 dpi and see if that helps?
Tom: Well, try to understand what you are looking at. The image on your camera is a jpg and when you import those to LR, they are RAW images or for all intents and purposes a “digital negative” of the image you shot based on your camera settings. You’ll have to process them in LR to get them to look how you want.
Crystal: What ISO are you shooting them at? Also, I’ve noticed when I increase the “blacks” mine become grainy. Are you doing that?
Jennifer: @Tom, she says that they are sharp when she opens them up for post processing, I would take that to mean that her raw files are fine, it’s after she done processing them, they are not sharp. I would agree with Dez, make sure they are being saved at 300 DPI. Other than that, maybe look at what you’re doing for post processing to make sure that it’s not making them images softer. Maybe go through step-by-step and see if something you’re applying is causing that.
Crystal: I’m not increasing the blacks. Different images are shit with a different ISO so it’s not just one in particular. I know many people suggest shooting in RAW but I would I get a much more crisp image overall if I just shoot in Jpeg?
Esta: As a default, LR4 automatically changes the sharpness to 25 which will cause grain. You can change the settings so that it doesn’t automatically do this or use luminance to help remove the noise.
Jessica: Could it be your lens? I sometimes have the same problem and believe that MAY be the issue, but I would love another opinion if someone has one
Graham: If you are cropping. Crop in 6×4 300 or 600dpi and that will allow a blow up of 22×16 without losing quality.
Timothy: You have to sharpen your RAW files otherwise they will be soft.
Tom: Well she says, she checks them in-camera. Plus setting to 300 dpi most likely won’t matter for screen viewing since monitors are 72 dpi. Unless the files are being saved at less then 72 dpi. For example, I export jpgs to 100 dpi for FB and they still look fine, though I’d hate to see what they’d look like printed – lol! We really need more information as to the flow in order to properly help. Crystal, do the shots look good when imported into LR? If so, then check your export settings, i.e. is the jpg set to a lower quality, what size are you exporting to, etc?
Christy: Viewing in camera you are seeing a processed jpeg. It is sharpened per your camera settings. Also the lcd screens are made to be super sharp.
Becky: How do you sharpen besides just choosing the sharpen slider? When I do that my images become grainer
Crystal: The shots looks good in camera and when I initially open the RAW file for post processing. It must be something I’m doing during the editing process or when I export. I was using LR’s export settings with resizing but realized that may be where my problem lies. When exporting for printing, what settings do LR users use? I finally unchecked the resize option but haven’t noticed a difference yet. I will be getting test prints soon.
Erin: This might be redundant, but I would check your sharpness slider. Not sure if your using any presets or not, but I’ve noticed that certain presets drastically increase sharpness which causes a significant mount of noise. I usually back off the sharpness and add a touch of clarity to my already sharp images
Tom: Adobe and B&H have some excellent LR4 tutorial videos, you might benefit from watching the import and export ones and see if you have any “ah hah” moments.
Jenna: I installed a watermark extension for LR once that changed all of my export defaults and resulted in grainy photos. I didn’t catch it until several sessions later. Make sure your export settings are configured properly.
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