When I open my RAW files in Photoshop CC they are grainy and the JPEGS are not. What is going on? It

When I open my RAW files in Photoshop CC they are grainy and the JPEGS are not. What is going on? It doesn't seem to have anything to do with my CACHE levels either.

Raw files are raw, without post processing. Jpeg files are processed. Any photograph contains grain or noise. The noise reduction is integral part of developing a photograph. And thats what your camera does with the Jpegs.

And btw:

Jenniferkc said:

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• Subject is too long.

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But they weren't noisy before

Jenniferkc said:

But they weren't noisy before

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What conditions are you shooting in? If you have started taking photos in low light at high ISO settings the RAWs will look much noisier than ones taken at low ISO settings, but the jpegs may well have had noise reduction applied.

Posting examples with exposure information included might help.

Best wishes

I've got to agree with the others. I think the in-camera jpeg processing includes some sort of noise reduction. With raw, you get the choice to apply noise reduction while watching the reduction in sharpness until you hit the "sweet spot." Raw processing takes a little getting used to.

Im just saying that they weren't noisy before, now they are and it's not showing in my JPEG. Jpegs are not the issue here. Why are my images appearing noisy?

Most/many RAW-converters (like Adobe's) apply just a little noise reduction with default settings. The RAW-files aren't very grainy at low ISO, and often look pretty good with default settings. There are a lot more grain/noise in the file at high ISO, and these files will need more noise reduction than default (with Adobe) to look usable.

Most cameras will apply a lot of noise reduction for JPGs on high ISO with default settings, which makes them look quite different from an "unprocessed" RAW-file.

Don't know if this is what you're seeing, but it seems like a likely explantaion.

If a raw file didn't look noise, but it becames noise after opening it in raw developer, then most likely you saw the preview jpeg in the raw. The small preview image in a raw will be shown for most programs for quick lookup. And that builtin preview jpeg is the same, as if you would shoot in jpeg mode, with noise reduction. The raw file itself is not affected by this.

I tried to answer this. Raw files are (mostly) unfiltered data, without noise reduction. Every photo contains noise, more or less. Jpeg files are processed in the camera with noise reduction enabled. Thats why you see noise in raw files (especially if you look at 100%) and don't see much or any in Jpeg files.

Raw files also contain a small preview jpeg, which can fool you. Some programs use that preview image for fast lookup. Opening the raw file in an editor would show you the unfiltered image, without noise reduction.

Windows User

f/4.0

ISO 3200

1/80

40mm

It has been taken at ISO3200, which will make it noisy. This is normal.

In addition it looks as if (i) it hasn't had much in the way of noise reduction applied, and (ii) it has been sharpened - and sharpening a noisy picture makes the noise much worse. If you are shooting RAW using Adobe software you will be able to select an appropriate level of noise reduction at the RAW conversion stage, and then apply final sharpening afterwards.

To put this in perspective though, try making an A4 print and looking at it from a normal viewing distance (a couple of feet away). I bet you won't be able to see the noise. It's easy to obsess about image quality issues that are simply not noticeable under normal viewing conditions when you look at the whole picture rather than a tiny fraction massively zoomed in.

Best wishes

Jenniferkc said:

Im just saying that they weren't noisy before, ..

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The raw files weren't noisy before? Before what? How did you view them "before"?

Forget the JPEGs. If they came from the camera, the camera applied heavy noise reduction to them. Camera Raw's default for noise reduction is "zero" which is actually "off".

Can you put a raw image in this forum? I haven't personally enhanced this photo. How do I sharpen and reduce noise in Photoshop camera raw without damaging the photo?

I meant previous images had not been doing that but these were and images from another set starting last night. I didn't think 3200 ISO was crazy high. It was in auto ISO. But it was doing it on my 6d and 70d.

Jenniferkc said:

Can you put a raw image in this forum? I haven't personally enhanced this photo. How do I sharpen and reduce noise in Photoshop camera raw without damaging the photo?

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My starting settings are:

• Sharpening 40
• Radius 1
• Detail 25
• Masking 40

• Luminance noise 40
• Detail 90
• Color noise 25
• All other settings default

Jenniferkc said:

I meant previous images had not been doing that but these were and images from another set starting last night. I didn't think 3200 ISO was crazy high. It was in auto ISO. But it was doing it on my 6d and 70d.

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3200 is going to be noisy with noise reduction off, which is the default.

How do I turn it on?

Jenniferkc said:

Can you put a raw image in this forum?

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No, it has to be converted to a jpeg first.

Jenniferkc said:

I haven't personally enhanced this photo. How do I sharpen and reduce noise in Photoshop camera raw without damaging the photo?

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You won't damage the photo. The settings you apply in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) are applied to the RAW file to make the jpeg and you can do this in many different ways. The RAW file remains unchanged; you cannot alter it. The jpeg that you create is saved separately. Think of the RAW file like an old-fashioned film negative. You can make as mamy prints from it as you like in different ways, but the negative never changes.

Try opening your RAW file in ACR, zooming in so that you can see the noise, and play with the noise reduction and sharpening settings. My guess (based on the image that you posted) is that it will look better with higher noise reduction and lower sharpening. Increase the noise reduction until the grainy look goes away but not so much that detail (like hair) is smeared out. Then try some sharpening settings until the image looks crisper, but not so much that it looks artificial. The previous poster LeeJay suggested some values to start with. For high-ISO images like this example, I find a smaller sharpening amount with a higher radius helps but mess about with the sliders and see what looks good.

All that has happened is that the jpegs you saw had had noise reduction applied by default, whereas the RAW file hadn't so it looked noisier (of course).

--
Mike
http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/artists/mikeward

Jenniferkc said:

How do I turn it on?

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Detail panel. I posted settings below.

Jenniferkc said:

Can you put a raw image in this forum? I haven't personally enhanced this photo. How do I sharpen and reduce noise in Photoshop camera raw without damaging the photo?

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Just put a copy in a public folder (say in Dropbox or similar)
and post a link to it here.