Tips on not getting grainy photos?

[Lady of Babylon]

I have the latest I(iPhone) no matter what I do with the lights inside the tank or outside the tank, the pictures always come out a little grainy looking. Any tips? What’s causing it?

 

[James_O]

Do you have one of the iPhone 13 phones? When you take photos of stuff in the tank, do you take the pictures with the phone flush against the glass? If you don’t have it exactly straight to the glass, it will cause a reflection which results in grainy photos.

When you took the photo of the flower, was there wind?

 

[Lady of Babylon]

Do you have one of the iPhone 13 phones? When you take photos of stuff in the tank, do you take the pictures with the phone flush against the glass? If you don’t have it exactly straight to the glass, it will cause a reflection which results in grainy photos.

When you took the photo of the flower, was there wind?

Lol, I must have fat finger selected the flower photo, yeah that had a lot of wind with it.

the picture of the thorn oyster in both lighting scenarios was flush up against the glass with lights off on the room. Bottom one was the “cleaning light” mode

 

[mdb_talon]

Haha i misread the title at first as "how to get grainy photos". Was excited as this is a topic I consider myself an expert. Imagine my disappointment when it turns out you dont want grainy photos.

 

[Joe31415]

Turn the lights on (if there's an easy way to do it) to full white. That will allow the camera to stop attempting to 'fix' the picture. With the brighter lights, the camera will use a faster shutter speed which means less motion blur. Also, when the light is low, in an attempt to keep the shutter speed as fast as possible, the camera will bump up the ISO, which will directly result in added graininess we see in the first two pictures.

Barring that, the other thing I've done is, with the lights off in the tank, point a bright flashlight at what I want to take a picture of.
If your phone has the ability, you could put it into full manual mode and adjust the shutter and ISO on the fly, but that's likely more work than it's worth.
One other thing, because the camera is using a slower shutter speed, you need to keep it as still as possible. Hold it up against the glass, brace it on something, hold it close to your body (as opposed to holding it out in front of you). Anything you can do to reduce camera shake will help. Another tried and true method is to use the timer (meant for group pictures). Not having to push the shutter button means you don't shake the camera as it's taking the picture. The short countdown before it snaps the shutter on it's own gives you a few seconds to steady yourself.

 

[James_O]

Lol, I must have fat finger selected the flower photo, yeah that had a lot of wind with it.

the picture of the thorn oyster in both lighting scenarios was flush up against the glass with lights off on the room. Bottom one was the “cleaning light” mode

It’s probably the ratio of lighting you have selected that doesn’t match well with the MP of the camera. Maybe play around with a couple of different %’s and see which one shows up best?

 

[workhz]

Have you given thought to the fact that perhaps that objects are actually grainy and your photography skills are fantastic?

Not one to give advice as all my pictures are blue but you could also turn off your pumps in the tank to help.

 

[reefz]

Yes, get an Iphone.

 

[shadow_k]

I have the latest I(iPhone) no matter what I do with the lights inside the tank or outside the tank, the pictures always come out a little grainy looking. Any tips? What’s causing it?

To me it just seems your camera gets out of focus as soon as you take a photo.
I took these on an iPhone 11

 

[Joe31415]

Have you given thought to the fact that perhaps that objects are actually grainy and your photography skills are fantastic?

Or that the Loch Ness Monster is actually blurry and the picture is fine.

 

[Ocean’s Piece]

To me it just seems your camera gets out of focus as soon as you take a photo.
I took these on an iPhone 11

Filter or no filter attached? Nice photos. I have heard and seen the iPhone 11s and above take really good photos of our tanks even without a filter

 

[shadow_k]

Filter or no filter attached? Nice photos. I have heard and seen the iPhone 11s and above take really good photos of our tanks even without a filter

Just a orange lens to show corals true colors that’s all

 

[Lady of Babylon]

To me it just seems your camera gets out of focus as soon as you take a photo.
I took these on an iPhone 11

I agree the camra looses focus at the last second. Not sure if it’s because it picks up something else besides the subject moving, like an amphipod. In which getting video might be better for me to capture what is going on and then take a still from that? I may have to invest in an orange lens. Most of my shots are when the tank residents are doing something amusing, so sometimes changing the lights spooks them out of what was amusing and picture worthy.

 

[dvgyfresh]

I agree the camra looses focus at the last second. Not sure if it’s because it picks up something else besides the subject moving, like an amphipod. In which getting video might be better for me to capture what is going on and then take a still from that? I may have to invest in an orange lens. Most of my shots are when the tank residents are doing something amusing, so sometimes changing the lights spooks them out of what was amusing and picture worthy.

Orange filter changes the game for pics

 

[dvgyfresh]

this is the difference , the first is using orange filter and how the coral actually looks

 

[Jeffcb]

I use a yellow #8