GRAINY
There was too much grain or digital noise in your photo(s).

All scans contain a certain amount of grain, and all images from digital cameras contain a certain amount of digital noise, but these amounts should be kept at acceptable values.

In case of a digital camera, avoiding grainy rejections can be achieved by using a lower ISO speed, which will reduce the digital noise in the image. Avoid high ISO settings, as they usually generate too much noise for the image to be acceptable. This is the same with film cameras: high-speed films (i.e. 400 ASA or more) will show much more grain than slower films (i.e. 100 ASA or less).

Most image editing software has tools built-in for reducing grain and noise. However, these will always have to be used with great care, because improper use will destroy much of the detail in the image, which may lead to a EDITING rejection. There are also separate programs available, that can be used stand-alone or as a plug-in for image editing software. These programs often given better results than the standard tools in the image editing software.

Please note that grain can also be caused or intensified by too much sharpening. Flat, uniform areas (such as the sky) are particularly prone to becoming grainy if too much sharpening is applied. Take care not to oversharpen your image. Grain can also be caused by brightening an (underexposed) image too much.

If you think you have been able to improve the photos, please re-upload them. Do not forget to include a note to the screeners, detailing what you have done to improve the image. There is a special field available for such notes. Please note that we are still very interested in having these photos in our database, we only ask that you try to improve the quality of the images as much as possible.

The use of very high ISO setting to compensate for low light conditions and high object speed has rendered this picture very grainy - Photo copyright © Thierry Deutsch

The use of sharpening and brightening tools has rendered this picture pretty grainy - Photo copyright © Thierry Deutsch

A wise man once said: "It is a mistake to think that high ISOs are needed at night - quite the reverse is true. Dark areas will always show the most noise and if you are going to put the camera on a tripod for a night shot, always go for the lowest ISO you can for lowest noise. On a tripod, within reason, does it matter if the exposure is 1 or 10 seconds ?" (by M. Bajcar)

Note that grain can also be the result of bad editing; for instance tools like lighting/contrast, saturation or sharpening can render images grainy beyond an acceptable level for A.net standards.