How do I take pictures that aren't blurry or grainy?

[Arachnopotamus Rex]

Even with lots of light its like my phone's camera is trying to constantly auto adjust the focus and it keeps blurring my photos really badly. Zooming in also makes it super grainy.
I want to take crystal clear close-ups of my arthropods like I see other people doing, I even see them take those photos at night outside and still they come out clear.

Meanwhile I have plenty of light and mine look awful. What am I doing wrong?

its a 48 megapixel camera, lense is clean, lighting is good, whats missing?

 

[viper69]

A smartphone is a substandard camera, the sensor is very small. Can’t say what you are doing wrong or right.

megapixels mean very little when shooting. Camera makers use that as a marketing ploy.

Zooming if done digitally will always yield crappy results compared to optical zooming

Letting a camera decide everything is also not good.

 

[ladyratri]

My couple-versions-old pixel phone does decently with a clip on macro lens:

"Blue" through the macro lens

• ladyratri
• Feb 22, 2024
• caribena mature male versicolor

Can't get over those colors...the setae on his carapace are just stunning.

Even without, the biggest problem for me is glare on the acrylic enclosures or the opacity of the deli cups. Getting a photo with the lid open, no more than 2x digital zoom, is generally fine:

Another modeling career getting underway

• ladyratri
• Oct 13, 2024
• 3
• feeding grammastola grammastola ihrengi juvenile

This one sure seems to like showing off after a good catch.

I almost always have to tap to tell it what part of the frame to focus on, but once I do, I can usually convince it to focus by making small adjustments to exactly how far away I'm holding the phone from the subject.

 

[Glorfindel]

Nice pics and good advice and good tips.
thanx for sharing both.

 

[TheraMygale]

If you have goals to do excellent tarantula photos, you get a lense specialized in macro, on a dslr, if possible, that has low light capacity.

some lenses are specialized for lowlight. Which can be great if you are not using lamps and flashes.

of course, we could all start providing multiple combinations.

but the best, is macro. Because you are dealing with small subject in close quarters.

if you don’t want a dslr, and have low budget: canon sx50 powershot. This is an old model that is praised for birding. I bought one. And yes, its amazing. A tarantula is way less hard to photograph: its not flying away.

that camera is cheap, and has excellent colours. It also has a raw format.

if you can afford, go with a dslr and a macro lens.

with a cellphone, samsung. I have an old 2nd gen iphone and cant afford cellphones. But if id have to pick one for photos, samsung.

the lighting is key. And so is the “setup”.
Shooting through an enclosure is 50/50 and alot of work.

best to go the extra mile if your goal is to make, at a minimum, calendars.

 

[Arachnopotamus Rex]

My couple-versions-old pixel phone does decently with a clip on macro lens:

"Blue" through the macro lens

• ladyratri
• Feb 22, 2024
• caribena mature male versicolor

Can't get over those colors...the setae on his carapace are just stunning.

Even without, the biggest problem for me is glare on the acrylic enclosures or the opacity of the deli cups. Getting a photo with the lid open, no more than 2x digital zoom, is generally fine:

Another modeling career getting underway

• ladyratri
• Oct 13, 2024
• 3
• feeding grammastola grammastola ihrengi juvenile

This one sure seems to like showing off after a good catch.

I almost always have to tap to tell it what part of the frame to focus on, but once I do, I can usually convince it to focus by making small adjustments to exactly how far away I'm holding the phone from the subject.

How do I avoid the blurriness and graininess at 15x zoom? while the lid is open?
I see images that are far more zoomed in than that and a crystal clear.
example: https://flic.kr/p/2dAx2Dr

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/yiLTLSmkXh5t8aHxun5GKQ-1200-80.jpg

 

[TheraMygale]

Doesnt mean thats what it really was.

it will be grainy the higher the zoom with a phone. In fact its horrible.

depends on how close the subject was, lightroom, and if subject was dead.

you will always get grainy with a phone.

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

Use a tripod. My iPhone constantly tries to autofocus, and loses focus when it is set, because my hands shake a little. When zooming in just a little bit, the shakiness is amplified. Bright light and tripods will yield the best results with any camera. Phones never work well in low light situations unless you have an app that can control the exposure time.

 

[ladyratri]

How do I avoid the blurriness and graininess at 15x zoom? while the lid is open?
I see images that are far more zoomed in than that and a crystal clear.
example: https://flic.kr/p/2dAx2Dr

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/yiLTLSmkXh5t8aHxun5GKQ-1200-80.jpg

The photos on that poster were taken with a serious macro lens...based on the descriptions at the bottom apparently this went beyond a standard macro lens, and required a microscopic lens and making a composite of many photos to overcome the associated shallow depth of field. That's some pretty serious photograph equipment there, and the magnification is entirely achieved with actual lenses and not a digital zoom.

 

[Arachnopotamus Rex]

The photos on that poster were taken with a serious macro lens...based on the descriptions at the bottom apparently this went beyond a standard macro lens, and required a microscopic lens and making a composite of many photos to overcome the associated shallow depth of field. That's some pretty serious photograph equipment there, and the magnification is entirely achieved with actual lenses and not a digital zoom.

Maybe I should give up on trying to get the results others get with their iphones on mine and just buy that equipment then (since the former has confounded me for so long).
What about the pokie in the second link? is that also high end equipment?

Use a tripod. My iPhone constantly tries to autofocus, and loses focus when it is set, because my hands shake a little. When zooming in just a little bit, the shakiness is amplified. Bright light and tripods will yield the best results with any camera. Phones never work well in low light situations unless you have an app that can control the exposure time.

Is it really that distorted just by the slightest movement? that seems like a poor design...
Either way, the tip is appreciated.

 

[TheraMygale]

actual lenses and not a digital zoom.

That too. Some automatic cameras have optical zoom, then digital zoom. The digital zoom always provides the grainy less quality images.

Many lenses come with options of vibration reduction, when you deal dslr lenses.

i use a nikon p900 as a camera and telescope. When i photography the moon, i must use the tripod. At such a far distance, the hands shake. Same thing with macro photography.

professionals almost always use tripods when it comes to making serious macro photography. It provides the best results.

You could get a nikon d7500 and have great options of lenses. The quality of images you can get is also very excellent.

small phone tripods are cheap. I even use glasses and items to hold my phone.

it really depends on what you want to do.

the file type you chose to save it will also affect quality. And the actual “pixel size”.

For that, you definitely need a program like gimp, lightroom, photoshop.

 

[IntermittentSygnal]

One note on reflections.. Use a black reflection. If you are getting a white reflection from the white wall opposite your enclosure, a black cloth where that reflection is coming from will take care of that. Getting your fingers reflected in the glass/acrylic? Put on black gloves.

 

[viper69]

Without a tripod you cannot expect a great macro image

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

Is it really that distorted just by the slightest movement? that seems like a poor design...
Either way, the tip is appreciated.

Yes! The following statement from your original post says you either need to steady your camera with a tripod, or you are putting the camera too close to the subject.

Even with lots of light its like my phone's camera is trying to constantly auto adjust the focus and it keeps blurring my photos really badly. Zooming in also makes it super grainy.

It's not bad design of the phone's camera, you're just not accepting its limitations.

 

[Tbone192]

Even with lots of light its like my phone's camera is trying to constantly auto adjust the focus and it keeps blurring my photos really badly. Zooming in also makes it super grainy.
I want to take crystal clear close-ups of my arthropods like I see other people doing, I even see them take those photos at night outside and still they come out clear.

Meanwhile I have plenty of light and mine look awful. What am I doing wrong?

its a 48 megapixel camera, lense is clean, lighting is good, whats missing?

Macro lens on a DSLR, or mirrorless if you want to get expensive. I'd just look for a cheap camera and get a nice macro lens for it.

 

[Arachnopotamus Rex]

I think i'm gonna get a tripod and macro attachment first and then save up for a mirrorless macro setup.
I'm very picky in my photo quality lol.
Thanks everyone for all the tips.

 

[advan]

How do I avoid the blurriness and graininess at 15x zoom? while the lid is open?
I see images that are far more zoomed in than that and a crystal clear.
example: https://flic.kr/p/2dAx2Dr

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/yiLTLSmkXh5t8aHxun5GKQ-1200-80.jpg

With those images, they were using a microscope objective at the end of a lens and also focus stacked all of those images. A lot goes into getting those pics.

Without a tripod you cannot expect a great macro image

I beg to differ. I use a tripod for long exposure landscapes, never macro.

 

[viper69]

With those images, they were using a microscope objective at the end of a lens and also focus stacked all of those images. A lot goes into getting those pics.
I beg to differ. I use a tripod for long exposure landscapes, never macro.

There are many ways to reach a certain goal in photography. The comment I provided is true, ie the average person would need a tripod.

 

[The Snark]

Utterly amazing phone taken images. A special phone designed for ultra high quality imaging. Why can't this clarity be used in macro shots?

A fountain:


Close up of the water: Same distance, just zoomed in.

 

[TheDarkFinder]

Utterly amazing phone taken images. A special phone designed for ultra high quality imaging. Why can't this clarity be used in macro shots?

A fountain:
View attachment 487213

Close up of the water: Same distance, just zoomed in.
View attachment 487214

First things first, not great photos. The first is really unsharp, the second has been photo managed to death. Over sharpened and color balance is weird.

Macro shots have number of problems. First you need the most light in an area you are not going to get it. So you have to decrease fstop while increasing iso. Increasing iso will add grain to the photo and make it unsharp. Decreasing F-stop will reduce the field of view and unfocused areas will become blurred.

Taking a photo of a field, you get every photon reflected from square meters of area. Taking a picture of a pin head you get all the photons reflected by the pin head.