A Full Guide to Fix Grained Photos

Getting a grainy photo is a nightmare for any photographer. And truth be told, it can happen to anyone, irrespective of their photography skills. A picture grain is also called digital noise, which can distort the image's overall graphics and details.

But there’s nothing to worry about as you can quickly eliminate the grain in photos. In this article, we will share some tested and tried software to fix a grained photo without any tech-savvy procedure.

Part 1: The Main Causes to Photo Grainy

Before figuring out the solutions to fix the grainy pictures, it’s vital to find out what causes it. Here are some common reasons for getting grainy photos:

1. Bad Lighting

Probably the most significant cause of a grainy picture. It happens mainly when you capture a photo at the sunset or a low-light room without managing the proper low aperture and higher ISO ratio. Most people don't have access to appropriate lighting in studios, as do professional photographers. Using the flashlight in a poorly lit room also makes a photo grainy.

2. Improper ISO Setting

Increasing the camera's ISO increases the grains or noise in the picture. While increasing ISO in less light or while shooting photos at night is vital, try to strike a balance. Remember that a low ISO causes equal less grain, while a high ISO equals more grain.

3. Poor Quality Camera

If it's not obvious, using a low-quality or small lens camera can lead to grainy photos. Such a lens is not sensitive enough to capture in low light conditions.

Part 2: How to Fix Grainy Pictures in Photoshop?

Photoshop is the industry’s gold standard when it comes to photo editing. It comes loaded with built-in filters that allow you to reduce noise and fix grainy photos effortlessly. Note that you may not be able to remove the graininess altogether using Photoshop, but it guarantees image enhancement to some extent.

Aside from that, Photoshop offers tons of editing tools for any editing task. However, it has a steep learning curve, and it may take you several hours to understand its primary interface. Plus, the program offers monthly payment plans and is considered one of the most expensive editing tools in the world.

Pros

Photoshop can significantly reduce graininess in a photo.

It offers several filters and functions to fix blurry or grainy photos as much as possible.

You can make quick edits, retouch, and adjust photos on the web beta.

Multiple layer editing capabilities.

Cons

Beginners find this tool very difficult to use.

Costly premium packages, making it not an ideal choice for basic-grade editing.

Step 1: Install Adobe Photoshop on your PC and get it started, import the grainy photo into it.

Step 2: From the top toolbar, navigate to Filter > Noise > Reduce Noise.

click reduce noise

Step 3: Adjust Strength, Sharpen Details, and Reduce the color noise until you're satisfied with the image quality.

adjust strength

Step 4: Check the box of Remove JPEG Artifact and hit Ok.

Finally, export the image to your computer.

Part 3: Fix Grained Photos with 1-Click

If you don't like to go into complicated details to get rid of grain photography or don't get a perfect result by the software mentioned above, then Repairit is your best bet. Compatible with all platforms, this program uses powerful algorithms to detect and repair grainy images automatically.

More strikingly, thanks to batch feature, you can fix as many photos in one go as you want. In addition, the program promises to improve any inaccessible, broken, or damaged photo effortlessly. It automatically activates the "Advanced Repair" feature for severely corrupt images to give you the best possible results.

Wondershare Repairit

5,481,435 people have downloaded it.

  • Support to repair damaged photos with all levels of corruption, such as overexposed/underexposed photos, pixelated photos, faded photos, grainy photos, etc.

  • Support to repair images of diverse formats, such as JPG, PNG, CR3, CR2, NEF, NRW, etc.

  • Repair critically damaged or corrupted photos available on SD cards, phones, cameras, USB flash drives, and more, as well as incomplete photo parts.

  • Compatible with Windows PC, Mac OS, and supports PC to mobile transferring/sharing.

Implement the below steps to fix your grainy photo:

Step 1: After installation, run Wondershare Repairit on your PC/Mac.

Select Photo Repair on the left tab and hit “Add” to import your grainy images.

upload photo

Step 2: You'll see the details of all the imported photos, then hit "Repair" to begin the process.

initiate the repair process

Step 3: Preview and save the repaired images.

Once the program repairs them, click on any image to preview it. Finally, hit "Save" or Save All" to export them to your device.

save the repaired photo

However, if the fixed photo quality is not good, try the "Advanced Repair" function to get a more perfect result. Repairit will need to upload a a sample photo that is taken by the same device and in the same format as the grainy one. See the detailed guide for "Advanced Photo Repair".

Part 4: How to Remove Grain from Photo in Lightroom?

Another flagship software of Adobe that offers multiple ways to remove grain from photo. This tool has gained popularity for its feature-rich interface and professional-grade interface. With it, you can quickly reduce excess noise and graininess from the image.

But the biggest drawback is that Lightroom applies all the corrections on the whole image, not just the grainy part. Thus, much care and attention to detail is needed while fixing your grainy photos. Similarly, you cannot start using Lightroom immediately for its tech-savvy interface. It may take quite some time to understand its basic functionalities.

Pros

It offers a quick procedure to minimize the graininess in a photo.

Thanks to its non-destructive editing, the image quality is preserved.

It offers adjustment brush, gradient, and radial adjustments to adjust multiple effects.

It comes with tons of built-in presets.

Cons

Limited editing options.

Its interface can be complicated for non-technical users.

No multiple layers or blend modes.

Check out the below instructions to fix your grainy photos:

Step 1: After installation, run Adobe Lightroom on your PC and import the grainy picture.

import grainy picture

Step 2: Go to the Develop module, then scroll down to the Detail Panel and expand it.

Step 3: You'll see the two options, Color and Luminarc, that you need to adjust here.

Step 4: Customize Detail and Contrast in Luminarc until you get satisfactory grainy image correction, then adjust the sliders for Color.

adjust sliders for color

Step 5: If the image is still grainy, try using the Sharpening tool just above Noise Reduction.

Here, use the Threshold slider to adjust the sharpening in your photo.

use sharpening tool

Step 6: Finally, save the photo on your PC.

Part 5: How to Remove Grain from Photo Online?

Many users don’t want to go through the hassle of installing a desktop photo editor. That’s where online editors come into play. If you’re also looking to remove grain from photos online, we have a perfect tool for you.

Use Vance AI to remove any grain of blurriness from your photos. Powered by advanced AI tech, this tool claims to remove noise or braininess from an image with just a few clicks. Compared to similar programs, Vance AI doesn’t require you to tweak multiple details manually; instead, it offers a simple noise reduction effect to get the job done.

As good as it may sound, not many users are impressed by the output results. Often, the improved image is even worse-looking than the original one. But still, it’s a handy tool to give a try. But before that, you need to get its premium version to start using it.

Pros

It offers a simple and quick procedure to fix grainy photos.

It doesn't need any installation or plug-ins to get started.

It can produce satisfactory results in most cases.

Cons

Price is not justified for the features it offers.

Users have raised privacy concerns .