RAW - white specs everywhere

[Nathan Quattrini]

I went to a photographer last weekend to get some portraits done. She was using a Digital Rebel xTi and using the RAW + Large JPG option to save the images. I got both back from her unedited so I can do with them what I want. While shrinking the image looks fine, I was concerned about the quality. I zoomed in to %100 and saw whats in the image below. The RAW is covered in white specs...was this airborn dust? Dust on the lens ? And why is the Jpg so muddy especially in the shadow area? Is it just the its compression is horrible? Thanks

http://www.naqproductions.com/temp/photo.jpg

http://www.naqproductions.com/temp/photo.tif
May need to download it.... i wanted to preserve as much of the quality as i could so you see what i see

[vetkrazy]

What I see is digital noise caused by the use of iso1600. Try a noise reduction program such as Noiseware or Noise Ninja to clean them up.

[Nathan Quattrini]

even the bright white specs on the left of the RAW you think its just noise? I don`t remember ever seeing white noise before in my years of video work

[vetkrazy]

Yes. I don't own an xTI but I think iso 1600 might be a bit much for portraits.

[gcogger]

The issue is noise at 1600 ISO. The JPEG has had a fair amount of noise reduction applied in-camera - you will probably see that it has significantly less detail than the RAW version. With RAW, you need to do so yourself. If you want to tackle the white spots without smearing detail, try the Photoshop 'Dust and Scratches' filter (if you have Photoshop) - settings of Radius=1 and Threshold=20 seem to work well on the small sample you supplied.