why was I ever afraid

of going above ISO 400?
that is why I bought a dSLR


This is at 800

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Is that a goats head?

This is 1600.

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Just remember, resizing is a "form" of noise reduction. That said I have had good luck with isos up to 1600 with a bit of neat image and depending on my output size. As far as I know the latter is not different from visibility of grain in large prints.
Riley

iso 1600-3200
http://polisphotograph​y.com/flash/Saviour/in​dex.html

with proper exposure (under exposure is the kiss of death) and sometimes a little neat image or noise ninja, you'll be fine

It is a sheeps head, taken in Colonial Williamsburg.
here is the data
File Name Library - 3379.jpg
Camera Model Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XT
Shooting Date/Time 06/14/06 00:06:11
Shooting Mode Aperture-Priority AE
Tv(Shutter Speed) 1/15
Av(Aperture Value) 5.6
Metering Mode Partial Metering
Exposure Compensation 0
ISO Speed 800
Lens 18.0 - 55.0mm
Focal Length 48.0mm
Image Size 3456x2304
Image Quality Fine
Flash Off
White Balance Mode Cloudy
AF Mode AI Focus AF
Parameters Settings
Contrast Mid. High
Sharpness Mid. High
Color saturation Mid. High
Color Space sRGB
Noise Reduction Off
File Size 3388KB
Custom Function
C.Fn:01-0
C.Fn:02-0
C.Fn:03-0
C.Fn:04-0
C.Fn:05-0
C.Fn:06-0
C.Fn:07-0
C.Fn:08-0
C.Fn:09-0
Drive Mode Single-frame shooting

Why "Cloudy" WB? Did you shoot it outdoors? Just curious.

My thoughts exactly.
Also would have went up to 1600 ISO so the shutter could have been a tad faster.

It was an overcast day and there is no lighting in the buildings we were in. So i just walked in a door and the table was right there with the only light being from outside. Please let me know if you think the WB is off? What i should have done was put my 50mm on and shot at like 2.8, but didn't want to be chainging lens as we were going through the grounds.

Here is another one same setting

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Been there, done that. Williamsburg is great. Have year pass. But, you should have grown up in Hong Kong and eaten some of the things I experienced as a child. Let me just say, eyes looking at me was a regular thing at the dinner table.

You should have been on the last Fear Factor, Suzy! You could have won $50k!

Not me. Just because they fed it to me, doesn't mean I enjoyed it!

I try not to go over 800. !600 is a scary number to me. haha

I shoot mostly sports and end up shooting at 1600 all the time. i wold go even higher if I had the capability...

Sure the IQ is less but you can mask alot of it with a good noise reducer...