Grating-based spatial harmonic frequency X-ray imaging method allows the individual reconstruction of attenuation, scattering and phase-contrast X-ray images with a single exposure of the samples. In this work, the influence of the attenuation grating features (visibility and projected period) and sample features (thickness and grains sizes) on the reconstructed images were experimentally explored. Results showed that fringe visibility higher than 15 % are fundamental for the proper image reconstruction. Even though reconstructed imagens are low spatial resolution (140–340 μm), they presented higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR 85–700) than conventional images (SNR 14–39), due to the Fourier analyses procedure. Scattering could not resolve the individual grains structures, nevertheless, they revealed the presence of structures smaller than the image system resolution. Finally, it is presented that combining attenuation and scattering signals allows differentiation among the different grain sizes in granular materials and different liquids that appears similar in conventional images.