Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: Noise reduction  (Read 1699 times)

PeterAit

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4559
    • Peter Aitken Photographs
Noise reduction
« on: January 11, 2019, 11:41:11 am »

What's the current consensus on NR software? I have been using the LR sliders, and they work OK, but is there anything markedly better? Thanks.
Logged

Mark D Segal

  • Contributor
  • Sr. Member
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 12512
    • http://www.markdsegal.com
Re: Noise reduction
« Reply #1 on: January 11, 2019, 11:54:13 am »

I would be very surprised if there were any such thing as a "consensus". A number of good products exist; they work in different ways, have different features and different people would have different preferences depending on their taste in GUIs and their perception of results relative to their purposes and expectations. The most serious way of making a choice is not to be concerned about any kind of consensus, but to download their free trials, test them and see which, if any you would prefer over what Lr does. Beware of whether you need to create a pixel based image to use them, or whether they can be used directly on the raw files as Lr plugins not needing permanent conversion - this would be a consideration for those who prefer a complete workflow within the raw image format.
Logged
Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
Author: "Scanning Workflows with SilverFast 8....."

BAB

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 515
Re: Noise reduction
« Reply #2 on: January 12, 2019, 10:28:48 am »

I agree with Mark sound advise only you can see with whatever files you have a need to remove noise in your workflow what works best. For me imagenomics works at the default settings 90% of the time. I use it on the image after making global, regional and local adjustments following R Mac Holbert road to the best print. You can find a detailed workflow here http://poweredbylight.org/PBL/page2/files/PCNW_2017_FADP.pdf and if you want to get hands on I sujest you attend one of his workshops.
Knowing when to use the NR is more important then what software you use they are all usable as Mark said for different solutions.

Logged
I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kic

Mark D Segal

  • Contributor
  • Sr. Member
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 12512
    • http://www.markdsegal.com
Re: Noise reduction
« Reply #3 on: January 12, 2019, 10:44:11 am »

Your link to the Holbert PDF is very useful - lots of good stuff there. Of course it is written mainly with Photoshop in mind - some of the workflow recommendations become much more flexible when using a Lightroom-only workflow.
Logged
Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
Author: "Scanning Workflows with SilverFast 8....."

Zen8

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 247
    • My Photo Collections
Re: Noise reduction
« Reply #4 on: January 12, 2019, 01:14:45 pm »

There are lots of free tutorials and I'm not suggesting you to spend money but this is pretty good for $15.  I stopped using 3rd party NR plug-ins years ago because I found them a pain to use. LR meets my needs but of course they are different than yours. I purchased DXO PL for Prime last year but I don't use it as much as I thought I would. Colours come back different.

Something not talked about much is the Detail slider in the Detail window. 0-50 is halo suppression. 50-100 is deconvolution but you lose halo suppression. The masking slider is the key to NR but you probably new that.                         

https://backcountrygallery.com/new-video-workshop-noise-reduction-using-lr-ps/

Here is a pretty good tutorial as well. I sometimes use this method. It takes as much time as sending it to DXO. DXO export is painfully slow if you use Prime.     

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPX82LMJMiI

earlybird

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 331
Re: Noise reduction
« Reply #5 on: January 14, 2019, 10:36:46 am »

With regards to aftermarket plugin style products, what would one consider testing?

My list would start with

Topaz Denoise 6
Imagenomic Noiseware
Neat Image 


What would you add to a list like this?

Thank you.
« Last Edit: January 14, 2019, 06:02:32 pm by earlybird »
Logged

rdonson

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3263
Re: Noise reduction
« Reply #6 on: January 14, 2019, 06:06:07 pm »

With regards to aftermarket plugin style products, what would one consider testing?

My list would start with

Topaz Denoise 6
Imagenomic Noiseware
Neat Image 


What would you add to a list like this?

Thank you.

NIK Define 2.0 ?
Logged
Regards,
Ron

langier

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1503
    • Celebrating Rural America, the Balkans and beyond
Re: Noise reduction
« Reply #7 on: January 14, 2019, 09:51:42 pm »

I'm always in "Hail Mary" lighting shooting my M43 cameras at 3200-6400-12800... I'm not shooting anything faster than f/2.8 and f/4 and simply shoot away. I use the NR in ACR and sometimes Nik Define but worry more about getting a good picture rather than perfect pixels.

If the image is for the web, social media or a small print, don't sweat the noise too much, IMO. If you are going for a larger print, 8x10-11x14-16x20, then worry about cranking up the NR.

Logged
Larry Angier
ASMP, ACT, & many more! @sacred_icons
https://angier-fox.photoshelter.com

DP

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 727
Re: Noise reduction
« Reply #8 on: January 14, 2019, 11:20:54 pm »


Something not talked about much is the Detail slider in the Detail window. 0-50 is halo suppression. 50-100 is deconvolution but you lose halo suppression.

Nope, correct your records - according to Eric Chan (and that was noted ~8 years ago) : "...continuous blend of methods (with Detail slider being the one used to "tween" between the methods, and the Amount, Radius, & Masking used to control the parameters fed into the methods). As you ramp up the Detail slider to higher values, the deconvolution-based method gets more weight. If you're interested in only the deconv method then just set Detail to 100 (which is what I do for low-ISO high-detail landscape images)..."
Logged

Zen8

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 247
    • My Photo Collections
Re: Noise reduction
« Reply #9 on: January 15, 2019, 10:51:01 am »

My Detail default at import is 75 which is primarily or my wildlife shots. I adjust it for higher ISO and portraits.       

Zen8

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 247
    • My Photo Collections
Re: Noise reduction
« Reply #10 on: January 15, 2019, 11:00:30 am »

There is not a lot of info on this out there. There was a very long thread about it here. I came across this the other day that spends more time it.           

https://gregbenzphotography.com/photography-tips/what-is-deconvolution-sharpening-and-how-to-get-increased-detail?utm_source=drip&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=What+is+%22Deconvolution%22+sharpening%3F+%5BFIXED+LINK%5D

BAB

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 515
Re: Noise reduction
« Reply #11 on: January 16, 2019, 09:47:47 am »

Best be aware of when to use noise reduction it can really tear up your printed image if you use it improperly. Fact most people don’t print, fact most people have never seen a professional print. Some camera have little or no noticeable noise or extremely clean files.
Also it would be helpful to know where you are getting the bulk of noise and you might be exposing in a way that with just a minor tweak in the exposure at capture you could eliminate a majority of noise.
Logged
I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kic

albytastic

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 68
Re: Noise reduction
« Reply #12 on: February 05, 2019, 02:59:30 am »

I have used Neat Image for many years but the new "JPEG to RAW" from Topaz beats it hollow when the blur and noise adjustment is set to high.

I also particularly like the fact that is the only adjustment there is as opposed to the large amount of adjustments on other programs.

And the fact that you can batch process any size of image, even cropped ones, makes it super easy to use.
Logged
Pages: [1]   Go Up