Topaz DeNoise AI

[Rajan Parrikar]

I just ran a couple of quick tests. Executive summary: Impressive.

Added: I 'compared' it to Noiseware (70% luminance noise reduction) and NeatImage (auto profile). NeatImage comes very close to DeNoise AI in this particular example. Noiseware shows smearing of the details (although it has settings for restoration of details that I didn't play with).

[earlybird]

I tried it last night.

I had recently made a picture in low light where I needed to keep the shutter speed fast, so it was a good candidate for noise suppression. The picture featured both details of a mammal's fur at the focal point, and lots of soft focus bokeh surrounding the subject.

I found the results to seem slightly different, but not necessarily better than Topaz Denoise 6 using the Denoise 6 settings that seem to suit my camera.

I experimented with the AI settings and found the threshold between suppressing noise and blurring the detail seemed abrupt.

After completing the picture's refinement, I was sure the results were superior to my previous workflow, until I compared said results to the same composition made with Denoise 6, and I reverted to an opinion that the results from using Denoise AI just seemed different, but not necessarily better.

I am hoping the AI will learn to recognize and preserve more details, while identifying and suppressing noise, without having to resort to sharpening and detail restoration etc.

It seems exciting to imagine the potential of such a process.

[leuallen]

I have been playing with it. On 4/3 photos at 6400 ISO. So a good test.

Ran a batch process on 7 files taken within minutes of each other. Performer on stage with changing colored lights.

Had to crank the noise slider up to 100 because in some images high contrast edges showed patches of background that were not denoised. At default setting these patches were larger and became smaller as the noise slider was increased. Did not see much change to the rest of the image as the slider was increased. So I went with 100. May not work with all files.

Some images showed the problem and others not a trace. Go figure, they were taken within seconds of each other.

If the image is important here are the fixes for the artifacts.  For the patches of the image which showed the original grain structure, high contrast edges and very bright areas, I lassoed the area and used a Gaussian blur. About .6 on up till it looked natural. The best technique was to lasso the area, hide the marching ants, then Gaussian blur with a higher value. Immediately following the blur or it will not work, use the Fade command. Move the Fade slider until it looks good.

Another artifact is in certain areas of fairly uniform tonality I could see faint vertical banding with slight discolorization. The cure is to create a blank layer above the stack and to use the clone stamp at low opacity. Select the source with a value that matches what the banding should be. If the banding is predominately lighter, which it was in my case, set the clone layer to Darken and the brush to Darken.

I batch process the file using Scripts->Image Processor. I don't think Image Processor come with PS. I believe it is a Russel Brown program. It works great.

Create a script to use with the Image Processor. Starting with just opened file, start recording. Create a dup layer and make it active. Open the Denoise AI filter. Make what adjustment needed. Close the file and end the action. Start Image Processor and set parameters to your liking. I had is save a tiff file to a folder it created under the folder containing the original images.

The above was all in PS. Now go to LR. You will see the new folder but it will be empty. Select the new folder and right click and select synchronize. Now the images are in LR and you can work on them

This may seem like a lot of work and it sort of is. But the results are superior to most any other program especially for noisy 4/3 images. Where it shines is that even with drastic noise reduction you do not get that watercolor effect on areas such as skin.

This is a new program and does not have the refinements of other Topaz programs such as presets and the values used are not sticky. But that will come with upgrades. They may even solve the problem of blotchy areas which are not processed and the banding.

Larry