Best NR software?

[andyptak]

I've been using Noise Ninja and have been satisfied enough, most of the time. However, I've just watched a demo of Nik's offering and was ery impressed. The process seems far more automated than NN, yet has impressive results. Any Mad Scientists out there who have delved deeply ino this and come to any conclusions? Thanks.

[Schewe]

Any Mad Scientists out there who have delved deeply ino this and come to any conclusions?

The grass is always greener...you would be better served by becoming an expert in the software you DO have rather than trying everything else..NN is just fine, if you knw how to use it.

[walter.sk]

The grass is always greener...you would be better served by becoming an expert in the software you DO have rather than trying everything else..NN is just fine, if you knw how to use it.

I use NN and Dfine2.  I've been using NN for years now and know it very well.  However, I get at least as good results from NIK for most images and better for some, so I keep both on the machine.

[andyptak]

I guess, "knowing how to use it" is what I was thinking about. With NN I made a profile from their chart and there are many things to tweak - never know if i'm doing it correctly or not. Nik seems to be a couple of clicks and you're done (almost).I'm not wanting to be lazy, but if this application has better judgement than me, why not go for it rather than make poor judgement with NN? I've had a few dissapointments with NN lately - maybe it's my new Sony a900 (no I don't shoot high ISO) - I'm revisiting the whole thing from a fresh perspective.

[Lisa Nikodym]

I've used NN for a few years, but it typically comes out looking more "plasticky" than I would like.  Lately, I've been using the noise reduction in ACR (the version that goes with CS3).  Has anyone here used both?  Are there plug-ins that are significantly better than ACR?  Comments welcome...

Lisa

[andyptak]

Lisa - I know exactly what you're talking about and this is why I'm revisiting the whole question of NR. I was shooting in the Dakota Badlands last Fall - high noise (even at 200 ISO) from the deep, blue skies and NN made the mountains look as if they were made of plastic. almost every shot required serious compromise between sharpness and noise reduction. Not happy.

[Richowens]

Andy,

 I use NN on a layer in CS2 and use a layer mask for those areas where I don't want noise reduction.
 
 I will also vary the flow and opacity of the mask brush for reduced noise reduction in high detail areas.

 The nice thing about using a layer is if you make an unreversible mistake you can delete the layer and start over.

Rich

[walter.sk]

Actually, in Noise Ninja you can use a brush to paint in or out the areas you want affected by the NR.  You can still do this on a duplicate layer, but you can zoom in and see the results while in NN before you commit them.  And then, you still have your background layer.

[marcmccalmont]

Lately I have been using Imagenomic's Noiseware Professional plugin with success , setting:weaker noise
Marc

[pegelli]

Here's a trick I use in PS CS1 to reduce noise.

Especially with using fill light or other curve adjustments bringing up the shadows you get shadow noise, but not so much in midtones and few in the lighter areas. However if you de-noise the whole picture you lose detail everywhere, also from the mid-tone and lighter areas. Even for normal pictures w/o much fill light I find it useful.

It works with every noise reduction software (I use NN) or photoshop action, and will be very similar for CS2 or CS3.

Here's the steps:
-1- Open the picture
-2- Create a new layer
-3- Copy the picture on the new layer ([alt][ctrl][shift]E)
-4- De-noise the top layer with whatever method you want to use
-5- Double click the top layer to open the blend options dialog
-6- I reduce opacity to about 75-80% in the general blending options, choose whatever you like
-7- Adjust the slider in "Blend if" as indicated.
If you do this you will use the original (bottom layer) image between 255 and 160, from 160 to 90 you gradually increase the noise reduction and below 90 you apply it full (all multiplied with whatever overall opacity you have chosen in the general blending box). In this way you only denoise where there is noise, and you leave the light areas unaffected. The numbers I gave above are just indications what I generally use, but no problem to alter them to achieve the exact effect you want.

Here's a screenshot of the blend options dialog in Photoshop so you can try it yourself.



Hope you find this useful.