Noise reduction

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stuart n
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Noise reduction

Post by stuart n »

Noticed that I'm getting a lot of noise on my photos where the background is mainly blue sky. I've tried a range of methods in lightroom and photoshop (using the Nik plug in) with varying degree of success.
Does anyone have a proven workflow for noise reduction?

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tankbuster
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Re: Noise reduction

Post by tankbuster »

I've actually found that NIK is the best solution for removing blue sky noise. One squirt of Dfine and its gone and without selection leaves the rest of the picture unaltered. I have various NR options and they are all different in the results that they get but for blue sky, you already have the solution IMHO. Flavour of the month for NR seems to be Topaz Noise AI but I've tried it and think it's a kings new clothes job.
Trevor C
recent and not so recent pictures here https://trevorc28a.wixsite.com/trevspics

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Jetnoise
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Re: Noise reduction

Post by Jetnoise »

Hi Stuart,

I would concur with Trevor - you already have an answer in Nik. I use both Nik Dfine (an earlier version Dfine2 from its freebie Google days) and another (paid) product - NeatImage for noise reduction. There is very little difference between them as regards getting rid of blue-sky noise but the NeatImage software has a couple of other features that I prefer (regarding sharpening adjustment) and is available as a stand-alone version as well as Photoshop plug-in. As you already have Nik, it would seem silly to fork out for another product when Nik should work fine for what you want.

Nik Collection is now owned by DxO and there is an upgraded version bundled in to their PhotoLab product (costs about £112.00) which can be downloaded for a free trial to see if there is an improvement over the version you are using. Likewise, NeatImage is available as a demo version so you could compare both against what you already have. A bundle (Stand-alone and Photoshop plug-in versions) costs about £40.00 for the "Home" edition.

As an example, here are some 100% crops (Original, Dfine and NeatImage) - first three from my EOS 5D and then three from my EOS 7D for comparison :-

ImageTest5D_Original by Ralph Lunt Photography, on Flickr

ImageTest5D_Dfine by Ralph Lunt Photography, on Flickr

ImageTest5D_NeatImage by Ralph Lunt Photography, on Flickr

ImageTest7D_Original by Ralph Lunt Photography, on Flickr

ImageTest7D_Dfine by Ralph Lunt Photography, on Flickr

ImageTest7D_NeatImage by Ralph Lunt Photography, on Flickr

Obviously, the 7D is a lot noisier than the 5D but I have used the same software settings across the board to give an idea.

Cheers,
Ralph
www.ralphluntphotography.com
www.jetnoise.co.uk
There's only one way to skin a cat - with a very sharp knife.

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Pen Pusher
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Re: Noise reduction

Post by Pen Pusher »

Jetnoise wrote:
Sun 17 May 2020, 7:25 am
I would concur with Trevor - you already have an answer in Nik. I use both Nik Dfine (an earlier version Dfine2 from its freebie Google days)
Concur as well. Got the Google freebie of Nik when it was available, saved the download to a flash drive to re-use, and works extremely well on blue skies for me.

Brian
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boff180
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Re: Noise reduction

Post by boff180 »

I have Topaz which I’ve found to be great.

Then again Lightrooms inbuilt noise reduction is good for most situations.

stuart n
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Re: Noise reduction

Post by stuart n »

Thanks all :)

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