Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
This is, hands down, not only one of the most-requested features by photographers,
but one of the best since the upgrade in CS5. Now, if you're thinking, “But Scott,
didn't Photoshop and Camera Raw both have built-in noise reduction before CS5?”
Yes, yes they did. And did it stink? Yes, yes it did. But, does the current noise reduc tion
rock? Oh yeah! What makes it so amazing is that it removes the noise without greatly
reducing the sharpness, detail, and color saturation. Plus, it applies the noise re-
duction to the RAW image itself (unlike most noise plug-ins).
Noisy Photos
Step One:
Open your noisy image in Camera Raw
(the Noise Reduction feature works best
on RAW images, but you can also use it
on JPEGs and TIFFs, as well). The image
shown here was shot at a high ISO using
a Nikon D3S, which didn't do a very good
job in this low-light situation, so you can
see a lot of color noise (those red, green,
and blue spots) and luminance noise (the
grainy looking gray spots).
Step Two:
Sometimes it's hard to see the noise
until you really zoom in tight, so zoom
into at least 100% (here, I zoomed into
200%), and there it is, lurking in the
shadows (that's where noise hangs out
the most). Click on the Detail icon (it's
the third icon from the left at the top
of the Panel area) to access the Noise
Reduction controls. I usually get rid of
the color noise first, because that makes
it easier to see the luminance noise (which
comes next). Here's a good rule of thumb
to go by when removing color noise: start
with the Color slider over at 0 (as shown
here) and then slowly drag it to the right
until the moment the color noise is gone.
Note:
A bit of color noise reduction is
automatically applied to RAW images—
the Color slider is set to 25. But, for JPEGs
or TIFFs, the Color slider is set to 0.
