Noise reduction software

[Ron Green]

Here are some samples of a noise reduction program I am using. I've tried it successfully on a couple of images, including this hawk photo. I'll post the comparison results next. This photo was shot at 800 ISO and it was somewhat underexposed too. The noise was significant at 8"x10". The program is called "Neat Image" and more info is available at www.neatimage.com. It is somewhat complex to use because of all of the options and is available as a stand alone program or as a PhotoShop plugin. It works.

[Ron Green]

Here's a blow up of side-by-side comparison.

[HulaMike]

Wondering though as I haven't upgraded to CS, isn't there a noise removal tool in the new PS?

[Swampy]

There's no new noise removal tools from what I see in CS. They talk about using the same tools that 7 had to reduce noise. however, the RAW "plugin" in CS does have some features that reduce noise fairly well. Those options are called Luminance Smoothing and Color Noise Reduction.

[HulaMike]

Domo Arigato Swampy-San

[smunky]

Thsi program is an absolute dream!
Thanks so much Ron!

[pauly99]

Ron, do you notice that with the neatimage program that you create less noise at the
expense of sharpness? I would love to take some
of the pics I have taken from the top of the Sears Tower at ISO 1600 and 1/15th with a 600mm equivalent but I'm curious if I will lose sharpness in the pics as the noise is removed?

[Swampy]

I have tried it and didn't notice hardly any loss of sharpness. Pauly - Download the freeware version and try it. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

[CaptJR]

Check out the 'skin retouching tutorial' about half way down there page in the June 5th news. It looks rather impressive.

JR

[coughlin47]

I've been a satisfied user of NeatImage for a long time. The Pro+ version has the PhotoShop Plugin. The latest version (version 3.0) was just released and is much faster than previous versions. The plugin provides for a lot of flexibility. For example, for some portraits I will use the dropper to select skin tones, then do a color select and create a separate layer of just the skin tones. After some cleanup with the eraser for things I don't want smoothed, I run NeatImage against just that layer....can then fade effects if you want. This way the skin is smooth and everything else (hair,etc) retains the original sharpness.
By the way, there is a new product called Noise Ninja that is getting good reviews, although the PS plugin is in a future release. Check out some of the message threads in the Retouching forum at www.dpreview.com
Regards,
Bill

[Brad Harris]

Hi

I think you can get to the noise reduction
in CS with the details tab in the Raw plug-in interface. I have used it and it
works quite well.

Brad