Brian L
Well-known member
I decided to try out Steve's technique of sharpening and applying Denoise AI to high ISO images, then further refining using LR mask tools.
This photo is not one of my best but I liked the composition of the kingfisher framed by the foliage. Unfortunately, I was using my standard BIF settings with the shutter at 1/3200 and the resulting auto-ISO hit 11400. I should have dropped down the shutter to less than 1/500 but wasn't paying enough attention (it flew into this perch just as I was preparing to leave). I also decided to crop down by 2/3. So, all in all, not a great candidate for cleaning up noise.
In my first attempt, I went straight to 75 or 80 on the Denoise slider and got the full plastic bird look.
After recently watching/rewatching Steve's step by step video on the subject, I made this attempt. After a couple of minor exposure tweaks, I sharpened and masked the shot per his instructions, then applied a light touch to the Denoise slider (30-40, can't remember exactly), focusing on retaining as much detail in the bird as possible and pretty much ignoring the background, which remained very noisy. Once the DNG was created, I used masking of both the subject (the bird and the stump) and the background/foreground to refine the image. As Steve demonstrated, the background cleaned up easily with negative texture and a bit of the manual noise reduction slider. I also applied a bit more manual NR to the bird and actually reduced the sharpening a bit - the softer image looked to me a bit better than the crunchier one.
Anyway, here's the result. Far from perfect but given the exposure settings and the crop, I think quite satisfactory. I've also tried it on a few other shots with similar or even higher ISOs and on my 20MP OM1 camera but without crops. The results were even better to my - amateur - eye.
Thanks Steve. One of your best tutorials in my opinion.
This photo is not one of my best but I liked the composition of the kingfisher framed by the foliage. Unfortunately, I was using my standard BIF settings with the shutter at 1/3200 and the resulting auto-ISO hit 11400. I should have dropped down the shutter to less than 1/500 but wasn't paying enough attention (it flew into this perch just as I was preparing to leave). I also decided to crop down by 2/3. So, all in all, not a great candidate for cleaning up noise.
In my first attempt, I went straight to 75 or 80 on the Denoise slider and got the full plastic bird look.
After recently watching/rewatching Steve's step by step video on the subject, I made this attempt. After a couple of minor exposure tweaks, I sharpened and masked the shot per his instructions, then applied a light touch to the Denoise slider (30-40, can't remember exactly), focusing on retaining as much detail in the bird as possible and pretty much ignoring the background, which remained very noisy. Once the DNG was created, I used masking of both the subject (the bird and the stump) and the background/foreground to refine the image. As Steve demonstrated, the background cleaned up easily with negative texture and a bit of the manual noise reduction slider. I also applied a bit more manual NR to the bird and actually reduced the sharpening a bit - the softer image looked to me a bit better than the crunchier one.
Anyway, here's the result. Far from perfect but given the exposure settings and the crop, I think quite satisfactory. I've also tried it on a few other shots with similar or even higher ISOs and on my 20MP OM1 camera but without crops. The results were even better to my - amateur - eye.
Thanks Steve. One of your best tutorials in my opinion.
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