Tip #50: Noise Reduction

Except for a few special cases, I do not like noisy photographs -- you know, the grainy, speckled images that have taken over the social media sites of the world. I prefer clear, crisp images.

A friend recently asked me, if post-processing would help an image he had captured. Without even looking at the photo, I said yes. The first step in my editing workflow is noise reduction. Here's how I reduced the noise in my friend's photo:

1. I loaded the image into Capture NX2.


2. I zoomed to 100% and scrolled to a portion of the sky. The 100% zoom is critical for noise adjustments. The sky is where noise most often shows its ugly self.


3. I chose the noise reduction tool, and I clicked on "Better Quality" and "Edge Noise Reduction"


4. In this case, I moved the slider to 27%, the point at which the noise melted away.

Before Noise Reduction (click the image for a closer look):



After Noise Reduction (click the image for a closer look):




I will be revisiting this image with a future tip, so stay tuned.


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