Topaz Labs introduces DeNoise 5
On August 2, Topaz Labs releases the latest version of its noise reduction plug-in, DeNoise 5. Electronic noise is one of the side effects of digital imaging. All images have some noise, but it is not generally noticeable at low ISOs. It tends to be most evident in areas with heavy shadows. There are many tools for minimizing noise, and what distinguishes them are ease of use, speed, and the extent to which they muddy colors and detail.
There is nothing remarkable about the shot below, and I would not have considered it a keeper, except that it was shot with a Canon G11 at ISO 800, making it a good candidate for detecting and eliminating noise.
The noise is not readily apparent in the 500 pixel wide reduction of the above shot, but if you look closely, you can see it in the gray wall behind the line judge. The larger detail below makes this evident and shows how Adjust 5 deals with the problem.
So how does the product work? After opening the image in Photoshop—it also works in Elements, PaintShop Pro, and several other programs, and can be integraeted into Lightroom via a free plug-in—copy the background layer and open DeNoise under Photoshop's filter menu. You are presented with the following screen. Several presets for RAW or JPG images are available in the left panel, and provide excellent out-of-the-box results. The controls on the right are for making your own adjustments, and that's what I did with this image. First, I dragged the small red rectangle in the Navigation panel to an area I wanted to examine and work on. You can move this freely during your work on the image and, while not shown, I examined five different sections of my image.
The simple, yet thorough user's guide recommends that you switch to Luma preview mode, available in right-hand panel below the preview window, and then drag the Overall Strength slider until the noise disappears. Once you're satisfied, tune the correction with the Adjust Shadow slider. You can also individually adjust noise in the red and blue channels, use the Clean Color slider to correct any color bleed introduced by the noise reduction process, and correct the black level.
By scrolling down in the right-hand window, you find a set of sliders for Detail Recovery. I used the Recover Detail slider to add back some crispness in the image, but keep in mind that overdoing this can reintroduce some noise eliminate in the earlier step. At any point, you can click on the Original button immediately above the large image to compare it to your Preview of the changes.
When you are satisfied, simply hit the OK button and you're back in Photoshop. Application of the corrections to your layer takes a few seconds, but is much faster than in past implementations of DeNoise. Detail of the finished image shows that noise is significantly reduced, detail is maintained, and there is no bleeding of the red or blue into the white outline in the sign behind the line judge.
And here is our finished photo—still not a keeper (after all, this was the shot on which the Portland Timbers lost their game to the Seattle Sounders in a tiebreaker, and who wants to remember that?) but one that shows that I take some acceptable images at ISO 800. If I were satisfied with these settings, I could save them in DeNoise 5 as a custom plug-in for the G11 at ISO 800, which I have done.
My conclusion: DeNoise 5 is easy to use, effective, and much faster than previous versions. I will use it as part of my workflow, making it either the last step in Lightroom processing (since using the plug-in locks previous settings in place and creates an edited TIF file) or, more often, doing initial processing in Lightroom and then moving the image into Photoshop so that I can maintain the adjustments on a layer. And yes, after tweaking the same image in both Lightroom's improved noise controls and DeNoise 5, I regard DeNoise 5 as the better choice.
To get $30 off your purchase of either DeNoise 5 or the full bund, enter the code DOUBLESPEED at checkout.