Nik Dfine

[William Dickson]

Hi,

I was wondering what is the best settings for Nik Dfine.

I leave it on auto, but thats for BGs only, and it a appears to do a good job.

I have read that Diane, uses the software on the Bird, and what would be the settings for this.

Thanks in advance.

Will

[Steve Kaluski]

I would take all images as individuals and not use a 'recipe'. Certainly it's not a bit of Software I use, but I never take any image for granted. I would work on building your own Will rather than someone else's, as it will be 'their own' take, but your call.

[William Dickson]

Thanks for that Steve, I have tried it a few times but usually use Photoshops own. Which works for me well. I was just curious :S3:

Will

[Steve Kaluski]

Remember each camera will create it's own profile, hence why Arash did what he did I guess. You may find it rather heavy going as like most stuff the more you drill down, the more complex/greater your options are and so you have to have a good grasp of PP. Remember also, when are you applying it, at Raw or after and why, - so which do you choose and why?

[William Dickson]

I apply very slightly in RAW depending upon how much noise. I apply to the BG after. Seems to work for me

Will

[Don Lacy]

Hi Will, Like Steve said each image is different and will need different settings the best thing to do is to play around with it and see what works for you. I very rarely apply NR to my subjects beyond what is applied during the Raw conversion I also rarely shoot above ISO 1600.

[William Dickson]

Thanks for the comments guys, much appreciated

Will

[Diane Miller]

I can almost always get a very good result with Dfine just letting it do an auto profile. It isn't a paste-on setting like Topaz Denoise. It will sample several areas of an image (if it can find suitable ones) and make a "profile" for that unique image. It is quite amazing in how it can clean up a BG and leave a fine-feathered subject virtually untouched. It makes a new layer and sometimes I'll mask out a bird or other subject on that layer, but viewing at 100 or 200% I usually don't need to do that.

If it fails to find good areas to work with, I'll resort to Neat Image, but it's a lot more work. In cases where Dfine works, I can't get a significantly better result even after quite a lot of fine-tuning with Neat Image. And that's viewing at 100 or 200%. Starting with an excellent image that only has normal noise, Dfine generally gives a great result. It's easy to try different methods and compare.

I find it works best on a raw file from LR or ACR, with no prior NR or sharpening except the default very slight sharpening of 25. I do the NR before any cloning, as most cloning will be with a soft brush whole partially opaque outer areas will leave areas of reduced noise. Let Nik sample the original image then do other work. If further manipulation like Nik's Detail Extractor brings out more noise, I might run NR again, but I rarely go far enough with manipulation to need to do that.

[William Dickson]

Thanks for that Diane. I knew that different images needed different amounts of NR. I was mainly interested in the 'auto' profile.

I will give it a go

Will

[Steve Kaluski]

Will, with the 1DX you rarely need to apply any NR below ISO6400 providing you get the Exposure right and certainly nothing below 3200 and with the MK2 it's even better. If, as you say you generate a Layer BKG and work on that, then zero any sharpening as ACR will apply it at default, so why apply NR to something with a hint of Sharpening, doesn't make sense, does it??? If you want to go further, I tend to look at the Blue & Red channels too at 200%.

To me, 'Auto' in any adjustment is a 'generic' setting (made for Dummies/Auto pilot), I would explore any settings to see what they do and the impact they have, in this way you get a better grasp of how they work.

Remember, at the end of the day you are only looking at something on a screen, the 'real' litmus test is when you print the image out at high res.

[William Dickson]

Thanks for that Steve, I am learning all the time :S3:

Since I got the 1DX, I am finding it easier, to control the amount of noise on an image. As you said, if you get the exposure correct at the time, that is the answer.

Will

[Steve Kaluski]

Yep, I constantly push it, ISO12,800 or even 25k, you've seen some of the Polar Bear images at 12,800 and print perfectly. We don't have the luxury of constant good light, so you made a wise investment, you just need a MK2 lens to take full advantage :bg3:.

[Diane Miller]

In Dfine, the term Auto might be misunderstood. It measures the noise in several tonal ranges of an image and generates an "automatic profile" specific to that image. The results can be tweaked to some extent but I have never found it necessary. The result is placed on a new layer so it is very easy to mask off any areas where it is too strong, but that is not often the case.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Will I agree with Rachel and Steve. If you need NR the Nik filter is good in fact from my viewpoint very good. I don't need it very often but if I do I use the auto setting initially. Check out the tutorials on nik filters. For convenience I drag sampled area to a specific area if it had not been previously sampled. Magic !!