Noise Reduction and Sharpening

[Jay Gould]

Using CS4; I have decided to start with Pixel Genius Sharpener and Nik Define 2.0 Noise Reduction as the two programs of choice to move my images along. I have other Sharpener and NR programs; my brother has suggested that these would be the two easiest to start with.

I have now been using PG for awhile; very easy to use and seems to work very well without oversharpening.

Now it is time to move on to NR; Nancy Elwood suggested Define as that would eliminate learning Masks at this stage of the learning process. I already have and use Viveza so I have some understanding of the Control Point selection approach. As an aside, I wish Nik would allow for a more feeehand selection of the capture area instead of those circles that never limit themselves to the area you want to impact.

PG suggests that the first PP to be done after conversion (I am using LR 2.6) is to run PG Capture Sharpener and then flatten. Thereafter, you would run Define and then flatten. Having done those two PP, I would then complete the PP including Viveza and save as a layered PSD before reopening for sizing etc.

It seems to me that running a sharpener first is simply sharpening the noise that you want to get rid of; therefore, shouldn't you run a NR program first, e.g., Define, then flatten, then run if you want PG CapSharp, flatten, do the rest of your PP, and save as a layered PSD.

When I reopen the layered PSD I create a duplicate flattened copy, resize and run PG Output Sharpener.

Any suggestions regarding this suggested workflow or the use of these programs is greatly appreciated.

[Desmond Chan]

Generally speaking, first thing you do is noise reduction. The last thing you do is sharpening.

[Nancy A Elwood]

Jay, I got your email. Thank you for the nice comment about my website! I sharpen three times during the process. First the RAW that I PP in NX2 I leave on about 2 or 3 setting in that program, now that is a global sharpening(not flattening of the image yet). I than save as 16-bit tiff and go to CS3, where I crop if needed, use Vivenza and Nik Define, where most of the time I am doing selective NR and or manual settings. Then the last step is back into NX2 for selective High Pass sharpening, like on the eye and or head, etc, of the subject. The last sharpening step is for output, like printing, where I use NikSharpener. Hope that helps.

All the best
Nancy

[Michael Lloyd]

Generally speaking, first thing you do is noise reduction. The last thing you do is sharpening.

+1

Jay- You might consider taking a little time and learning to use masks. Quick mask is pretty easy to use and a very handy tool. It's a good step toward learning more complicated masking techniques. That said, I rarely need a complicated mask.

Back on the topic of noise reduction, Imagenomic Noiseware Pro is one of the best NR programs that I've come across. It incorporates sharpening and it's algorithm is "kind" to the parts that need "kindness" in an image. I was happy to hear Mac Holbert of Nash Editions (http://www.rmacholbert.com/) and John Paul Caponigro (http://www.johnpaulcaponigro.com/) sing it's praises at a recent workshop that I attended. Repeating Desmond- Noise removal is typically the first step or very nearly the first step.

Sharpening- Sharpening should be an "intentional" operation. In other words, it should be used for specific areas and specific situations. For instance, I have an action written that does 3 pass sharpening on the large version of the image before reducing it to a size that can be posted to a web forum. I would not use that action or a derivative of that action for sharpening a large print. One of the things that Mac demonstrated for sharpening the eyes in a portrait (should work for birds and other wildlife) was two pass sharpening (500,3,5 on the first step; 100,3,5 on the seconds step. View results on the screen at 50%) followed by a high pass filter and using the blend if sliders to tune. He used a mask to isolate the eyes and in one case he even sharpened individual mustache hairs. This level of detail sharpening is done very close to end of the process btw.

I don't know Lightroom very well so I can't say if this will work in LR. In CS4, with an image open, open the Channels box. Command Click (Mac... sorry. I don't know the PC key) the RGB channel. This will load a contrast mask. Now go to the layers box and while holding the Option key down select the create new fill or adjustment layer icon (black and white circle) with the mask that you just loaded from the Channels selection. Because you held the Option key down you also get to set the type of adjustment and the mode of the adjustment. Start with Curves and Normal. I also use Luminosity, Hue, and Saturation modes but for now start with that. Now you'll have an curves adjustment layer with mask. Option click the mask. The screen now displays the mask. With masks, the easiest thing to remember is that black takes away the effect and white makes the effect 100%. Varying shades of gray cause varying levels of the effect. Just for fun, while the mask is selected (in the layers pallet) hit Command I. That inverts the mask. Option click the mask again to go back to the normal image. Grab the curves line at about 50%. Pull it up and out to the upper left corner and watch the image. Now pull it down and out to the lower right corner and watch the image. Hit Command I while the mask is selected and do the same thing with the curve. Very quickly you can go from playing with the curve to balancing the image.

[Roger Clark]

Jay,
I agree with others, sharpening should be applied near last. When you change contrast and dodge and burn selected areas, that changes sharpening algorithm results. I also agree sharpening should be done on selected areas. After a general levels and curves adjustment, I next dodge/burn the eyes. Fur/feathers/hair usually needs different treatment than other things. Slightly out of focus parts of the image need different sharpening than the sharp parts. So each needs selection and custom sharpening.

Similarly, noise removal: sky can be processed more than subject, for example. So again selections and different settings are usually needed.

Roger

[David Thomasson]

I agree with Deke McClelland that it matters less when you sharpen than how you sharpen. I usually do some initial sharpening in ACR for two reasons:
because raw images are typically a bit soft, and ACR has a built-in edge mask feature that works very well on most images.

http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/5668/sharpen.jpg

When you sharpen with a mask like this, you aren't sharpening noise, because everything except edges is masked out and thus not sharpened.

Inside Photoshop I also use an edge mask for sharpening (I built an action that generates a mask with one touch of a function key).
Lately I've been using the free trial of Topaz Detail (http://www.topazlabs.com/detail/) and am quite impressed with how it sharpens fine details such as feathers.

If you'd like to try the edge mask action, you can download it here (http://www.radiantpics.com/edge_mask.atn). You just need to be at the top of your layer stack when you run it. The action
merges all layers upward (but leaves underlying layers intact), converts that layer to a smart object, and applies USM. It requires more than one layer to run; if you have only the background layer, add a null adjustment layer (levels, curves, whatever) and then run the action from there. Since it's a smart object,
you can open the USM dialog and re-adjust those settings as needed. Just double-click the USM layer:

http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/9273/usmel.jpg

You can also use that mask, inverted, on a new layer when you run noise reduction. The inverted mask protects edges and leaves the rest open for NR to work.

[Charles Glatzer]

I have mentioned the use of Edge and Surface Masks many times in the past with regard to critical sharpening and noise reduction. Combine these when necessary with a layer mask, and channel selection, fliters, and blending mode and you will have total control. When using an Edge mask I rarely need to apply noise reduction.

I highly suggest checking out these very useful tools available at http://www.thelightsrightstudio.com/photoshop-tools.htm

TLR Edge and Surface Masks (http://www.thelightsrightstudio.com/TLREdge&SurfaceMasks.htm)
Photoshop Action Set

TLR Professional Sharpening Toolkit (http://www.thelightsrightstudio.com/TLRProfessionalSharpeningToolkit.htm)
Photoshop JavaScript Scripts

Best Regards,

Chas

[Jay Gould]

Let me start by saying all of these reponses - even if it is going to take me a while and a bunch of questions to understand - underscore why I really love BPN and everyone involved with BPN!

Des, makes sense to me.

Nancy, obviously being a Canon user I do not use NX2; I start with LR. I do not do any sharpening in LR - I leave that Pixel Genius when I transfer to CS4.

There seems to be two schools - at least two schools of thought - about when to apply sharpener.

On the one hand Roger advocates leaving sharpening to the end of the process (Roger, do you do any sharpening at the beginning either in or prior to sending to CS4?).

Nancy and David do a bit of early sharpening (David - Deke McClelland?; do you use LR in addition to ACR?).

On the topic of NR (I will come back to sharpening once I put NR to bed), is there general agreement whether you use Define (control points), or a program requiring the use of Masks, that NR (either globally or selectively) should be done BEFORE any sharpening?

Thanks (from Posada de la Laguna, Esteros del Ibera Marshes, Argentina) for playing the game and doing this slowly; half of what was written is above my CS4 knowledge and I have to hit the books I have scanned into my computer to understand what has been suggested.

[David Thomasson]

Nancy and David do a bit of early sharpening (David - Deke McClelland?; do you use LR in addition to ACR?).

No Lightroom. Only Photoshop.

[Tony Whitehead]

( do you use LR in addition to ACR?).



ACR (Adobe Camera Raw) is what both Lightroom and Photoshop use to read/process RAW files. You have essentially the same basic control whether you use LR to open an image or ACR from Bridge/PS. Lightroom is ACR.

[Roger Clark]

On the one hand Roger advocates leaving sharpening to the end of the process (Roger, do you do any sharpening at the beginning either in or prior to sending to CS4?).


Hi Jay,

I do a small amount of sharpening during the raw conversion (using ACR from CS4). I do the other sharpening near the end as I stated earlier. I'll give my standard spiel that the "sharpening " most are talking about in this thread is not actually sharpening, but changing edge contrast or accutance. That was discussed in detail here:
Important sharpening information:
http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?p=133264#poststop

Depending on the image, I'll just do the selective unsharp mask on different areas, but when I really want to sharpen, then I use Richardson-Lucy deconvolution.

Roger

[Lance Peters]

Using genuine fractals with Noels actions - does the job for me.
Or Noise Ninja - sharpening as the last step.

[Ed Cordes]

I use PK Sharpener. However, since the capture sharpening of PK is the same as the slight bit applied in ACR or LR, I do not apply it again. Later I apply Creative sharpening to the TIFF file and save. Then when the image is to be outputed I crop, resize and apply PK's Output sharpening to the image. In creative sharpening I often use brushes so it is applied only to the areas I want.

[Jeff Donald]

PK Sharpener is the product of Bruce Fraser, Jeff Schewe and the rest of the Pixel Mafia. Bruce was the father of modern sharpening techniques, but with his passing several years ago, much of his work was left unfinished. His partner, Jeff Schewe, stepped in and finished writing Bruce's last book, Real World Image Sharpening with Adobe Photoshop, Camera Raw, and Lightroom. I would highly recommend this book to anyone that wants to learn more about the art of sharpening digital files.

[Jay Gould]

I have mentioned the use of Edge and Surface Masks many times in the past with regard to critical sharpening and noise reduction. Combine these when necessary with a layer mask, and channel selection, fliters, and blending mode and you will have total control. When using an Edge mask I rarely need to apply noise reduction.

I highly suggest checking out these very useful tools available at http://www.thelightsrightstudio.com/photoshop-tools.htm

TLR Edge and Surface Masks (http://www.thelightsrightstudio.com/TLREdge&SurfaceMasks.htm)
Photoshop Action Set

TLR Professional Sharpening Toolkit (http://www.thelightsrightstudio.com/TLRProfessionalSharpeningToolkit.htm)
Photoshop JavaScript Scripts

Best Regards,

Chas

Chas, checking out the links I note that they are stated as current for CS3; are they Actions/Scripts current for CS4? Thanks,