Noise reduction CS5

[gail bisson]

I am at my wits end! I am absolutely new to CS5 but very comfortable in LR. I bought PS5 for 2 reasons- to add canvas and to selectively reduce noise in the BG and not touch the bird.
My problem is noise reduction. I import my picture from DPP, fix it in ACR (no problem there as it is almost identical to LR), open the image and take the lasso tool to outline the bird, then inverse it, then click on icon to open new layer then go to filter/noise reduction and the box opens up to say this action cannot be performed because there is nothing in the space selected.
I feel like I am missing something so basic that none of the tutorials or books are telling me what to do. Please help!
Gail

[Dan Brown]

Hi Gail. I cannot seem to make cs5 do what you describe. But, a few ?'s, do you have the "feather" setting at the top set at 0px? Do you have "anti-alias" checked. I tried to duplicate what you are getting by entering a high number in the feathering and unchecking the anti-alias box and did get a message that no pixels were selected? Try 0px and check the box and see if that helps.

BTW, I use the quick selection tool set at 4 or 5 on the brush size, 100% hardness and 25% on the spacing. This really selects edges nicely and then you can click on the "refine edge" button and fine tune the selection more. And, in the refine edge window at the bottom in the output box, you can decontaminate the edge. I like this set low (10 or so). Say if you have hairs or fine feathers on the edge, this will take out the bg color and make the selection a little better. Then, you can drop down the "output to" menu and select whatever you like. I like to use "new layer" here, as it creates a layer with only your selection on it. I usually select the bird for this, sharpen this layer, then go to the layer below (bg copy) and do my NR there. Just a different way! Good luck!

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Gail; you shouldn't open a new layer! The new layer wouldn't have anything in it.
Once you have the area selected you could apply NR or whatever you want to it. I like to have it on a seperate layer though, since you can use blending modes, etc.
Once you have the area selected, click copy, then paste. You will have a new layer with the selected area in it.

regards~Bill

[Dan Brown]

Gail; you shouldn't open a new layer! The new layer wouldn't have anything in it.
Once you have the area selected you could apply NR or whatever you want to it. I like to have it on a seperate layer though, since you can use blending modes, etc.
Once you have the area selected, click copy, then paste. You will have a new layer with the selected area in it.

regards~Bill
I think Bill is right here. You can also create a "layer via copy" in the "layer" menu. This creates a new layer with your selection on it. You might have to invert your selection.

[Doug Schurman]

Hi Gail,

slightly off topic here but since you already are proficient with Lightroom, have you considering doing all your raw edits and organization there, then simply right clicking on the image and choose edit in photoshop. The lightroom edited raw file is automatically opened in Photoshop. After you make additional edits in CS5. You close the file and the saved image appears in Lightroom as a second version. It really makes for a nice workflow .

[Arthur Morris]

Gail, You will be much better off putting NR on the whole image (Cntrl A, Contrl J, Cntrl N) and then painting it off the birds with a regular Layer Mask as described in Digital Basics (https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=252) :).

Since Denise Ippolito taught me to make adjustments to the whole image and then paint them away (with a regular Layer Mask) or paint them in (with a Hide All or Inverse Layer Mask) I rarely make selections the old way..... When you make selections you often get edge problems....

[gail bisson]

Thank you all! I will try all the new tips!
Gail