disperser Photo Post-processing, Photography

A quick post about Topaz Labs DeNoise AI

I’ll start by saying I get no compensation for mentioning any of the programs I use. The reason I mention something is to either trash it or praise it.

In the case of Topaz Labs programs and plugins, it’s usually praise

Take a look at this photo . . .

As shot, 1/500 sec at f/10, ISO 2500 (300mm 70-300mm f/4.5-6.3)

Those numbers might not mean anything to most people but here’s what they mean to me . . .

close to a 1:1 crop (click on photo for larger version)

. . . it means lots of noise (graininess in the image).

Lightroom’s own sharpening and noise abatement functions are pretty good . . .

Sharpening and noise reduction in Lightroom CC (click on photo for larger version)

However, my normal noise reduction efforts are through DxO Nik Collection DFine 2 . . .

DxO Nik Collection Dfine 2 (click on photo for larger version)

Both of those do a pretty good job . . . but here’s Topaz Labs DeNoise AI . . .

Topaz Labs DeNoise AI (click on photo for larger version)

This is on the automatic setting and in this case, DeNoise and AI Clear (the two options in the DeNoise program) do about the same with the difference being a bit more sharpening with AI Clear.

The interesting thing is it appears they use similar core processing in the Sharpen AI module. Sharpen AI has sharpening with a noise reduction option whereas DeNoise has noise reduction with a sharpening option. Both modules give near-similar results.

Here are the DeNoise AI results for another photo . . .

As shot, 1/500 sec at f/10, ISO 2800 (300mm 70-300mm f/4.5-6.3)
close to a 1:1 crop (click on photo for larger version)
Topaz Labs DeNoise AI (click on photo for larger version)

Again, I’m sharing this because the results are — to my eyes — pretty durn good. Leagues ahead of what I could do even a few months ago.

Here’s the gallery of the above for quick comparison as you scroll through:

As shot (ISO 2500)
1:1 crop
Lightroom Noise Reduction
Nik Collection Dfine 2
Topaz Labs DeNoise AI
As shot (ISO 2800)
1:1 crop
Topaz Labs DeNoise AI

That’s it. This post has ended . . . except for the stuff below.

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