canonloader
5th of March 2008 (Wed), 11:20
Well, more or less a little tutorial. I found this tool quite awhile ago and just figured everyone but me already knew about it. Apparently not, so I thought I'd tell you about it and show you an example of what it can do.
First, in CS2, it is found in the top menu under Edit>Fade and it works only "immediately after" using another tool or setting, to reduce the effects of that tool or setting. We've all done some USM and got results that were just a little too much and didn't look right, then tried to figure out some way to smooth it out. Edit>Fade is perfect for this, but you have to remember to use it.
Here is an extreme example. Anyone who has Neat Image has had this happen. Some images will just smear out, and look like some kind of Japanese rice paper watercolor. Nice in a way, but not what you want. This Cardinal has some feather problems from stress, he's OK, but when I ran Neat Image with the Default settings, and letting it find it's own section to use for noise reduction, this is what I got;
http://www.picturelacrosse.com/test/cardinalneatimage1.jpg
Now unless your a real Neat Image Junkie and understand all the settings, [who does], then this image is useless. You will have to undo and find another way to reduce noise. But if you just go to Edit>Fade>Reduce NR, and in this case, I adjusted the slider down to 12%, you can save the image and still get the benefits of noise reduction with none of the smear, as I did here. :)
http://www.picturelacrosse.com/test/cardinalneatimage2.jpg
This image still needs some USM to sharpen it, and you can even use Fade on USM, but you see the advantages of Edit>Fade now. :)
First, in CS2, it is found in the top menu under Edit>Fade and it works only "immediately after" using another tool or setting, to reduce the effects of that tool or setting. We've all done some USM and got results that were just a little too much and didn't look right, then tried to figure out some way to smooth it out. Edit>Fade is perfect for this, but you have to remember to use it.
Here is an extreme example. Anyone who has Neat Image has had this happen. Some images will just smear out, and look like some kind of Japanese rice paper watercolor. Nice in a way, but not what you want. This Cardinal has some feather problems from stress, he's OK, but when I ran Neat Image with the Default settings, and letting it find it's own section to use for noise reduction, this is what I got;
http://www.picturelacrosse.com/test/cardinalneatimage1.jpg
Now unless your a real Neat Image Junkie and understand all the settings, [who does], then this image is useless. You will have to undo and find another way to reduce noise. But if you just go to Edit>Fade>Reduce NR, and in this case, I adjusted the slider down to 12%, you can save the image and still get the benefits of noise reduction with none of the smear, as I did here. :)
http://www.picturelacrosse.com/test/cardinalneatimage2.jpg
This image still needs some USM to sharpen it, and you can even use Fade on USM, but you see the advantages of Edit>Fade now. :)