good noise reduction software

I'm getting comfortable with CS3, but I've heard good things about programs like 'Noise Ninja' and the like for reducing noise from high-ISO shots. Does anyone have some recommendations for these kinds of programs? Are there any good freeware based programs out there? Sorry for the broad question, but I'm still pretty new to PP work.

Programs like Noise Ninja have a good reputation for being more effective than Photoshop's built in noise removal, but they are more complex and, if you're not careful, can wipe out detail along with noise.

You can get a free trial and try it out. I personally find the ACR noise removal very effective for my normal photography (not a lot of low light/high ISO shooting) but I do have Noise Ninja plugged into Photoshop so it's there if I need it!

I hope I don't sound too much like a newbie for asking, but what is 'ACR' ?

Adobe Camera Raw which comes with the various photoshop products.

Try Neat Image too - it has a free demo version that's very simple to use to see if it does what you need.

Try Noiseware (the free community version) has got me out of trouble a few times. See link below

http://www.imagenomic.​com/download.aspx

Cheers

damian

To my best knowledge, the noise reduction tools included in Photoshop apply the same filter (kind of low pass filter) in the entire image, regardless the local contrast. As a consequence, you cannot expect to go very high in the ratio noise reduced/details lost.

The dedicated noise-reduction software have totally different math inside. The key word is "anisotropic diffusion PDE" (PDE stands for Partial Differential Equation). In a word, it acts like a blur brush with the size and, moreover, the shape of the brush continuously adapted to the local gradients of the image.

PDE-based image processing is a very active field in Applied Math Research.

But dont expect too much from these magic (and comutationally intensive) math unless you end up with uggly plastic skins beyond salvation.

I dont use it any longer. Some grain in the image is very well accepted by most people when they know the lighting conditions are bad (in my case indoor sports at any event my children attend to). If the grain is so bad that people will not accept it, Its beyond salvation and Noise Ninja just get thing worst.

i've been using neat image for quite some time.. But just wondering for those who use it.. Is there a function where you can select multiple images to filter? instead of one by one?

highway0691 wrote in post #4276753
Try Noiseware (the free community version) has got me out of trouble a few times. See link below

http://www.imagenomic.​com/download.aspx

Cheers

damian

+1 -- It works, I have it........ but then they all do.

I think I saw a post advocating something I know doesn't work, and that's Adobe Camera Raw.

BTW, you'll learn to be careful with it, and when/how to use it. Compared to CS3, it is not hard to use at all.

I use Noise Ninja when I need to clean up some of my high ISO shots. It is a great product. There's a free trial if you want to take it around the block. If you do, remember to download the profiles for your camera.

highway0691 wrote in post #4276753
Try Noiseware (the free community version) has got me out of trouble a few times. See link below

http://www.imagenomic.​com/download.aspx

Cheers

damian

+2, Very impressed with this program. Works great for me, I am in the early stages of PP learning and this has really cleaned up some shots for me. Of course you will lose detail, but its probably worth it in most cases. Great before and after feature too, you can really tell the difference.

highway0691 wrote in post #4276753
Try Noiseware (the free community version) has got me out of trouble a few times. See link below

http://www.imagenomic.​com/download.aspx

Cheers

damian

+3, and you cant beat the price.

J.

anyone know a program that can select multiple photos to filter instead of each one?

fiveFPS wrote in post #4357177
anyone know a program that can select multiple photos to filter instead of each one?

Lightroom can

fiveFPS wrote in post #4357177
anyone know a program that can select multiple photos to filter instead of each one?

I use Lightroom for that -- but I also have Noise Ninja as a PS3 plug-in. I just don't resort to it often enough to say what you can do with it. Of course, you can do a Photoshop action to do batch processing.

I also have Noise Ninja as a stand-alone program. I imagine it has a batch mode, but I haven't spent any time with it. Try downloading a tial version and seeing if it does.