ZERO NOISE photography using Photoshop

Some time ago I tried a technique to eliminate (severely reduce actually) noise in digital images through multiexposure: http://www.guillermolu​ijk.com/article/nonois​e/index_en.htm.
I am going to write a program to do it automatically from the RAW files with expanded features, but another forum member (Joan Trujillo) has posted recently his method to perform the same operation in Photoshop. The application of his method is incredibly simple, conceptually robust and of course effective.

This is the link to his PS method: http://jtrujillo.net/q​pix/

I recommend you give it a try, it's a really good system to blend 2 images achieving noise reduction and dynamic range expansion. It would be a good idea if you post your experiences here.

This is a test I did with two pictures +4EV apart:

Adjust layers and original less exposed image saving highlights without any adjustment.

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Final image if 1 shot is used (left) vs Blending of the 2 shots (right):

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I will have to give this a try it really looks like it worked great! Thanks!

These look like amazing results here in the small images!

IS this PSCS3? I don;t think I have "tone mapping" options in PSCS v1
Or is "Tone mapping" just a name for the layer?

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #4541287
IS this PSCS3? I don;t think I have "tone mapping" options in PSCS v1
Or is "Tone mapping" just a name for the layer?

Tone Mapping is a concept, not only a particular option in a software GUI. It's about adjusting local and overall contrast to your image so that you imitate human vision behaviour and the image gets more realistic (if properly done).

You can do it (most times horribly) with a dedicated piece of software like Photomatix, and you can do it by hand, obtaining much more natural and credible results just by applying common sense to the scene.

Yes, I gave that name to curve the mask layer I used to apply my hand-made tone mapping.

I only have CS2.

Regards.

wow.. I have to give this a try

Ahh thanks for that added info GUI,. I have used layers of multiple exposures to gain "Higher Dynamic Range" with prodigious use of layers and masks.

I'm too tired to comprehend this right now, but thanks for the thread/samples/links/i​nfo.

So....can someone clear this up for me...is this HDR or what?

Trainboy wrote in post #4575163
So....can someone clear this up for me...is this HDR or what?

That's certainly what it sounds like to me.
Though I will admit I like the isolation technique of the 3rd converted image.

Trainboy wrote in post #4575163
So....can someone clear this up for me...is this HDR or what?

Hi, I am the guy who wrote the article (photoshop handling).

I wouldn't call it strictly HDR but it has a dynamic range increase indeed. Since I post the article from other forums and digging deeper in HDR technology I think it's too much to call it HDR although it shares many points with it, especially the tone mapping that these images require later.

Notice though that this technique does not produce by itself the typical HDR looking images, it simple provides noise clean shadows. But by the nature of the images (a high contrast scene) you have then to boost the shadows, here you can go and achieve many different interpretations, from very sober to the exaggerated HDR popping colors. In any case The advantage is that being so clean in the dark areas the images allow major tweaks without showing artifacts or noise.

can u do this to a single image? or do they need more than 1 exposure?

e r y k wrote in post #4575653
can u do this to a single image? or do they need more than 1 exposure?

The essence of this technique is shooting twice (notice that the second shot is overexposed). In order to achieve less noise what we do here is a second exposure with the shadows moved to the midtones where is less noise. Then pulling it down in the RAW program to the correct exposure gives an image with very clean dark zones.

Regards,
Juan http://TheCharmOfLight​.com/favs