Noise Reducer- What took me so long?

I like shooting a lot of sports...which often times is in poor or limited lighting conditions.

So like everyone else, I crank up the ISO and trade off noise for capturing the action shots at a shutter speed as fast as possible.

I've read on here about the various noise reducer programs and finally decided to investigate them. (After all, high school football is just around the corner and 'Friday Night Lights' can only do so much)

The other day, I downloaded a free trial version of Noiseware to educate myself with it...and was pleased to know you could also acquiare a plug in version to use with photoshop.

I purchased it and am MORE than pleased with the results.

I'm posting a before and after sample...not sure how clear it will be on here, but as I stated, I'm more than pleased with the results.

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I can definitely see the reduction in noise, but....
There also appears to be a drop in saturation, contrast and detail. The detail I am not surprised about, but the contrast and saturation loss surprise me. Although, I'll bet a bit more tweaking can get both back.
Thanks for posting.

Noise Ninja from Picture Code works great also. Even gives you a little sharpening too!

KySportsPix wrote in post #6059286
Noise Ninja from Picture Code works great also. Even gives you a little sharpening too!

I use Noise Ninja but never sharpen in it since I have my own little routine I follow in PS. If you shoot lots of jpgs and need to post em quickly, then the sharpening is great since its essentially an unsharp mask (you jus have no selective control).

The only thing to watch with the Ninja (or any of the reduction software) is to not overdo it. Skin will look very plastic and the loss of detail can ruin images.