Lightroom 3 noise reduction & sharpening

I'm used LR since it came out, but never used the noise reduction and sharpening tools in the develop module. I've heard that they are much improved on LR3 and wanted to get some insight into using them. I'm not sure what all the settings do. Do you have any presets you can share?

I don't have any presets, but I can say that the Detail sharpening slider has been made into a pretty dramatic adjustment. Good for some things but you can go way overboard for others. I'm not a preset user -- I typically just go by what I know for experience works for a type of scene and the light/ISO conditions I'm working with -- process an image from a set then do a batch Synch.

So you only use the detail slider? What about "amount, radius, & masking"?

I shoot alot at ISO 1600, so I'm wanting to get more sharping without more noise? It seems when I do one, the other cancels out. Main problem is I really don't know what the sliders do.

There's 2 default sharpening presets that come with it. Under "presets", "lightroom presets", called "sharpening - narrow edges (scenic)" and "sharpening - wide edges (faces)".

The first, I understand, is intended for landscapes etc. The second is intended for portraits, faces.

Sure, I use Amount all the time, how much depends on the subject and the noise/ISO. What I said about Detail is just a very noticeable change in LR3 from earlier versions.

Try out the presets that Troy mentions. Also, the local adjustment brushes can be very effective for selective sharpening. Someone posted a link a while back to techniques for using the local adjustment brush for selective sharpening, but I can't find a reference to it. Maybe who has that link can post it -- it had some great stuff.

The Amount slider is, I think, self explanatory.
Detail attempts to differentiate between noise and image detail. 50 is default; less than 50 and you are blurring more noise and taking more detail with it. Above 50 you retain more detail and increasingly more noise, It's a balancing game to find the right compromise and there is no magic number.
Contrast: NR is essentially bluring and blurring reduces contrat, just as the opposite of NR, sharpening, is essentially increased contrast across edges. With the Contrast slider you can attempt to return contrast lessened by the NR. It's presence there is basically a convenience - you don't need to keep returning to the Basic panel to find the right balance. Of course, too much Contrast (like too much Detail) can counteract the NR.

Wanted to share a tip i just found that really helped me. Holding down the alt/option key gives you a grey scale preview.

This is about LR2, but LR3 works similar (but has a few more sliders for NR and a different engine, so you'll want to use very different settings)

http://www.getcolorman​aged.com/general/lrsha​rpening/

Thanks for the link Rene

Apollo.11 wrote in post #11020199
Thanks for the link Rene

There's a great video on how the noise reduction works in Lightroom 3 (which is much better than it was in LR2) on Adobe TV.

See here:
http://tv.adobe.com …remove-noise-from-photos/

avdlaan wrote in post #11023343
There's a great video on how the noise reduction works in Lightroom 3 (which is much better than it was in LR2) on Adobe TV.

See here:
http://tv.adobe.com …remove-noise-from-photos/

Thanks for the link. Some of my sliders didn't work and I didn't know about process 2010. Now I got the detail sliders working.

Is there a mask slider in LR3 like there is in Camera Raw? I use masking heavily to avoid generating noise as much as possible.

Mike

mikeporterinmd wrote in post #11026017
Is there a mask slider in LR3 like there is in Camera Raw? I use masking heavily to avoid generating noise as much as possible.

Mike

Yes, I think they are the same. LR3 sharpening has 4 sliders (Amount, Radius, Detail, & Masking).

mikeporterinmd wrote in post #11026017
Is there a mask slider in LR3 like there is in Camera Raw? I use masking heavily to avoid generating noise as much as possible.

Mike

Apollo.11 wrote in post #11026094
Yes, I think they are the same. LR3 sharpening has 4 sliders (Amount, Radius, Detail, & Masking).

Yep, I find the Masking slider to be very valuable at times!