How Can I Reduce Noise In Photoshop?

[mrhines1]

I would like to be able to reduce the noise in this photo:

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s307/mrhines1/Epi11BWFull.jpg

How would I do this in Photoshop v.8? Actually I like the way it turned out, but I also want to upload it to a stock photo site and they want the noise reduced.

Thank you!

[hybrid101]

gaussian blur?;)

[McGuffin]

Well the obvious answer would be Filter>Noise>Reduce Noise... but this garnered less than perfect results with my goes at the image.

[REEF·]

gaussian blur?;)no, thats a terrible method when you have noise over it, it'll spread spots all over the image and cause edges to lose sharpness and contrast.

you're going to have to sacrifice something in order to remove noise, here's my quick try at it. if I go for 30 minutes or so I can remove everything clearly and get it looking like it was a photo taken with low ISO (low grain).

http://img250.imageshack.us/img250/7439/untitled1av8.jpg

http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/8988/untitled1fy2.jpg

[.michael]

nice1 REEF

1. Path out the guitar.
2. Make a feathered selection of 1.0 - 1.5 of the guitar, and copy paste the guitar into a new layer
Apply a smart/surface blur or MEDIAN filter to the background. Just enough as REEF did to blend the grain, but not to loose precious detail. It gives the pixels a vector like quality, smoothing out bumps but without degrading detail.
3. Make a copy of the "guitar" layer.
4. Apply the same blur as the background to the copy.
5. Now there are two ways to do the next step.

a. put the copied guitar layer on top of the original guitar layer, so that the filtered blur is seen. Apply a layer mask to the "blurred guitar layer". With your brush set to 25-50% opacity brush out the center and neck of the guitar.

b. put the copied guitar layer on top of the original guitar layer etc .... use the eraser tool set to 25-50% and erase the middle portion and neck of the guitar.

You see the middle section and neck don't look as grained out as the rest of the guitar, picture etc ..

So by feathering the two layers together, you will flush out the grainy parts, but keep the crisp parts of the original.

[Pasquale]

I'd cheat and just duplicate the layer, add a smart blur, and then mask the guitar out.

[.michael]

I'd cheat and just duplicate the layer, add a smart blur, and then mask the guitar out.

yea that would work, but there's still a little bit of grain on the guitar itself.

[Pasquale]

Yah, well you can remask again and just go over the detail :)

[Tempest811]

...or you can use software. this program I used retains a tiny bit of grain as well as detail and smooth edges so it doesn't look unrealistic.


http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/9659/epi11bwfullfilteredjt6.jpg

[Pasquale]

Photoshop is software..

[hybrid101]

all programs are software:P
haha, meant to say smart blur, not gaussian blur earlier:(

[Tempest811]

I meant noise removing software with its purpose being specifically to remove color and luma noise...some of which are free and take about 5 seconds to use.

[Pasquale]

I meant noise removing software with its purpose being specifically to remove color and luma noise...some of which are free and take about 5 seconds to use.
Why install another app, when photoshop already has good automated tools to do it just as quick?

[Tempest811]

Why install another app, when photoshop already has good automated tools to do it just as quick?

please point me to where these wonderful tools (I have obviously never heard of after having used photoshop for about 5 years) can be found, o all-knowing one.
an please don't tell me you're referring to the noise>reduce noise filter because that would be laughable

[Pasquale]

^^ oooh watch out- second comers attitude ;) - now that IS laughable :)

[jimhere]

please point me to where these wonderful tools (I have obviously never heard of after having used photoshop for about 5 years) can be found, o all-knowing one.
an please don't tell me you're referring to the noise>reduce noise filter because that would be laughable

This is a help forum. If you're too smart for us, go to the Smart Guy forum. Unless you're a girl, then go to the Smart Girl forum (I can't tell gender from "Tempest811")

By the way, your guitar work does look good. Maybe you could say which software you used?

[cubed]

Darkmotion is the one who attacked tempest with his remark on why someone would install another program... all tempest was doing was giving you guys another option and telling you how easy it was. Geeeezzee it must be that time of month :kir:

[jimhere]

Darkmotion is the one who attacked tempest with his remark on why someone would install another program... all tempest was doing was giving you guys another option and telling you how easy it was.

Correct.
His guitar work still looks good. Maybe he could say which software he used?

[REEF·]

If you guys really think you should use 3rd party software, try Denoise, but I never find myself using it. PS has built in noise removal methods that work better for me, well I know how to tune it correctly and apply post work cause one tool cant do it all by itself.

[Tempest811]

I would be glad to tell you what software I used - I'm just not a fan of being put under the microscope for offering an idea outside of "photoshop it" since that seems to be the general consensus of users here. Photoshop is a jack of all trades but it is not particularly the master of them all.
You can go here: http://imagenomic.com/download.aspx
(at the bottom)
and download their standalone software which does not have any usage restrictions (watermarks, etc.) but their photoshop plugin you must buy to remove watermarks.
once you use it you will see what I meant about it taking literally 5 seconds

Sorry if I seemed hostile/sarcastic...I just get that way when I feel like my knowledge of what a program does is being scrutinized. I'm like an elephant or something lol

edit: and thanks, cubed, for seeing my side of it

[Seb Hughes]

^Photoshop is like the one. It gives you control of what you want. Most photo programs are crap and dont give the results you want, where as photoshop gives you all that power.

[Pasquale]

^ :)

[Tempest811]

photoshop is 'the one' for photo editing - i agree. but my point is that it is not the best at everything...which is why some 3rd party software still gives better results. some examples are noise reduction, HRDI creation, vectors, and RAW editing (although they have improved a lot in this arena).

[Pasquale]

^ Yeah I never said Photoshop was the best :)
I just said why would you change, when you already have it. I like many others are too lazy to play around with new software hehe :D

[CanisMajor]

Hmm, why would you change? Maybe quality is important for one. So like Tempest said, PS is not the software to end all software.

I use Vertus Fluid Mask in conjunction with Photoshop to help me extract. Sure PS has extract tools, but they don't compare to what this 3rd party software can do.

So quality would be the number one and ease of operation would be second reason I use other products besides PS.


It is kind of like saying "I own a trowel so why would I buy a shovel to dig a hole?"

[Pasquale]

Because shovels cost more.

[mlk]

there's a plug-in/standalone app (not free) called Neat Image Pro which I used at school last year and does a pretty good job.

When you have color photos remember to switch to Lab mode and only sharpen/reduce noise on the Lightness channel, then come back to rgb (photoshop only).

[CanisMajor]

Because shovels cost more.


lol, reminds me of my neighbor who uses his pliers to drive a nail because he is too cheap to buy a good hammer, and too lazy to ask to borrow mine.

[mrhines1]

I didn't expect this thread to become such a debate.

Anyway, I downloaded that free software Tempest recommended and it worked well and only took about 4.34 seconds to clean up the picture. Then I just did a couple of small touchups in PS and all is well!

Thanks! :cap:

[Tempest811]

I didn't expect this thread to become such a debate.

Anyway, I downloaded that free software Tempest recommended and it worked well and only took about 4.34 seconds to clean up the picture. Then I just did a couple of small touchups in PS and all is well!

Thanks! :cap:

lol sorry...it's hard fitting into a new crowd. ;)
glad you liked the software!

[Pasquale]

lol, reminds me of my neighbor who uses his pliers to drive a nail because he is too cheap to buy a good hammer, and too lazy to ask to borrow mine.
:D rofl.

If the noise is too extreme, I guess earmuffs will do.

[hybrid101]

lol, you could take the time though and manually blur it:P

[Pasquale]

blurring is the bad way to do it, because you still retain noise, which then just becomes averaged.