dealing with grainy images

SH
Posted By
Shawn Hirn
Jul 16, 2005
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478
Replies
8
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Closed
Last weekend, I shot a few photos with my Canon Digital Rebel at a friend’s wedding. The photos were shot in camera raw format. After adjusting the images in Photoshop CS to improve contrast and brighten them up a bit, I am very happy with the composition and clarity of my photos, but a few of them are very grainy. Does anyone know how I can reduce the grain in my images, either in Photoshop or with a plug-in? I want to print some of these images and have them framed in order to give them to the married couple as a gift.
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BV
Bart van der Wolf
Jul 16, 2005
"Shawn Hirn" wrote in message
SNIP
Does anyone know how I can reduce the grain in my images, either in Photoshop or with a plug-in? I want to print some of these images and have them framed in order to give them to the married couple as a gift.

In print the grain may be less visible than on screen, else use a noise/grain reduction program like "Neat Image" (also available as a plug-in):
<http://www.neatimage.com/>

Bart
J
johnboy
Jul 16, 2005
"Shawn Hirn" wrote in message
[…] but a few of them are very grainy.
Please. 🙂 It’s not grain. It is noise. Only film has grain.
BH
Bill Hilton
Jul 16, 2005
Does anyone know how I can
reduce the grain in my images, either in Photoshop or with a plug-in?

Another vote for "Neat Image" ….
JE
jim evans
Jul 16, 2005
Some people swear by Noise Ninja http://www.picturecode.com/

Does the group have any comments on this software?

jim
BH
Bill Hilton
Jul 17, 2005
Jim Evans writes …

Some people swear by Noise Ninja http://www.picturecode.com/
Does the group have any comments on this software?

There are at least 3 or 4 programs like this that supposedly do a nice job. I think most of them have free download trial versions so probably the best option is to download several and wring them out, then pick the one that seems most intuitive and cost effective to you. I have Neat Image and rarely need to use it since I shoot fine-grained slide film (iso 50-100) for scans and my digital cameras have very low noise below ISO 400, but when I’ve pushed the film or when I had to shoot ISO 800 or higher with the digital bodies then I call up NI and go to work. So for my extremely modest needs Neat Image, which is pretty cheap, fit perfectly. You might easily prefer a different program for any number of reasons … I’ve heard good things about Noise Ninja and Grain Surgery, for example.

Bill
C
Clyde
Jul 17, 2005
Shawn Hirn wrote:
Last weekend, I shot a few photos with my Canon Digital Rebel at a friend’s wedding. The photos were shot in camera raw format. After adjusting the images in Photoshop CS to improve contrast and brighten them up a bit, I am very happy with the composition and clarity of my photos, but a few of them are very grainy. Does anyone know how I can reduce the grain in my images, either in Photoshop or with a plug-in? I want to print some of these images and have them framed in order to give them to the married couple as a gift.

I use Noise Ninja and am very happy with it. Reviews that I’ve read rate it very close to Neat Image. It’s probably 6 one way and half a dozen the other. Choose by user interface that you like rather than results.

Clyde
S
Sean
Jul 18, 2005
On Sat, 16 Jul 2005 16:45:17 -0400, Shawn Hirn
reverently intoned upon the aether:

Last weekend, I shot a few photos with my Canon Digital Rebel at a friend’s wedding. The photos were shot in camera raw format. After adjusting the images in Photoshop CS to improve contrast and brighten them up a bit, I am very happy with the composition and clarity of my photos, but a few of them are very grainy. Does anyone know how I can reduce the grain in my images, either in Photoshop or with a plug-in? I want to print some of these images and have them framed in order to give them to the married couple as a gift.

Another trick for reducing grain/noise is to simply print on matte rather than glossy paper.

Otherwise, there are the usual suspects already noted. A centralized review can be found at:

http://www.michaelalmond.com/Articles/noise_print.html

And you already have had the best advice, download the demos and see what works best for you.

enjoy,

Sean

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noone
Jul 18, 2005
In article , bhilton665
@aol.com says…
Jim Evans writes …

Some people swear by Noise Ninja http://www.picturecode.com/
Does the group have any comments on this software?

There are at least 3 or 4 programs like this that supposedly do a nice job. I think most of them have free download trial versions so probably the best option is to download several and wring them out, then pick the one that seems most intuitive and cost effective to you. I have Neat Image and rarely need to use it since I shoot fine-grained slide film (iso 50-100) for scans and my digital cameras have very low noise below ISO 400, but when I’ve pushed the film or when I had to shoot ISO 800 or higher with the digital bodies then I call up NI and go to work. So for my extremely modest needs Neat Image, which is pretty cheap, fit perfectly. You might easily prefer a different program for any number of reasons … I’ve heard good things about Noise Ninja and Grain Surgery, for example.

Bill

I too vote for NI. Even from a p&s CP5700 at ISO 800, it does an acceptable job. I’ve also used it for scanned 4×5 T-64 (6118, pushed +1/2 f) that went to a 9′ poster. NI made it look like Kodachrome 25.

While I’ve not tried Noise Ninja, or any other noise programs, all seem to work well, based on the responses on the Usenet. As others have said, grab a few, play with them, and see which one suits you best. I think you will like the results of each.

Hunt

How to Master Sharpening in Photoshop

Give your photos a professional finish with sharpening in Photoshop. Learn to enhance details, create contrast, and prepare your images for print, web, and social media.

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