Stacking to improve noise reduction with PSE: Does anyone know if it is possible to stack images to reduce noise when using PSE? I've seen it done in PS but I have been unable to find...

Silvermeteor Loc: South Carolina, USA

Does anyone know if it is possible to stack images to reduce noise when using PSE? I've seen it done in PS but I have been unable to find anything using the process for PSE.

All three of these images were taken at the same shutter speed, ISO and aperture. The camera was tripod mounted.

I use a Canon T3i with a EF-S 55-250mm f4-5.6 IS STM zoom.

The images seem very noisy to me but I do not know what else I can do the control the problem.

Image 1

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Image 2

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Image 3

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dragonswing Loc: Pa

It appears you have to purchase PSE+

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgoUF1DA_T4

fredpnm Loc: Corrales, NM

Noise? I don't think there is much. Low resolution? I think so. What format did you use - RAW or JPG and if JPG what quality did you set (page 76 in the manual)? What ISO was used?

LoneRangeFinder Loc: Left field

Richard: I don't see excessive noise & typically stacking is used to increase DOF

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

LoneRangeFinder wrote:

Richard: I don't see excessive noise & typically stacking is used to increase DOF

Stacking to reduce noise does indeed work, using averaging to merge the stack....

http://www.ezbackgrounds.com/blog/noise-reduction-averaging-photoshop.php

for the OP, not sure about PSE having that capability on the stack mode for averaging.

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

fredpnm wrote:

Noise? I don't think there is much. Low resolution? I think so. What format did you use - RAW or JPG and if JPG what quality did you set (page 76 in the manual)? What ISO was used?

I agree, unless the export of the images produced decreased resolution and they were uploaded instead of the original size/resolution.

The file sizes of the download image are tiny.

LoneRangeFinder Loc: Left field

Dngallagher wrote:

Stacking to reduce noise does indeed work, using averaging to merge the stack....

http://www.ezbackgrounds.com/blog/noise-reduction-averaging-photoshop.php

for the OP, not sure about PSE having that capability on the stack mode for averaging.

Why not just Denoise?

Silvermeteor Loc: South Carolina, USA

fredpnm wrote:

Noise? I don't think there is much. Low resolution? I think so. What format did you use - RAW or JPG and if JPG what quality did you set (page 76 in the manual)? What ISO was used?

The jpgs posted are low res so that they would upload in a reasonable amount of time. The originals are raw.

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

LoneRangeFinder wrote:

Why not just Denoise?

If Denoise is available then it can be used, but with any denoising you likely lose some detail - its a trade off.

Stacking can eliminate the noise without removing the detail....

It looks to me though that the OP's issue is too low a resolution, the noise detected looks more like lack of detail due to lost resolution, and no denoising will help that....

Silvermeteor Loc: South Carolina, USA

Dngallagher wrote:

I agree, unless the export of the images produced decreased resolution and they were uploaded instead of the original size/resolution.

The file sizes of the download image are tiny.

I tried to upload them at the original size but all my computer seemed to be doing was grinding away and I finally gave up and used much smaller images.

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

Silvermeteor wrote:

The jpgs posted are low res so that they would upload in a reasonable amount of time. The originals are raw.

Makes it hard to look at a low res shot and try to determine if it is noise or just poor resolution... you might want to upload exports at the original size so they are viewable in larger format and resolution.

At least use half the resolution on export... say 3000x2000 on a 6000x4000 image.

At 125 ISO you really should not see a lot of noise, and if you did it should be easily correctable with a noise filter, unless the issue is one of low quality due to reduced size.

LoneRangeFinder Loc: Left field

Dngallagher wrote:

If Denoise is available then it can be used, but with any denoising you likely lose some detail - its a trade off.

Stacking can eliminate the noise without removing the detail....

It looks to me though that the OP's issue is too low a resolution, the noise detected looks more like lack of detail due to lost resolution, and no denoising will help that....

OK. I'll have to intentionally create some noise and try this. I've done a fair amount of stacking-- but not with the intent to reduce noise.

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

LoneRangeFinder wrote:

OK. I'll have to intentionally create some noise and try this. I've done a fair amount of stacking-- but not with the intent to reduce noise.

It is an interesting process, with decent results...

Once you do that, try stacking and averaging to fake an ND filter ;)

Here is a video that gives you the idea....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=camWIvVZlbU

Silvermeteor Loc: South Carolina, USA

Here is the original and the one after applying the noise reduction process you posted. Thanks. It works in PSE just fine and I believe there is an noticeable improvement.

My next project is to see what I can do about the blue coloration in the face of the building.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Original image full size

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This is the image after stacking

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Silvermeteor Loc: South Carolina, USA

The stacked image is slightly lighter which makes sense when you consider the process. I'm betting you could probably limit that if you masked the gray fire house and only applied the process to that section.

I guess I just zoom in too far and I see what looks to be noise. I see the wildlife images some people post with razor sharp eyes and drool onto my keyboard.