SqBear Loc: Kansas, (South Central)

Members,

First question: in NEF file can one remove the "noise" from a photo?
If so, how?

2nd question: With the "noise" how do you darken the black tux's in the photo and still not have the noise?

I'm attaching just the photo that has been processed somewhat to my limitations so you can see the noise.
Yes, in the data it indicated that the ISO was set at 3200. I do not know how this happened, but it did.

Any help/thoughts would be appreciated please.

Thanks in advance.

Dave
PS: I do have the NEF (Raw) file as well

(Download)

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Tell us what processing tool(s) you have as you'll get better and specific suggestions to your toolset. To darken the suits, move the "black" slider to the left.

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

what post processing software do you have?
Darkening won't add noise, it will help hide it. If you have lightroom, or Photoshop CC where you can use Camera Raw, it will be easier to just slide the blacks or shadows slider to the left, (black will be more aggressive, shadows would be where I start) and you can get them as black as you want.( you already don't have a ton of detail in the blacks, so it won't make a huge difference.

Also in camera raw or LR, you can use the reduce noise feature a little, but I think you will always have noise because there's a lot there. You "could" remove it all, but it will look like you took a photo of mannikins. Since it isn't close up, you may be able to use more noise reduction than a closer photo. Again, you'll lose some detail, but depending on how large you plan to print/view it, it may not matter.

If you have some other software, let us know, and maybe some expert with one of those programs can help.

Lastly, you could always go to the PP section of UHH, and post it as a challenge to see who can do the best job of removing the noise. A bunch of good folks over there. I just wouldn't take advantage of them if you are making money from this photo or something.

Good luck

lsimpkins Loc: SE Pennsylvania

My EXIF reader in Firefox says that the photo used: "Software - Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Windows)".
That should give the OP plenty of options for noise reduction. Of course, it could be wrong and the OP could help by answering your question.

Frank T Loc: New York, NY

The problem in this photo appears to be the white balance, not the noise. Everything looks a bit blue. I'd adjust that first.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

Others can give you more detailed technical advise but my experience with denoise is that it's a balancing act. Adjust to reduce noise and other things like sharpness and black point have to be tweaked. I also find that I have to zoom to 200% or so to effectively see the noise and subsequent changes. As a side note, I have found noise in bright daylight shots with a lot of clear blue sky. The noise is in the sky for some reason. It's not really noticeable on my monitor without zooming up but it shows up when I look at the photos on my HD TV. And not all sky photos have this issue. Very perplexing.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

If you have the option of making your sharpening edge-based (Masking in the Details section in Ps and Lr), do that. I turned Masking up to 100 for my edit, which allowed me to turn Sharpening up quite high, and that in turn allows more denoise to be used before softness becomes a problem. I also kept Details quite low.

As Bkyser suggested, lowering Shadows helps with the noise on the suits. You can lower it quite a bit and compensate by lifting Blacks. Use just a touch of Clarity for better definition because a lot will aggravate the noise. You'll get away with a normal amount of Contrast.

The biggest issue that struck me was the colour cast, especially where the skin tones are concerned. It needed a huge shift to the left with the Tint slider and a moderate shift to the right with the WB slider to get things half-normal. Even at that, the HSL tool couldn't normalise the most errant of the skin tones. Perhaps I should have gone even further left with the Tint slider. You'll have to decide for yourself what the best compromise is. Perhaps the raw file will give you better results than what I got. And as for the noise, there's too much to expect good results. You'll have to choose the optimum balance between noise and softness. As gvarner suggested, zoom in to see the noise while you adjust - 100% is the usual recommended level of zoom.

(Download)

Basic adjustments to your jpg.


Detail settings.

Rongnongno Loc: FL

Post the NEF if less than 20MB. If not, post a link where it can be downloaded. You have more issues that noise.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

If he converts the nef from his D3200 to a DNG it will be small enough to upload (he should be able to go as high as 23MB or so).

Rongnongno Loc: FL

Ewwwwwwwww (DNG) but you might be correct!!!

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(Download)

R.G. Loc: Scotland

(Might be?!? )...

Which part of "Compact, lossless and (nearly) universal" don't you like?

Rongnongno Loc: FL

DNG. It is a format that is NOT universal and NOT a standard as it just a shell to enclose anything, including a dreaded JPG.

That said... 'it might work', is about the size, not the content.

bpulv Loc: Buena Park, CA

That won't do the job until he correctly corrects the color balance.

Rongnongno Loc: FL

You caught on onto that one!

There is another issue that I cannot correct w/o a raw file.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

First off, you do need to use the appropriate WB in your camera (black suits) and should use the lowest ISO possible to keep noise to a minimum, then its just a matter to use noise reduction in post!