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| With digital cameras noise is a fact of life. This becomes more evident in low light and at higher ISO’s. While digital camera technology continues to improve in this area there are still situations where the photo captured was great – but noisy. In these cases, you may have to remove the noise after the shot. That’s where Noise Ninja comes in. Noise Ninja makes fixing digital picture “noise” very easy for amateurs, but it's also ready to take on the tasks of the pros. After you download the program, double click the installer, and within a few minutes you’ll be up and running. Open the program, and then bring in a picture that needs some noise removed.
The Noise Ninja interface. Since noise varies significantly from image to image, Noise Ninja needs to know what is noise and what is not in your picture. You have to let the software “analyze” the picture for noise. Here you can click the profile image button, or you can download “noise profiles” for your specific camera and ISO’s at http://www.picturecode.com/profiles.htm. I was able to find a profile for my exact camera and ISO and load it within seconds. The value of downloading profiles is that they are pre built to your specific camera’s imaging chip, algorithm, ISO and in some cases, your particular lens. If you don’t like the results from a particular profile, you can always create your own and save it. Before removing the noise, I zoomed in with my scroll mouse to an area where the noise was very visible.
Zoomed in for a better view
of the noise. I already had a profile for my camera and ISO loaded and with just a few clicks Noise Ninja went to work.
I clicked on the “remove
noise” button and watched as Noise Ninja did its thing. I was expecting the noise to be removed, but was afraid much of the wanted detail (sharpness) would be too. I was wrong - as you can see noise was removed, but the detail remained. The power of Noise Ninja is based on what the people at Picture Code call “Wavelet Theory”
After basic noise removal. I did not adjust any settings to fine tune noise removal and even at this high level of magnification you can see most of the noise is gone! This tool can be used for quick “down and dirty” fixes as shown above or you can take more control over the process, including manual noise reduction by color or luminance channel. You can also use the Noise Brush to paint in or out the noise reduction. Noise Ninja is a very impressive tool for amateurs and professional users alike, and works with any digital camera or scanner. Noise Ninja is a great addition to your digital workflow and I highly recommend it as part of your digital toolbox. Noise Ninja, is currently available as a standalone application (version 2.1), and as a Photoshop compatible plug-in (version 2.1.2). You can find Noise Ninja and a free trial download at www.picturecode.com . |
