TOPAZ AI DENOISE MANUAL
TOPAZ AI DENOISE SOFTWARE
TOPAZ AI DENOISE ISO

It’s the addition of contrast at a pixel level that gives the illusion of a higher level of detail, when it’s actually destructive. The claim that the software, according to Topaz Labs, “recovers crisp detail” may sound true on paper, but sharpening is NOT detail recovery. While this may seem appealing in promotions and even in real-life use, it’s actually misleading and, ultimately, reducing the quality of your files. Understanding the Algorithmsįrom my experience, what DeNoise AI does is that it suppresses noise, but it also adds sharpening and contrast (even when the Sharpening and Preserve Details sliders are set to the lowest setting of 0). The bird’s head seems a hair (hehehe…) sharper in the DeNoise AI image, but there’s a reason for the difference. This is because the latter has attempted to preserve detail in the out-of-focus areas, but it has caused parts of the background to turn blotchy and ‘nervous’. Looking at the results critically, Neat Image has rendered the background way smoother than DeNoise AI. Neat Image Topaz DeNoise AIĬompared to the original capture, both Neat Image and Topaz DeNoise AI have performed very well.

TOPAZ AI DENOISE SOFTWARE

Anyways, let’s see how the software fared. NR on this area will require a compromise between noise suppression and detail retention. The bad news? There’s a lot of noise on the out-of-focus area on the bird’s body. The good thing, though, is that the noise is grainy and NR should be an easy task. As you can (probably) see, the background’s quite rough.

TOPAZ AI DENOISE ISO

This is a very noisy image shot at ISO 4000 on my Nikon D850. Purple Sandpiper – ISO 4000 No NR, No Sharpening This ensures that there is minimal loss of detail on the subject while rendering the background smooth and pleasing. I apply a pass of very strong NR on the background, and a lighter pass on the subject.

I always apply NR selectively using layer masks. My NR Processīefore I show you the samples, I’ll briefly explain my NR workflow. For the purposes of this post, I’m only going to talk about High-ISO results Low-ISO results are more or less the same with any generic NR software. It does work and it performs better than I expected, but I have a few reservations. Well I’m glad you asked! The short answer is….it’s complicated. Sounds neat (pun totally intended), but does it work? What’s DeNoise AI?īasically, Topaz DeNoise applies NR using algorithms developed by “feeding it millions of noisy/clear images until it actually learned what noise is and how best to remove it.” (from Topaz Labs’ website). Over the past few months, though, I’ve seen and received a ton of ads about a new, shiny, AI-based, Rolls-Royce-esque software on the market – Topaz Labs’ DeNoise AI.

TOPAZ AI DENOISE MANUAL

At the moment, the only software that allows precise manual control over the selection of the sample, calibration, and level of noise reduction is Neat Image. This allows the software to distinguish between the pattern of noise and areas of detail. NR seeks to minimize the level of noise by analyzing a detail-less sample area within an image. Why is this important? Because that’s the basic premise of NR. As the ISO is increased, the SNR falls and the level of noise catches up with the level of detail. For example, at a camera’s native ISO (say ISO 100), the SNR is very high because the level of detail captured is significantly higher than the level of noise present. The ‘Signal-to-Noise ratio’ (SNR) is a good indicator of how much detail (Signal) is captured relative to the amount of noise in an image. Noise is an artifact caused by digital sensors and is present in all digital images, no matter how low an ISO is used. What is Noise?īefore we get to the meat of this post, it’s important to understand what noise is and how NR works. It’s not as easy as it sounds since proper NR involves careful manual adjustments based on the level of noise present in the image, not just dragging a slider all the way to the right (and no, that does not constitute manual labor lol). Noise Reduction (NR, for short, since that term’s gonna come up a lot in this post) is an oft-misunderstood topic.

Topaz ai denoise