When remove noise and sharpen for multiple output sizes ...

general questions about Neat Image
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Git
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun May 12, 2013 8:02 am

When remove noise and sharpen for multiple output sizes ...

Post by Git »

I have just updated to version 7 of the plugin. I have used the previous version but I am not very advanced in my editing.

Up till now I have:
1. Shot NEFs
2. Worked on a copy of the original file in Camera Raw.
3. Opened in PS CS6 as 16 bit Tiffs.
4. In PS I have used NI on the background layer (as I have the original intact elsewhere) and up till now also have sharpened in NI at this stage. Sometimes I have even used the localized sharpening Tool in PS to further enhance eyes at this stage. Then I have gone on to do tonal corrections etc in PS layers.

All modifications are done on Tiffs. A lot of the files are finally converted to JPEGs to be used in Family photobooks (Commercial) but I play with the best shots as to sizes and color (using various actions) - these I print out myself using the Tiffs.

Questions:

1. Should I wait to do the noise removal and sharpening in the JPEGs after final resizing?
2. Should I then go back to my Tiffs (that I keep intact with layers) and optimize their background layer as to noise and sharpening - and would that have to be done to each chosen size?
3. Should I avoid the sharpening part of NI only as I start up after the RAW conversion and then continue with what I have been doing?
4. Or could I go on as before and just do output sharpening as needed of the various file types?

Sorry for all those questions but I would so much like to chose the best way to get a good result!

Git
NITeam
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Joined: Sat Feb 01, 2003 4:43 pm
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Post by NITeam »

To your questions:

1. Probably not, because it is easier for the filter to work with original noise, not yet modified by other post-processing steps such as resizing and JPEG compression.

2. This depends on your needs of course, but I recommend to consider using the Smart Objects feature in Photoshop to make images and filters applied to them stored together so that you could simply adjust the settings of each filter instead of re-applying a whole new pass of each filter. That can save time.

3. Again, this mostly depends on your workflow and visual results you get from NI's sharpening and from other effects including shaprening that you may apply later. Some experimenting is necessary because it all depends on your specific workflow and those images as well.

4. That should be possible too. Please note that v7 of Neat Image follows the same workflow the previous version did, so if you followed certain steps using v6 then those steps should also work with v7.

I recommend to simply repeat the workflow you used before and then perhaps try to improve (optimize it in terms of time it takes) it by using Smart Objects in Photoshop. Neat Image supports Smart Objects (you can see notes about using NI in Smart Objects in NI user guide). That may simplify and speed up the workflow.

Hope this helps,
Vlad
Git
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun May 12, 2013 8:02 am

When remove noise and sharpen for multiple output sizes ...

Post by Git »

Thank you very much for your prompt and detailed reply! I will try out your suggestions.

I have noticed that in this forum most replies are given by experts or experienced photographers which is a relief to an amateur like me and most professional.

I also use NI on other files than my own - taken with less good cameras and containing a lot of noise - and get surprisingly good results. I can only recommend to others to choose this software.

Git
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