NeatImage before or after editing?

[Rotor]

Hello everyone,

I've been using the miracle known as Neatimage for a few weeks now, but I've come to a fundimental question that I've never really been able to figure out -- should one use NeatImage before processing in such programs as Photoshop or Paintshop, IE create a NeatImage processed raw image, or should it be done after? I do a lot in Photoshop to my pictures, but I don't know if better results can be had by taking the noise out first then going at it, or doing all I need to do followed by a run through Neatimage.

Anyone have any opinions?

Thanks,
Mike

[NITeam]

Take a look: http://www.neatimage.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27

[BickfordNYC]

Not a scientific response, but, I always use NI on the image right from the camera, (okay maybe I hit sharpen once, sometimes) and then do levels, saturation, etc. I have done extensive trial and error studies on my own and have found this to be the best.
I am referring to artistic photography here, perhaps editorial, reportage, scientific, etc, has different needs.
_BickfordNYC

[ablankertz]

Where should noise reduction take place in relation to correcting for chromatic abberation? I've been using Neatimage after doing so, mainlybecause of sharpening. However, I wonder if I should be using NI (without sharpening) before correcting for CA- this way the film grain and scanner noise would be in a "pure" state. Come to think of it, I suppose that correcting for perspective and for lens distortion would also fall into the same category as CA correction, since they also change the "noise structure" of an image.

[NITeam]

Applying noise reduction before CA correction or after doesn't make much difference. With respect to perspective and lens correction, yes, this may change the noise structure. Just use the profiles built at the same stage of image processing ( http://www.neatimage.com/qna.html#FQ8 ).