Why this workflow?

lllusion · Post by **lllusion** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 9:43 am

Mitch Weintraub in http://www.outbackphoto.com/contest/con ... essay.html (entry #4)
lightened the image using levels, ran NI, and then darkened the image with 0.8.

What benefit is there in lightening the image before running NI?

Post by **NITeam** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 10:10 am

I think this is a question for Mitch Weintraub because any post-processing before NI is not something we generally recommend. It doesn't hurt when you process a single image, but in general it is better to not apply any postprocessing before NI to make re-usable profiles properly match your workflow (they should be built and used using the same workflow and in the same part of the workflow).

Vlad

lllusion · Post by **lllusion** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 10:13 am

Wish I could find him. Searches don't pull up any information about him.

However, haven't I read a recommendation here to use s/h tool and then NI? If so, why? If not, understandable.

Post by **NITeam** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 10:23 am

I do not recommend sharpening before noise reduction. We discuss this in the Q&A section.

Vlad

lllusion · Post by **lllusion** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 10:41 am

s/h = shadow/highlight not sharpening

Post by **NITeam** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 11:32 am

Thanks for the clarification. The same workflow-related comments apply to s/h. If you want to simplify re-use of pre-built profiles, do not apply any post-processing before NI. If you don't use pre-built profiles (if you build a new one for each input image) then it doesn't matter whether you apply some postprocessing before NI or not (well, sharpening is anyway not recommended before NI).

Vlad

lllusion · Post by **lllusion** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 3:58 pm

Ok, thanks for the confirmation.