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David Sanders - Tips on using Nik Software to reduce noise in your digital images Article rating: 8.70

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As a photojournalist, I am often pushing the extremes of the capabilities of digital photography and have found the NIK Dfine 2.0 software greatly improves my images from a technical standpoint without manipulating or altering the image’s content. My job is to capture a scene as it happens, and this can often lead to photographing subjects in low light situations with high ISO settings at fast shutter speeds. Many of the sports I cover like hockey, basketball, and football, take place in low light arenas, yet to stop the action, a high shutter speed is need.  The result is a visually compelling image, yet technically, a build up of “noise,” fine snow-like particles begins to be seen in the image as the pixels are challenged to hold their own.

Photographed with a 500mm F/4 lens, I was further away from Tiger Woods hitting out of the 7th fairway bunker (see image “tiger before.jpg) during the Accenture Match Play Championship, which he won in Arizona, than I would have liked. I liked the image, but I had to crop the photo to get the image I wanted with the intensity of his face. The result was a nice image, but with grain or noise build up, especially around his face as a result of having to crop the image.

By using the Dfine 2.0 NIK Software, I first automate my original photo after opening it in PhotoShop (CS3) to see what areas of the photograph need noise reduction. Noise is basically chromatic aberrations. The automatic method searches for areas in the image that are measured for digital noise, where the white boxes are located.

Using the loupe tool and locking onto Tiger’s face, the photo at left shows the original and the image on the right shows after the Dfine 2.0 is applied. It’s an obvious difference and a much more desirable, smoother image. 

© David Sanders

Dfine 2.0 creates a quick, separate layer in Photoshop that literally takes on click. The entire image can have its noise reduced in two clicks, making it a quick and valuable tool when on a tight deadline, like those late-night, overtime, college basketball games. For those wanting more precision, the noise can be controlled in only desired sections of a photo, like I could have done just on Tiger’s face, leaving the rest of the image untouched.

Because the Dfine 2.0 seems to blur the pixels together to create a smoother look, I then applied the NIK Sharpener Software 2.0 at 17 percent, and lightly sharpened the image. If I applied too much sharpening, I would have picked up the noise that I had gotten rid of.

© David Sanders

Some other tips for helping reduce noise in digital images:

Do all your cropping in the camera.  In other words, try and shoot as tight and close to your subject as you can, don’t shoot with a  wide angle lens and then plan on cropping later on our computer.

Use the lowest ISO setting to achieve your desired shutter speed/aperture. The lower the ISO settings, the higher quality you will get with digital images.  Photos shot with 100 ISO will hold together much better with less noise, than an image shoot at 800 ISO.

If you are photographing in a darkly lit building like a gym, use a flash to not only help stop the sports action, but by adding that extra burst of light from your flash, you can then lower your ISO, reducing the noise in your images. Watch the NBA on television, and look for the flashes  That is what those photographers are doing, stopping the action and shooting at a lower ISO setting for maximum quality.

Some digital cameras allow for sharpening the image as it records it to the disc. Turn it off, as sometimes the factory default settings will sharpen the image too much, leaving jagged edges along your subject and not looking very pleasing. Always sharpen your image in your computer, that way you have control as to how much sharpening you want to apply to specific areas of your image.

This image is of a nigh blooming cereus cactus flower that only blooms for one night annually.  Technically, I used a 105 macro lens shot at about f/5.6 at about 400 ISO. The flower is normally white, but I used a flashlight behind the flower to illuminate it, giving it that warm, tungsten feeling because the camera setting was for daylight balance. I purposely did this knowing it was go very warm.

Tips for shooting at night:
Always use a tripod whenever you can. Long exposures mean slow shutter speeds, which can result in movement of your subject and blurring.

Use a flash to help bring out detail in a scene or subject. Combining flash with the slow shutter of the ambient light will make for a pleasing photography, and combining the tripod will also help.

I did a personal project on Mexican wrestlers in 2006 with their colored masks. “Cuervo” as seen here was done with a softbox on a studio strobe in an arena before a match.

Using NIK Color Efex Pro 3.0, I converted the original cuervo wrestler image to a movie-like look using the Bleach Bypass filter, which bleaches the highlights and desaturates the image to give it a movie-poster like quality.  All with one simple click.

Then I took the image and sharpened it with the NIK Sharpened 2.0. The result is the image “cuervo final.jpg”

Tips with the "Cuervo" Mexican wrestler image:

Don’t be afraid to zoom in and photograph what you feel is the most unique detail about your subject. If you are photographing people, it's OK to come in tight on their face, if it's unique or interesting, you don’t have to show their whole head. Because the masks don’t shot emotion too well, I had to get the emotion of the wrestler Cuervo through his eye, since it was the only element that was capable of conveying emotion.

When using a flash, soften the light by placing a diffuser over the flash head. The results are a much softer light, especially nice when photographing people.

This photo is of Rebecca Walker, a country singer who needed some photos for her new CD. We shot this at a ranch in Sonoita, AZ in open shade in the early morning light. I used a white reflector to bounce some of the warm morning sunshine onto her face, and warm the typical bluish cast that shade light has.

I added a little more yellow in the blue/yellow channel of Photoshop and wanted a glow to the photo, so I used the Glamour Glow in the NIK Color Efex 3.0 software.

I wanted more of a glow, so I repeated the process again, but this time I didn’t want the whole image, so I used the  “paint” method at the bottom and painted where I wanted to add more glow, careful to avoid her face, since I like it the way it was.

Below is the final image.  I know it's over saturated but I meant to do that and I also like the glow.

Tips for Rebecca’s photo:

You may need a warming filter or set your white balance to the shade symbol when shooting in open shade to warm up a subject, especially when photographing people in the open shade.

Use of a reflector is an inexpensive way to add light to a scene, lighting up the shadows under people’s eyes as well.

Come from a higher angle and shoot down on a person who is heavy, making them look up toward the camera as a way to help reduce folks with double chins.

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Great general tips to control light with the camera. I will need to use the same computer program to test my new technic. Sounds like I've just attended a digital photography class with a great teacher! Posted by: Mitsou Ferrier Apr 4, 2008 @ 6:41 AM EST

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