Nik Dfine 2.0 Noise Reduction Is Awesome

[BackdoorArts]

I love the low level of noise at higher ISO's on my D600, but I have to say I love it even more with the use of the Nik Dfine 2.0 noise reduction tool.

I was shooting some street performers last night at Bethlehem Musikfest and as I processed them this morning I was once again blown away by the ease with which this tool removes the noise. Simply call it from either Lightroom or Photoshop (I use the latter here in it's own layer), and let it analyze and correct the image on its own. I very rarely find the need to perform manual tweaking. Detail is preserved and noise is gone. Voila!!

Here's a peak at a 100% crop zoom within the tool, with the area to the left of the red line showing the before image with the noise shot at ISO 3200, and the area to the right the after image. The selection on the right side is an area it chose to analyze for noise content and these can be added, removed and tweaked with the manual adjustment controls.

It's the default first step in my workflow any time I'm shooting above ISO 400. Yes, you can use the Noise Reduction controls in Camera RAW and they do a fine job, but I find myself spending far more time with them than I do here, and not getting any better results.

 

[RockyNH_RIP]

I love the low level of noise at higher ISO's on my D600, but I have to say I love it even more with the use of the Nik Dfine 2.0 noise reduction tool.

I was shooting some street performers last night at Bethlehem Musikfest and as I processed them this morning I was once again blown away by the ease with which this tool removes the noise. Simply call it from either Lightroom or Photoshop (I use the latter here in it's own layer), and let it analyze and correct the image on its own. I very rarely find the need to perform manual tweaking. Detail is preserved and noise is gone. Voila!!

Here's a peak at a 100% crop zoom within the tool, with the area to the left of the red line showing the before image with the noise shot at ISO 3200, and the area to the right the after image. The selection on the right side is an area it chose to analyze for noise content and these can be added, removed and tweaked with the manual adjustment controls.

It's the default first step in my workflow any time I'm shooting above ISO 400. Yes, you can use the Noise Reduction controls in Camera RAW and they do a fine job, but I find myself spending far more time with them than I do here, and not getting any better results.

Jake, can you call it and get the output in Raw???

Thanks,

Pat

 

[Bill16]

Awesome!

 

[WhiteLight]

Jake, can you call it and get the output in Raw???

Thanks,

Pat

PR (or PS) will export as a TIFF to Define & after completion it is saved back as TIFF..
​as good as RAW

 

[RockyNH_RIP]

Thanks Whitelight...
I think mine comes back as a Tiff from Lightroom.. What is PR?? (PS I know is photoshop..)

You indicate it is just as good as Raw? I was always under the impression edits were best in Raw... In other words all Raw edits done before sending it to Nik for a Tiff??? Am I wrong???

Pat in NH

 

[Dave_W]

All the Nik programs are AWESOME!!! And at their current price for the full suite, both LR and PS, it's a steal!!!

 

[WhiteLight]

Thanks Whitelight...
I think mine comes back as a Tiff from Lightroom.. What is PR?? (PS I know is photoshop..)

You indicate it is just as good as Raw? I was always under the impression edits were best in Raw... In other words all Raw edits done before sending it to Nik for a Tiff??? Am I wrong???

Pat in NH

Oops I meant LR
Raw is by far the best way to go for editing, but tiff allows quite a bit as well..
More than enough to get the output you desire

Sent from my HTC Incredible S using Tapatalk 2

 

[BackdoorArts]

Thanks Whitelight...
I think mine comes back as a Tiff from Lightroom.. What is PR?? (PS I know is photoshop..)

You indicate it is just as good as Raw? I was always under the impression edits were best in Raw... In other words all Raw edits done before sending it to Nik for a Tiff??? Am I wrong???

Pat in NH

TIFF is not RAW, but is essentially the most complete set of uncompresed information you can store for an image. What I do are basic adjustments in RAW/Lightroom (same thing) and then, once I have that, send it to Photoshop where I invoke the Nik tools. You can do it directly from LR but you will either need to step through multiple TIFF files to track the changes, or make the changes destructively to each image. With Photoshop I invoke the Nik tools as new layers and save as a PSD file (Photoshop document) as these tend to be slightly smaller than TIFF. At times, if the edit is not clear, then I'll use Smart Layers (which means bigger files) as it will allow me to re-open the Nik tool with all settings intact. Otherwise it just has the edits applied as a new layer that I can manipulate using the normal bevy of layer tools in PS. When I'm done, I often stack the PSD file with the original RAW file in the Library module.

 

[Don Kuykendall_RIP]

Well, I just bought the Nik Collection and have just played with it a little and so far I am impressed. Had some cave shots that I had shot at 12,800 with my D5100 and I could see a big difference in noise after Nik. I also just finished a fireworks shot from July 4th and played with the sharpness and then HDR toning and I really liked what I could do there. Here is the fireworks shot.

 

[RockyNH_RIP]

Oops I meant LR
Raw is by far the best way to go for editing, but tiff allows quite a bit as well..
More than enough to get the output you desire

Sent from my HTC Incredible S using Tapatalk 2

Thank you for the clarification... I appreciate your help and tips

Pat in NH

 

[RockyNH_RIP]

TIFF is not RAW, but is essentially the most complete set of uncompresed information you can store for an image. What I do are basic adjustments in RAW/Lightroom (same thing) and then, once I have that, send it to Photoshop where I invoke the Nik tools. You can do it directly from LR but you will either need to step through multiple TIFF files to track the changes, or make the changes destructively to each image. With Photoshop I invoke the Nik tools as new layers and save as a PSD file (Photoshop document) as these tend to be slightly smaller than TIFF. At times, if the edit is not clear, then I'll use Smart Layers (which means bigger files) as it will allow me to re-open the Nik tool with all settings intact. Otherwise it just has the edits applied as a new layer that I can manipulate using the normal bevy of layer tools in PS. When I'm done, I often stack the PSD file with the original RAW file in the Library module.

Jake, thanks for the explanation on your flow... I only have CS-2 and am not very knowledgeable.. so I tend to stay in LR and do NIK edits individually ... I will try the Dfine 2.0 and see how it does, It should not be too bad if I do all my LR edits 1st and the NIK only the "nice" ones...

Appreciate the suggestions from both you and White Lightning!

Pat in NH

 

[WhiteLight]

Thank you for the clarification... I appreciate your help and tips

Pat in NH

You welcome anytime to my limited supply of tips Pat

 

[WhiteLight]

Jake, thanks for the explanation on your flow... I only have CS-2 and am not very knowledgeable.. so I tend to stay in LR and do NIK edits individually ... I will try the Dfine 2.0 and see how it does, It should not be too bad if I do all my LR edits 1st and the NIK only the "nice" ones...

Appreciate the suggestions from both you and White Lightning!

Pat in NH

Lol.. Pat you just converted Light to Lightning
Any Thomas Edison blood flowing in the family??

As Jake mentioned, if you use PS, the workflow is much simpler - lesser windows, lesser files, no duplicates etc.
Any of the Nik tools will create a new layer & you can work within PS.
But for LR, the file gets exported as a new TIFF file & you work on that in a seaparte Nik window which then saves the file.

So, if you take a 3 image exposre, use HDR efex to create a HDR, then use Define to remove noise and lets say for the fun of it you send it to Viveza or Color Efex... you'll have 3 duplicatd TIFFs for conversion to HDR, another duplicate for Define & a third for Viveza!
​

 

[Don Kuykendall_RIP]

Lol.. Pat you just converted Light to Lightning
Any Thomas Edison blood flowing in the family??


​

You missed the reference. In the south it is:

White Lightening:

Very high proof Moonshine. Borders on being 200 proof; it's pure grain alcohol and is illegal. White Lightning is the subject of a hit George Jones song.

Now back to business. What online tutorial would you suggest for Nik Collection? I jsut bought it this morning and need a quick overview and then late I can delve into the buts and bolts.

 

[WhiteLight]

You can actually start using it Don..
Very simple & you'll get the hang of it very fast.

The best tutorials are from Nik's official channel -

maybe best not to follow the order in the playlists cos all of them are not in the order you may want to learn..

 

[Don Kuykendall_RIP]

You can actually start using it Don..
Very simple & you'll get the hang of it very fast.

The best tutorials are from Nik's official channel -

maybe best not to follow the order in the playlists cos all of them are not in the order you may want to learn..

I played with it a bit this morning and it is pretty easy to get the basics with just playing around. I think I am going to go out and shoot a HDR panorama just to put it though the paces and see what it can do.