Free Action Set for Digital Noise Removal

[gmitchel]

Happy New Years!

I added a new action set today to my site. it's a free download.

TLR Digital Noise Reduction is a set of Photoshop actions for reducing noise in digital images.

There are some well-known ways of handling noise. Most involve blurring the channels in the image or averaging pixel values. Photoshop also includes some Noise filters: Despeckle, Dust & Scratches, etc.

The actions in TLR Digital Noise Reduction use a more sophisticated method of noise reduction. The start with a mask to preserve image details. A duplicate of the image is converted to 8-bit grayscale to speed mask generation. The mask is used to preserve image detail. Everything else in the image gets an application of digital noise reduction.

There are ten progressive levels of digital noise reduction available in the TLR Digital Noise Reduction action set. There is also a manual action where you control the settings from mask generation to noise reduction parameters.

The actions in TLR Digital Noise Reduction work non-destructively with your images. All of their work is done on layers. You have lots of flexibility, too. The layers have less than 100% opacity. Yuo you can adjust the effect later - very handy for when you get ready to output your images.

The actions work with RGB, CMYK, L*a*b, and Grayscale images. They are compatible with Photoshop CS/CS2 and earlier versions of Photoshop. In Photoshop CS/CS2, the actions are placed in a Layer Set/Group to make them easier to manipulate.

Depending on the strength of digital noise reduction selected, there will be two layers or three. This is different than most noise reduction action sets, which reduce noise but do nothing to restore image details. Levels 3-4, 5-6, 7-8, and 9-10 are paired. They use the same sharpening settings. Levels 3, 5, 7, and 9 include a "Restore Fine Details" layer and Levels 4, 6, 8, and 10 do not. Including a "Restore Fine Details" layer will reduce the noise reduction slightly while preserving more of the original image sharpness.

The noise reduction layers have a default opacity of 85%. The layers for preserving image details have their opacity set to 65%. Feel free to adjust these settings to increase noise reduction or restore more of the original image.

Reduction of chroma noise is another sophisticated feature of the TLR Digital Noise Reduction actions. Three progressive strengths of chroma noise reduction are applied by making a duplicate image that is converted to L*a*b mode where chroma noise can be more effectively removed (and with less softening of image details).

http://www.thelightsrightstudio.com/...eReduction.htm

This is the first release of the TLR Digital Noise Reduction action set. Please feel free to offer suggestions for improved settings and features.

Have fun!

Mitch

[DannyRaphael]

Another great set.

Thanks, Mitch & Happy 2006.

~Danny~