Using Neat Image with Selections

[Flora]

An unusual way to de-noise a picture using Neat Image (any version) and Photoshop. [details]

[Leah]

Flora -- you seem to be having the problem you had once before where not all your images show up. It seems that only NeatImage.jpg, NeatImage-0010.jpg and NeatImage-0009.jpg have successfully uploaded to RP, and when I look at the source code for the tutorial it's pointing at files in your G:/Snag/Tutorials/Neat/ directory on your local machine.

[Flora]

Gosh Leah .... It surely seems that image uploader has something personal against me!!!!

I deleted most of the tutorial because I kept getting an error message ....

I started immediately with IE6 because previously Netscape was the one not working properly .... but now both of them ....

Why on earth didn't I choose knitting as a hobby????

I'll try again ....

[Gary Richardson]

Well Leah, you've done better than me, I haven't got a single image to appear.

[Flora]

Hi Gary,

could you do me a favor .... look at the tut now and let me know... pleeeease???

[Gary Richardson]

Hi Flora, sorry I'm a bit slow getting back. I'm still not getting any pictures. I tried going into the tutorial section not using your link, and still no go. I also tried other tutorials to make sure it's not me. No problem with pictures on other tutorials.

[Flora]

Thank you so much, Gary!

It's definitely not you.....

It must be the gremlins ...

I'll try again ....

P.S. knitting as a hobby seems more and more attractive ....

[JustChecking]

no images here also...

the problem is, that the source contains links to the files on your disk ( file:///G:/Snag/Tutorials/Neat/NeatImage-0009.jpg ), instead of something like h**p://www.retouchpro.com/tutorials/Neat/NeatImage-0009.jpg or so...

i'm not sure if you can change this, but i guess doug should be able to...

[Gary Richardson]

Good Luck. I look forward to seeing the tutorial when it's up and running.

[Leah]

Flora, How are you uploading the images? All at once and then inserting them in the right place, or one at a time? What are you writing the tutorial in before cutting and pasting it -- it's just that I notice it has very long lines of text and also is in a very small font. Part of your problem may be related to that. I tend to write the tutorial in a simple text editor like Notepad, paste it into the tutorial, upload all the images I need, then go through the tutorial inserting them as appropriate.

(Gary -- I couldn't actually see any images in the tutorial itself either, but as Moderator of the Tutorials section I get to go in and see what image files have been uploaded for a particular tutorial. Bwahahahaha... power!)

[Flora]

Hi everybody,

Thanks for all the moral support!!!!

.... anybody there?

Leah

that was surely part of the problem .... trying to copy formatted text .... (Doug had already told me about using 'a simple text editor like Notepad' in the past.... but I had forgotten .... )

It should be OK now .... but I don't really trust myself anymore when it comes to tutorials .....

... Is everything up and visible?

[Jeff L]

It all seems to be there!

Thanks for posting this one

[Gary Richardson]

Thanks Flora, great tutorial, and the pictures are most certainly there.

[Leah]

Yes, everything's there. I hope it's OK with you -- I went in and increased the font size because I couldn't read it on my monitor.

[Flora]

Jeff, Gary,

Thanks so much for your great feedback!!!

Leah

Thanks for your help and yes, it's absolutely OK ... my silly mistake since I wear reading glasses .... Maybe I should have tried writing the tutorial without my glasses!!!

[Flora]

Leah, just one question .... is it only my browser or the pictures got moved from centre to left?

[Flora]

...I moved them back ... apparently without side effects .... I hope

[JustChecking]

That's a great tut!!! Thanks a lot, Flora!!! all thumbs up...

[Flora]

Thanks for your great feedback, JustChecking!!

[Don Majoros]

Hi Flora I had no problem with your link at all.Pictures and text just great. Thanks for a great tut.

[Flora]

Tank you so much for your kindness, Don! ..

[Ed_L]

Excellent tutorial Flora! But we wouldn't expect less from you. I looked quickly at the tutorial, but I didn't see anything that couldn't be done in some versions previous to CS. Did I miss something?

Ed

[Flora]

Hi Ed!

Thank you so much for your great comment!!

...Nope...you didn't miss anything at all .... I just wrote Photoshop CS because that's the version I'm using .... I thought I had to specify that ... but, since it can lead to doubts ... I changed it to just Photoshop!

Thanks for pointing it out!!

Take care..

[Flora]

... I don't know why ... but I don't receive any e-mail notification for this thread even if it was started by my publishing the tutorial it refers to ... I 'generously' posted in it .... and have the 'Instant Email Notification' as Notification Type...

[Janet Petty]

I take my hat off to you for this tutorial. Great information that is both concise and informative. It is easy to follow and understand. I teach a very beginner Photoshop class. This will be one that my students can peek at and work with. Thanks is too small.

Janet

[Flora]

Hi Janet,

Thank you very much for your kindness!!!

I'm so glad (and proud) my Tut can be used for lessons!!!!

[gmitchel]

Very nice tutorial, Flora.

I highly recommend NeatImage Pro+. It's an excellent product and Vlad provides excellent customer service, too.

You can use an layer mask you like wit NI Pro+.

I do all of my noise removal on a layer. I press alt+ctl+shift+n+e (opt+cmd+shift+n+e on the Mac) to merge all the visible layers into a new layer.

(I do the same for localized and output sharpening, BTW.)

By using a layer, I can redo the whoe effect later. I can use Layer Style settings to modify the effect. Plus I can use a Layer Mask and even alter the mask later.

One thing I typically do is take my edge mask for sharpening and invert it. This gives me a surface mask for noise removal. That helps keep NI Pro+ from softening the very edges I sharpen during capture sharpening, for example.

I'll try to make this discussion into a tutorial with images, so people can see how keeping noise removal away from edges helps a lot.

I like the idea of different sharpening for brighter areas and darker. Brighter areas also often suffer noise. Sky gradients, for example, can suffer noise. Brighter areas tend to suffer chroma noise more. Anyway, separating light and dark lets you attack the problems separately. A good idea!

Cheers,

Mitch

[gmitchel]

Originally Posted by gmitchel

Very nice tutorial, Flora.

I like the idea of different sharpening for brighter areas and darker. Brighter areas also often suffer noise. Sky gradients, for example, can suffer noise. Brighter areas tend to suffer chroma noise more. Anyway, separating light and dark lets you attack the problems separately. A good idea!

Actually, I've been cogitating about this point.

NeatImage lets you adjust which tones are affected and how much. Each channel has a number of sliders for controlling the response at various tonal levels. You could simply adjust those sliders.

If you want to limit the effect and not frog around with all those sliders on three channels, you could run NeatImage on a layer and use the BlendIf sliders for the layer in order to target where the effect is applied.

The automatic highlight mask is misnamed, IMHO. It does not just select highlights. (Convert it to a channel, and you'll see.) It is a luminosity mask. Masking is directly related to the average luminosity for the three channels. Brighter tones less and darker tones more. Only deep shadows get completely masked. The marching ants only show 50% selection and above, so it looks like only highlights are selected.

If you really only want to get midtones through highlights, you should start with that highlight selection, convert it to a channel, and run a curve on the channel. Set something like Input = 100 Output = 0. That channel would mask the three-quarter tones and shadows completely.

Cheers,

Mitch

[Flora]

Hi Mitch,

Thank you so much for your feedback!

What great ideas!!!! Since reading your posts here I've barely left my computer!!!!

You got me cogitating as well on the Neat Image + Blend if ... combination ... (re-read Roger's great, great Tutorial on 'Blend if' .. It really seems to work magic!!!!!

Still got to experiment with it a bit more and I'll let you know ....

.... and I haven't tried your Edge Mask yet!!!

[gmitchel]

I make an edge mask for capture sharpening. Actually, I use my TLR Sharpening Toolkit, which makes the edge mask(s).

I invert that edge mask and use it for NeatImage.

So, I get the sharpen edges and not turn around and soften them with the same mask. Quick and easy, and it works great!

Ciao!

Mitch