Noise, noise, noise that is all we seem to hear about when it comes to a new digital camera release. How much noise in the low ISO shots? Now much noise in the high ISO shots? The higher the resolution a camera is the more noise there is, for right now that is just a fact of the current technology. Digital Camera imaging sensors can only be so big or so small and anytime you try to cram more imaging sensors on a given size sensor the amount of noise increases. While cameras that use large sensors like scanning backs or cameras that have sensors the same size as 35mm film have a lot more leeway than the cameras most consumers can afford or want to buy, sooner rather than later they too will have the noise problem. More resolution means more noise.

 

The other thing that affects noise in digital camera images is how good or bad the noise reduction in the camera is this can be a problem or it can be a non-issue. The non-issue cameras do a fair job of reducing noise while at the same time keeping image detail and keeping the image from looking like a painting. The problem cameras go so overboard with noise reduction when you look at the image at 100% magnification on your screen you see little fine detail and the image may even look like a painting, complete with what look like brush strokes. Of course that isn’t a good thing. It just means the makers of the camera panicked and over did the noise reduction and/or had very poor noise reduction routines to boot.

 

What does all of this mean for you and me? Well it means that... well nothing much really. You see noise and how much it bothers a person is a personal taste thing. Like how some people like liver and others don’t or to put it a little less gross it is as personal as your favorite color. What this means is that you can take any camera you want and show an image from it, a high ISO image from it to 70 different people and some will find the noise to be completely unacceptable, others will consider it a bit of a problem but not enough to stop them from using the camera and the rest won’t have an issue with it at all. Noise is a very personal thing.

 

Myself I happen to like images that have a bit of “attractive noise”. What is attractive noise. It is noise that is pleasing to look at, not big ugly globs of brightly colored dots. Now I can’t tell you what that looks like because that too is a very personal thing. You know it when it doesn’t both you and you think it actually helps the picture. I do not however like images with no noise what-so-ever in them. To me these look flat, they look almost plastic but worst of all they look like they were done in a 3D modeling program instead of taken with a camera of something real. This is of course... you guessed it a personal thing.

It doesn’t matter how much or how little noise works for you. There are ways of handling this so if the camera that with the features and price you want has a bit of noise and that bothers you, then you have a way to deal with it so you can be happy with the camera. That is of course if you don’t mind either a bit of post processing work or adding another step to your post processing work.

 

Myself I have found that for screen display I need to do more noise reduction than I do for prints even large prints. For some reason the noise just doesn’t seem to show up in prints anywhere close to as bad as it does on the screen. I suspect it is because most people print using inkjet printers or printers that print the image using dots (called dithering) and this hides the noise to a large degree. However, if you have ultra noisy images this may not do away with it.

 

Anytime I want to do noise reduction I turn to Noise Ninja. Yes, there are other programs on the market and they could very well be just as good. However, I like Noise Ninja because the interface is easy to use, it is quick and it does a very good job of reducing noise without killing too much detail. Which brings up the next problem. Any time you do noise reduction you can and probably will lose some small amount of detail in your images. This can’t be helped and it is something you have to come to terms with if you want to do noise reduction. How much you lose is dependent on how good your noise reduction software is and from my own use Noise Ninja does a very good job of reducing noise and keeping detail. In fact I have more problems with sharpening images and messing up the detail than I do with Noise Ninja and noise reduction doing it. Also, please note that I call Noise Ninja “Noise Reduction” software. That is what it is. None of the products currently on the market are designed to do away with “all” of the noise in an image. It can’t without really messing the image up. These programs are designed to reduce noise to a more pleasing and acceptable level and that is all. If you go in thinking total noise removal you will be very disappointed, not only in the software but in the final images as well.

 

Now let’s get started on how Noise Ninja works. Since they know most people want to get started as soon as possible with using Noise Ninja and since they also know that these people are going to expect good results they have included in the user’s guide what they call “The Thirty Second Guide to Noise Ninja” There are a total of 4 steps in the getting started tutorial.

 

They are...

 

• Click on the Profile Image Button on the Profile page. This will measure the noise in the image.
• Adjust the Luminance Strength slider on the Filter page until you like the results.
• Go to the Noise Brush page. Paint with the brush in the Preview window to protect parts of the image from noise reduction filtering.
• Press the ok button to filter the entire image.

 

Now let’s take a closer look here. I want to make sure you understand just how easy Noise Ninja is to use and make sure you understand what the 4 steps above are doing.

 

Now the first step assumes that you have your Adobe Photoshop compatible image editing application open and you have an image loaded. You would then go to the filters menu and choose Noise Ninja, this loads the plug-in and loads your image in to it.

 

Step 1 has Noise Ninja look at the EXIF information that your camera embeds in to the photo and if it is available it will use such information as camera make, model, ISO and other things to try to find a noise profile that matches the image, if this is a success it will use this noise profile to reduce the noise. If it can’t do this because the EXIF is gone or because there is no matching profile available it will then go out and do an analysis of the image and when it does this it pick areas where there is noise, but no detail. It will then make little sampling selections in the image and it then measures and analyzes the noise in these areas and uses that to reduce the noise in the image.

 

Once step 1 is done you will see in the preview part of the Noise Ninja dialog an area of the image with the noise reduction added. You can use the hand tool to move this preview around so you can check other areas of the image, you can also zoom in and out.

 

Now step 2 has you use the luminance slider, this is just one of several sliders you have that can not only control the amount noise reduction but the type of noise reduction. There are also sliders for sharpening as well. The lower the number for the luminance strength slider the less softening of the image will occur. This slider does two things really. It controls how much noise is actually removed from the image, but it also removes the odd colors from the noise and it does that even when set at a strength of 1. I tend to use a setting of 5 for mine. This removes a nice bit of noise, but doesn’t impact the fine image detail too much.

 

Now step 3 allows you to go in and tweak the noise reduction. For example if you don’t like what is happening to say a person’s eyes, you can use the noise brush to protect the eyes and because you can control what amounts to the opacity of this protection you can decide if the eyes get no noise reduction, 20% 50% or any percentage of the noise reduction from 0% to 100% This allows you to do some real fine tuning of the noise reduction. You can also use the same brush to remove the mask just by switching it in to the erase mask mode.

 

Now it is here that I have my only complaint about Noise Ninja. Since when you are adding a noise brush mask there is no feedback other than to see the noise reduction disappear on the preview, if you are only removing some of the noise seeing the difference from where you brushed and didn’t brush can be very hard to see. I wish they would fix it so that when you are brushing with the noise brush it paints a transparent color over the areas you are brushing and it shows this color until you release the mouse button. Once you release the mouse button the color overlay goes away. When you switch to erase mask mode it shows the color overlay and you simply erase that to erase the noise mask. It would also be nice if they had a button or something that would toggle this color overlay on and off separate from the mouse button. So that once you are done you can zoom out and turn the overlay on and make sure you have all of the areas you want protected from the noise reduction. It would be even cooler if the transparency of this overlay was to match how much or how little protection you applied with the noise brush. Match the percentage of color overlay to the percentage of the opacity of the noise brush.

 

TIP: There is a way around this problem. Adjust the Luminance slider to maximum, paint with the noise brush and then once you are done dial the luminance slider down to where you want it. The luminance slider maxed out will make seeing the protected and unprotected areas very easy.

 

Step 4 basically tells Noise Ninja you are done and has it apply your noise reduction to your image. Once that is done if you want to see a before and after you can do and undo and redo from the edit menu. At least you can in Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Photoshop Elements. You should be able to do this in other programs as well since most have undo and redo capabilities. There is also a preview swapping button in Noise Ninja that will allow you to toggle the original image and the Noise Ninja noise reduction image.

Once you do this a couple of times its quick and easy. The only place you can run it to problems is with the luminance slider. If you try to remove too much noise you will mangle your image. It’s nice that Noise Ninja gives you that option in case you really want to do it.

 

There is a second much more in-depth tutorial in the user’s guide that takes about 5 minutes and deals with more of the features in Noise Ninja. But, the basics are quick and easy and quite effective especially if you learn to use the luminance slider well.

 

Now if you want to make Noise Ninja even easier to use then you need to create profiles for your cameras and scanners. There are several ways to do this and if you have more than one digital camera or scanner then I strongly urge you to download and print out the profile chart from the PictCode web site. Once this is printed you simply tape it to your wall and shoot pictures of it with your camera. You shoot a picture for each resolution and each ISO at that resolution. If you only shoot at the full resolution of your camera, which is what I do then simply shoot a picture at that resolution at each of the ISO settings the camera is capable of.

 

Load these in to your image editor like Adobe Photoshop. Then load up Noise Ninja and click the “profile chart” button it will analyze the image, you can then go to the annotations panel and either put in the specifics about the camera make, model, resolution, ISO, etc. or you can click the “auto fill” button and it will pull the information in from the images EXIF data. You can then save the profile. Once you do this for each ISO and you make a quick change in preferences Noise Ninja when it analyzes your image will look at the EXIF data and load the proper profile (one of the ones you just created) and use that. This tailors the noise reduction to your camera or scanner in a very personal way.

 

You can also use a regular photo, however the chart is better as it has a wider range of colors and there is no detail to get in the way. I think you will get the best results by creating the custom profiles with the chart and if you have several cameras it is just easier and if you ever change cameras you have the printed profile chart to use over and over.

 

Sharpening

 

Noise Ninja does offer sliders to control sharpening so that you can reduce any softening of the image by applying sharpening. However, I can’t say I am overly impressed with the sharpening in Noise Ninja. I think there are better ways to sharpen once you’re back in Photoshop or your image editing program. For example Adobe Photoshop CS2 you have the new Smart Sharpen filter or you can use a third party sharpening tool like Ultra-Sharpen or something like that. There are also several techniques on the internet you can use. It is also important to note that the sharpening will reduce softening from the noise reduction. However, it cannot bring back any fine details that were lost because of aggressive noise reduction, so keep that in mind.

 

Host Application Support

 

As PictureCode says in the Noise Ninja user’s guide to get access to all of the features and benefits of Noise Ninja you need the full version of Adobe Photoshop 6 or higher. It does work with Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0 or higher, however you do loose access to 16 bit image support, layer masks, actions and anything else that Elements doesn’t include. However, the noise reduction of Noise Ninja is the same and all of the features in Noise Ninja once you’re in to the plug-in are available in both the full version of Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.

 

With Photoshop you can use selections to limit Noise Ninja and you can use layer masks as well. This gives you quite a bit of control over what does and doesn’t get noise reduction. If you are using Adobe Photoshop Elements or another host program that doesn’t have selections or layer masks you can use the noise brush to get a similar but more limited effect.

 

As for other programs besides Adobe’s Noise Ninja should work in any program that fully supports Adobe Photoshop Plug-in specification, that should include Corel PaintShop Pro as well as Corel Photo-Paint and Corel Painter. As for other programs check with their manufacturer to see if it supports Adobe Photoshop plug-ins.

 

Tip: Check your cameras menu and see if you can turn off or reduce the amount of in camera noise reduction. If you can do it, you have more control and will get better noise reduction using a program like Noise Ninja.

• Conventional image noise reduction tools use simplistic methods that remove too little noise, destroy too much detail, are only effective for certain types of images, or require the user to do too much work. By comparison, Noise Ninja is based on a powerful and robust mathematical approach called "wavelet theory". Wavelet theory is a cutting-edge technology for transforming images from pixels to a rich spatial-spectral representation that improves the ability to automatically identify and suppress noise at different frequencies, locations, and color channels.
• Most of the better commercial image noise reduction products available today rely on wavelet-style filtering (though most don't disclose this fact). However, depending on the particular tool and the image being filtered, they often have a tendency to introduce artifacts ranging from halos and speckles to edge blurring and color bleeding. This is usually most apparent around high-contrast edges in high-ISO images, and it is due to some inherent weaknesses of conventional wavelets.
• By comparison, Noise Ninja uses a new, proprietary type of wavelet analysis that avoids these artifacts. Developed by a former professor of computer science, Noise Ninja's patent-pending algorithms yield an unprecedented combination of effectiveness and productivity for image noise removal.
• Noise Ninja works remarkably better than alternatives. Users commonly report a two-stop improvement in effective image quality. In some cases, the results are nothing short of amazing. Noise Ninja generally avoids the "plastic" look and artifacts that other tools tend to produce, instead leaving a natural, photographic look to the image.
• The high quality of filtering in Noise Ninja means that you can get more out of your camera. If you're a professional, you'll have more confidence that you can deliver a usable shot to your editor or client in difficult conditions, and you'll save shots that might have otherwise been destined for the digital trash bin.
• For low-ISO shots, you'll be able to make bigger enlargements before noise becomes problematic. Many professionals routinely filter low-ISO images with Noise Ninja to prepare them for enlargement.
• While Noise Ninja allows fine control over filtering, it is particularly targeted at photographers who want to get in, get results, and get out quickly. Automatic profiling, automatic profile loading, and other conveniences accelerate the work cycle. The filter controls yield good results without endless tweaking. And execution is highly optimized for speed. The net result is high productivity so you can spend more time doing other things.
• Despite its sophistication, Noise Ninja is so easy to use that anyone can obtain professional-quality results. Filtering is as simple as moving a slider. A real-time preview window provides instant feedback when you make adjustments, so you can quickly obtain the results that you want. Once you are satisfied with your adjustments, you simply push a button and Noise Ninja filters the entire image.
• All images are represented internally using 16 bits per color channel (48 bits per pixel). All filtering is performed using 32-bit floating point arithmetic for each channel. This high-precision processing yields maximum image quality for raw camera images and high-bit-depth film scans, and it minimizes image degradation in a professional workflow.
• Noise varies by frequency, color, and brightness, and it is different for every type of camera and scanner. Noise Ninja uses a patent-pending profiling technology that accurately describe the noise for a particular image source. For instance, Noise Ninja "knows" that noise for a particular camera at ISO 1600 is high in dark reds and low in light yellows. And it "knows" that noise in the blue channel is higher than in other color channels for a certain scanner. By combining noise profiles with sophisticated filtering, Noise Ninja is able to achieve consistent, high-quality noise removal.
• Noise profiles for dozens of cameras are available for download from the PictureCode website. Profiles for other cameras can be created in a few minutes using a simple chart and the push of a button.
• Noise Ninja includes an innovative tool called the Noise Brush. Using the mouse, you simply paint on parts of the image to undo or redo the effects of noise removal in the luminance channel, chroma channels, or all color channels. This provides excellent selective control over noise removal in localized areas of the image, and the ability to fine-tune detail without restoring color noise. So, unlike other image noise reduction solutions, Noise Ninja provides quick and easy recourse when you don't agree with its decisions.
• Noise Ninja filters noise in the color components of an image separately from the luminance (brightness) components. This is a powerful feature, because color noise often has a different character from that of luminance noise. It yields superior results compared to tools that only filter the color channels or that treat all channels identically.
• Noise Ninja includes a powerful batch processing feature that can automatically filter multiple images while you do other things. (Requires a Professional license.) You can even use the Noise Brush to touch-up individual images from a batch after the batch has completed, so you don't have to sacrifice control to improve productivity.