Step by step: Reduce noise and sharpen

Get rid of the noise before sharpening up your image – to the right degree

BROWSE TO IMAGE

Browse to our supplied starting image, which is called noise_start.jpg. Set the View Tool to Combination Tool. Double-click to view the bee at 100% – this is the most reliable way to spot noise and see how sharp a shot really is. Click Multi and choose Compare Before and After Images.

SMOOTH OUT NOISE

In the Edit panel, click the Noise Reduction icon. Set Method to Better Quality. Set Intensity to 30 to smooth out the colour (chrominance) and brightness (luminance) noise. Drag Sharpness to 5 to restore some of the bee and flower’s detail while still keeping noise to a minimum.

SPOT SHARPENING ARTEFACTS

Click the Unsharp Mask icon. Drag Intensity to 100 to increase contrast around edges in the image. Drag Radius to 60 to increase the spread of the contrast change. These extreme settings, which you would never normally use, cause black haloes around the flower and also exaggerate noise.

GET A BALANCE

Set Intensity to a more subtle 40 to reduce the contrast change. Reduce Radius to 20 to remove the nasty halo artefacts. Dial down the combined result of these two sliders by dragging Threshold to 19. This helps us sharpen key detail, such as in the flower, while still minimizing noise.