MAKE NATURAL-LOOKING TWEAKS
High-ISO images are inevitable at times, but is noise really such an issue?
1 STRAIGHT FROM THE CAMERA the low light in which this black bear cub was photographed necessitated an isO of 4000 to allow sufficient shutter speed for a sharp image. Fortunately, the camera has done a pretty good job with the colour and exposure, allowing a light-touch approach to editing.
2 ADJUST THE LEVELS tweaking the levels will ‘lift’ the image, increasing the contrast and colour saturation. But be gentle, as excessive use soon starts to emphasise noise in the background greens. the tree bark will also become overexposed if you drag the right-hand slider too far to the left.
3 SAVE A MASTER FILE the image now accurately represents the scene as it was at the time. After cloning out the twig across the cub’s nose, this is where a master file is saved as a tiFF, providing the reference point for any future editing.
4 THE EFFECTS OF SATURATION low-light images can suffer from problematic colour balance and applying saturation across the colour spectrum can emphasise the problem. here the greens have been selected and boosted. conversely, blue and cyan have been reduced. having a master file to go back to allows experimentation.
5 LIVING WITH NOISE comparing our original camera file with the adjusted image on screen at 100% reveals an enhancement in the definition of the bear’s fur, at the cost of increasing the noise in the background areas. Attempts to reduce its effect could leave you worse off.
6 THE ROAD TO RUIN the top half of our 100% screen view shows a denoising filter applied and sharpened suitable for print. note the mosaic-like squiggles that result. the bottom half is our file without noise reduction applied.
7 USE LAYERS AND SELECTIONS if you really feel the need to use denoise and sharpen, experiment with copies of your master file. use layers to introduce these filters selectively and retain detail in vital areas; in this case the cub’s fur and the tree bark.
8 SOFTEN LAYER EDGES use a soft-edged eraser to soften the edges of layers to avoid any obvious boundaries and keep reviewing your changes as you go. You can save a working file as layers, but save storage space by flattening completed images intended for end use.