70 Better Available Light Digital Photography
The imaging factory
For less than a hundred bucks, Noise Reduction Pro (www.
imagingfactory.com) reduces ISO noise, CCD color noise,
JPEG artifacts, and color fringing. The latest version of the
plug-in uses a redesigned and extremely fast engine that favors
16-bit processing. It has a resizable window offering a live,
preview image, and is scriptable via Photoshop’s Action
palette. Unlike the non-Pro ($39.95) version, it features separate
controls for luminance and color noise. Which version do you
need? Download 30-day demo versions of both plug-ins and
try them both. Although future development of Noise Reduction
Pro has been stopped, the product represents an affordable and
effective tool. Depending on when you are reading this, the site
may not be available and that would be too bad.Eastman Kodak’s Austin Development Center offers a $99 Digital GEM Professional plug-in that supports
16-bit images produced by high-end digital capture devices. The Clarity control in its dialog box lets you
customize the effects by providing additional sharpening or softening to the overall image, and a Radius
slider controls the area of surrounding pixels that are affected by the sharpening/softening. © 2005 Joe
Farace.