11

CHAPTER
NIGHT AND LOW-LIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY / Digital Postproduction

Reducing noise in Adobe Lightroom

You can apply noise reduction right inside the

Lightroom Develop module in the Detail panel,

which is shown in Figure 11-4. The Detail panel

can be a little intimidating for first-time users

because it has nine different sliders and not only

deals with noise reduction but also with image

sharpening. The reason these controls are grouped

together is because they work together to get the

best detail with the lowest noise in an image. The

panel is actually divided into two sections.

The first section is Sharpening, which has the

following sliders:

    ■   Amount. This setting adjusts the edge defini-

tion in your images. If you set this slider to 0,

then no sharpening is applied. As you move

this slider to the right, Lightroom looks at

pixels that are different from the surrounding

pixels and increases the contrast to make the

edges stand out. This can make the images

look sharper and more in focus.

    ■   Radius. Changing the radius changes the size

of the area affected by the Amount slider. The

bigger the radius, the more of the edge area is

affected. If the image has very fine details,

then this setting needs to be set lower; if the

details in your images are larger, then it needs

to be set higher.

    ■   Detail. This slider controls how much the

sharpening affects the edge detail. Lower set-

tings mostly sharpen the edges to remove blur-

ring, while higher settings cause the textures

in the image to become more pronounced.

    ■   Masking. This slider controls what in the

image is sharpened. The lower the setting, the

more of the image is sharpened; as the mask-

ing is applied, the sharpening is restricted to

the areas with the strongest edges.

In the Adjust Sharpness window, you can adjust
the following:

■   Amount. This is where you specify how much

you want to sharpen your image. Dragging the
slider to the right increases the contrast
between the edge pixels, which in turn can
make the image look more in focus. Keep an
eye on the 100 percent preview window, as a
little sharpening can go a long way.

■   Radius. The radius determines how big an

area around the edges to adjust. The bigger
the radius setting, the more obvious the
sharpening is.

■   Remove. This drop-down menu lets you

choose what type of sharpening to use. For
most of my images, I use the lens blur setting,
but try all three and see which one works best
for your image.

■   Angle. This sets the angle when the Remove

setting is set to Motion Blur.

■   More Refined. Checking this box gives you

better results but takes longer. I suggest that
you check it and not worry about the slightly
longer processing time.

As I mentioned earlier, a little sharpening can go
a long way, and as you increase the sharpening,
you can also increase the visibility of the digital
noise in the image. There is also an Auto
Sharpen function in Elements, but as with all the
auto functions, you don’t get to control the set-
tings or the outcome. You should stick with the
Adjust Sharpness setting because it gives you
more control, which is a good thing.