11. Reducing Noise and Sharpening

Introduction

Sharpening enables you to enhance edge contrast in your images, whereas noise reduction enables you to remove unwanted dot patterns that are apparent in your photographs. The Detail panel in the Develop module contains sliders that can help you perform both of these tasks.

It’s important to note that images shot in raw file format are untreated and can always use some sharpening and noise reduction. However, jpeg images already have some sharpening and noise processing applied by the camera. The Detail panel controls are intended for use with raw originals.

In this chapter, you learn how to use the sharpening sliders to enhance fine-edge contrast while suppressing edge halos in smooth tone areas. You also learn how to utilize the Sharpen Wide Edges and Sharpen Narrow Edges presets, as well as how to work with the sharpening sliders in Luminance mode. The last section teaches you how to use the noise reduction sliders to remove luminance noise and color noise from your images.

Updating Legacy Images

With Lightroom 3, the process of sharpening images and reducing noise has been updated. Lightroom 3 includes a much improved algorithm for sharpening unprocessed (raw) images. This new algorithm enables you to create extra definition without producing unwanted artifacts. The improved noise reduction tools enable you to reduce noise and maintain textured detail without creating “splotchy” areas where the noise was heaviest.

Update to the current process

From the Library module Grid or the Filmstrip, select the legacy photo that you would like to update.

Choose View > Go to Develop or click the Develop button in the upper-right corner of the interface.

Lightroom displays the photo in the Content area of the Develop module.

Click the Update to Current Process (2010) icon in the bottom-right corner of the image.

Lightroom displays the Update Process Version warning dialog box.

Click the Update button.

Lightroom updates the photo by applying the 2010 sharpening and noise reduction process.

Lightroom updates the photo.

Applying the Sharpen Wide Edges Preset

Lightroom comes equipped with a Sharpen Wide Edges preset, which you can use to sharpen portraits with a single click of a button. This combination of settings works best for sharpening areas of soft-edge detail, such as eyes and lips, and protecting smooth tone areas, such as skin, from being oversharpened. In some cases, you may find this preset to be a bit too subtle. If so, you can increase the sharpening effect by dragging the Amount slider to the right, and soften the effect in the smooth tone areas by increasing the Masking value.

Utilize the built-in Sharpen Wide Edges preset

From the Library module Grid or the Filmstrip, select the portrait image that you would like to sharpen.

Choose View > Go to Develop or click the Develop button in the upper-right corner of the interface.

Lightroom displays the photo in the Content area of the Develop module.

Choose Window > Panels > Navigator to display the Navigator panel.

Click the 1:1 button in the Navigator panel to view the image at 100% of its size in the Content area.

To change the image area displayed in the Content area, click and drag the Navigator target icon, or click and drag in the image itself.

Choose Window > Panels > Presets to display the Presets panel.

In the Presets panel, click the Sharpening - Wide Edges (Faces) preset to apply the sharpen settings.

Choose Window > Panels > Detail to display the Detail panel.

If necessary, increase the sharpening effect by dragging the Detail panel Amount slider to the right.

If necessary, you can preserve smooth tone areas (such as skin) by dragging the Masking slider to the right.

Applying the Sharpen Narrow Edges Preset

Lightroom also comes equipped with a Sharpen Narrow Edges preset, which you can use to sharpen landscapes with a single click of a button. This combination of settings works best for sharpening areas of fine-edge detail, such as the boats in this example photo. This preset applies considerably less edge halo suppression than the Sharpen Wide Edges preset and applies no masking.

Utilize the built-in Sharpen Narrow Edges preset

From the Library module Grid or the Filmstrip, select the landscape image that you would like to sharpen.

Choose View > Go to Develop or click the Develop button in the upper-right corner of the interface.

Lightroom displays the photo in the Content area of the Develop module.

Choose Window > Panels > Navigator to display the Navigator panel.

Click the 1:1 button in the Navigator panel to view the image at 100% of its size in the Content area.

To change the image area displayed in the Content area, click and drag the Navigator target icon, or click and drag in the image itself.

Choose Window > Panels > Presets to display the Presets panel.

In the Presets panel, click the Sharpen - Landscapes preset to apply the sharpen settings.

Choose Window > Panels > Detail to display the Detail panel.

If necessary, increase the sharpening effect by dragging the Detail panel Amount slider to the right.

Sharpening an Image in Luminance Mode

Lightroom applies sharpening only to the luminance information in a photograph, and not to any of the color information. This is beneficial because it prevents you from enhancing any color artifacts in the image. By holding down Option (Mac) or Alt (Win) as you drag the Detail panel sliders, you can view an isolated preview of the sharpening effect in grayscale Luminance mode. Doing so gives you a clearer preview of what is happening to the image edges as you adjust the Detail panel sliders.

Inspect the image in Luminance mode as you sharpen

From the Library module Grid or the Filmstrip, select the image that you would like to sharpen.

Choose View > Go to Develop or click the Develop button in the upper-right corner of the interface.

Choose Window > Panels > Navigator to display the Navigator panel.

Click the 1:1 button in the Navigator panel to view the image at 100% of its size in the Content area.

To change the image area displayed in the Content area, click and drag the Navigator target icon, or click and drag in image itself.

Choose Window > Panels > Detail to display the Detail panel.

Hold down Option (Mac) or Alt (Win) and click and drag the Amount slider in the Sharpening portion of the Detail panel.

Lightroom displays a grayscale preview of the image in the Content area and in the Detail panel preview window.

Hold down Option (Mac) or Alt (Win) and click and drag the Radius slider in the Sharpening portion of the Detail panel.

Lightroom displays an isolated preview of the effect in the Content area and in the Detail panel preview window.

Hold down Option (Mac) or Alt (Win) and click and drag the Detail slider in the Sharpening portion of the Detail panel.

Lightroom displays an isolated preview of the effect in the Content area and in the Detail panel preview window.

Hold down Option (Mac) or Alt (Win) and click and drag the Masking slider in the Sharpening portion of the Detail panel.

Lightroom displays an isolated preview of the effect in the Content area and in the Detail panel preview window.

The before and after versions of the sharpened image.

Reducing Noise

In general, when you shoot digital photos at higher ISO settings, the resulting images contain noise. Luminance noise is a visible grain in the image that looks like a white, fine-speckled pattern. By increasing the Luminance slider value, you can remove luminance noise, especially in the shadow areas where it is most apparent. Images containing color noise include a visible colored dot pattern, which is even more apparent (and ugly) than luminance noise. By increasing the color slider value, you can blur the color channels in the image to remove the noise. Note that by doing so, you are also softening the image and may lose some color detail.

Reduce luminance noise

From the Library module Grid or the Filmstrip, select the image that you would like to sharpen.

Choose View > Go to Develop or click the Develop button in the upper-right corner of the interface.

Choose Window > Panels > Navigator to display the Navigator panel.

Choose 1:1 from the Navigator panel Custom View flyout menu.

To change the image area displayed in the Content area, click and drag the Navigator target icon, or click and drag in the image itself.

Choose Window > Panels > Detail to display the Detail panel.

In the Noise Reduction section of the Detail panel, drag the Luminance slider to the right.

Lightroom removes the luminance noise from the image.

Drag the Detail slider to determine the amount of detail to preserve in the hard contrast edges and textured areas of the image.

Drag the Contrast slider to determine the amount of detail to preserve in the smooth areas of the image.

Reduce color noise

From the Library module Grid or the Filmstrip, select the image that you would like to sharpen.

Choose View > Go to Develop or click the Develop button in the upper-right corner of the interface.

Choose Window > Panels > Navigator to display the Navigator panel.

Choose 2:1 from the Navigator panel Custom View flyout menu.

To change the image area displayed in the Content area, click and drag the Navigator target icon, or click and drag in the image itself.

Choose Window > Panels > Detail to display the Detail panel.

In the Noise Reduction section of the Detail panel, drag the Color slider to the right.

Lightroom removes the color noise from the image.

Drag the Detail slider to determine the amount of detail to preserve in the hard contrast edges and textured areas of the image.