post processing

All posts tagged post processing

Noise Reduction Software

Posted by scottbourne on August 2, 2008
Posted in: Reviews, Tips. Tagged: , .
Photo by Scott Bourne

Photo by Scott Bourne

If your digital photographs are noisy, meaning they look like they have the digital equivalent of grain, consider trying Nik Software DFine 2.0.

Dfine is a plug-in that works with Photoshop. It costs less than $99 and it’s very easy to use. I suggest that you use this plug-in first before you make any other modifications to your photos. It can work on automatic for most photos. That is the way I use DFine. And I have never found a single photograph shot at ISO 400 or above that DFine couldn’t improve.

It works on any digital image whether captured by a high-end digital SLR or a digital point and shoot. It is a very deep utility. It even includes some very effective contrast and color controls, which I’ll be covering in future articles. This plug-in well worth the price.

NOTE: Some of my photography friends also report good results using Noise Ninja.

This post sponsored by Lensbabies.

Sharpening In The Digital Age

Posted by scottbourne on July 28, 2008
Posted in: Technique & Tutorials. Tagged: , .

If you shoot digitally or you scan, at some point you’ll need to learn how to properly sharpen your images. It’s important to understand WHY you need to sharpen digital images. Any digital capture process will introduce some softness or blurring to your images. The sharpening that you do in your photo software is designed to replace the original sharpness that you lose during capture and nothing more. Software sharpening should NOT be used on a photo that is out of focus. If a shot is out of focus, it is out of focus–period. No amount of work in something like Photoshop will magically make the image appear to be in focus.

Let me say it one more time. If your images are out of focus to begin with, don’t expect Photoshop, Aperture, or anything else to fix them.

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