I had a chance to test the new Noiseless Pro for Macphun Software against a lot of the competition and I can say without hesitation that it is the best Noise Reduction software on the market (Sorry Mac OS only)

The Noise reduction Algorithms used just seemed to best accomplish the goals of Noise Reductions Software:

A: Reduce Noise

B: Retain detail and clarity

Most of the current offering seems to do one or the other. Macphun Noiseless seems to be able to do both …and well.

I tested 8 different images, all providing different types of noise problems or causes  of noise. From; High ISO Noise, Long Exposure Noise, Under Exposure Noise and Editing induced Noise

I Compared the original image to Macphun Noiseless Pro plus 5 other Standalone/plug-in competitors plus 1 popular editing program. I’m going to leave those nameless because I really don’t want to embarrass those companies nor really turn this into a shootout…even if it is. Some did pretty good, some…well just not at all.

I looked at the results at 200% which really is a tough test because it is at a far higher magnification than you really need to do for both noise reduction and sharpening. My suggestion as always is that you do both of those at Print/Display actual size. However for this test it really makes the results easy to see

Although I tested 8 images I’m just going to show two examples that really show the differences and are two very tough tests of Noise reduction

The First one is a High ISO Image Portrait. This is a tough test simply because of skin and detail. We want to remove the noise yet leave detail in things like eye lashes and the center of the eyes, and we want the skin to look smooth but still with some texture and not too plasticy or with artifacts. Remember this isn’t a replacement for shooting Portraits properly with the correct light and low ISOs but rather to test the ability to “save” an image you might otherwise trash

Here is the original full image

Here is the 200% Comparison Image, (Click for fullsize) It’s a large file so allow a bit

Macphun Noiseless test 1

The next test was really a difficult one, in fact it may be the most difficult test for noise reduction… period. It an image shot with a very long exposure and no in camera noise reduction done (which can be hit or miss) The problem is not only do you have a lot of Luminance noise but you also have TONS of chrominance noise and well you may even see how many hot pixels your camera’s sensor has. This is an extreme test and no you will not end up with a perfectly detailed image there will be some smearing of detail…but none of the other competitors even could give a salvageable image. The only software that could even complete this test was Macphun Noiseless. Now is it an image I would print large and sell? Probably not, but it’s one that I would post online. The point being this is an extreme test, so image what it does when you throw something easy at it.

Once again, here is the original full image

Macphun Noiseless test 2

Noiseless Pro works as a standalone product or a plug-in for both Lightroom and Photoshop

It’s interface is the pretty much now standard

It has 10 Built in Presets a that are pretty useful and of course the ability to make any adjustment changes you want and also create your own custom presets

One of my favorite things is how the Luminance noise is broken down into Coarse and Fine. The fine is great for Grain Like noise where the Coarse can work on larger noise artifacts. I like that they separate those too out so you can work on the problem at hand without using so much of the wrong type of noise reduction you loose detail

There are Structure and Detail controls to bring back to bring back some sharpness you may have lost and Filter controls to apply the noise reduction to differnent luminance areas of the image selectively , so say you only have noise in the shadows, you can bias the NR to that.

Maphun Noiseless Interface

Maphun Noiseless Interface

Bottom line, Macphun Noiselees, in my opinion, is the best option out there

If you would like to Try or Buy Noiseless click the link below

For 10% off your purchase use my Coupon Code : theHDRimage

Are your  Lightroom Plug-ins in your Color Space?

I came across s this other day and thought if it happened to me surely it happened to others.

We have Working Color Spaces for our image; sRGB, Adobe RGB,  ProPhoto RGB. Everyone has their preferences and this article won’t delve into which you should use. A problem comes when you install Plug-ins from different manufacturers,(Nik, Topaz, Macphun etc) when they install they may not install with the Color space you desire and you may not even know this is happening. For a lot of people this may not even matter but if you are s stickler like I am for Color Management, it’s very important. Continue reading »

Macphun Software’s Tonality Pro Black & White Conversion

Though not a household name (Yet) Macphun Software has been making quite a bit of buzz in the Photo Editing software market since their founding in 2008. They started off making mostly photography related iPhone apps and soon moved to full featured Software for Mac, besides their apps for iPhone and iPad™ use. Sorry, Mac only, which is OK since Photographers seem to be the most loyal Apple Fans Continue reading »

HDRsoft, the makers of Photomatix Pro 5  the top selling HDR software, also make a Plug-in for Lightroom that allows you to select your exposures in Lightroom and then Merge those files into a 32-bit Floating Point Tiff file and automatically re-import back into Lightroom for all your Tone-mapping and finishing needs The plug-in; HDRSoft’s Merge to 32 Bit, makes the whole process easy, effective and pain free. So let’s look at the plug-in and then follow through with some thoughts on a quick and easy yet thorough workflow using Lightroom only. Continue reading »

In doing research for my article 32-bit HDR Myths and Methods, I came across a strange occurrence.  A 32-bit Floating point Tiff HDR file I processed in Photoshop CC (Not ACR), saved as a new 32-bit Tiff file and then  imported into Lightroom looked absolutely Horrid.

Here, I’ll show you. The Photoshop Image is on the Left (as viewed in Lightroom) Click for large view Continue reading »

32 Bit  HDR Myths and Methods

A funny thing happened a couple years ago with the introduction of Lightroom 4.1. I started seeing people talking about NOW processing their HDRs in 32-bit. Now while it was true that something new happened – 32 Bit Tiff support for both Adobe Lightroom 4.1and ACR 7.1- many people seemed to think that 32-bit processing in any program was not possible before this and even the confusion that Lightroom and Photoshop ACR  (Adobe Camera RAW) were the ONLY programs that did work in 32-bit (Color Bit depth), which simply wasn’t true. All the Major HDR Programs do their processing in 32-bit, Photomatix Pro, Nik by Google HDR Efex Pro 2, Oloneo all of them work in 32 bit depth while in their Tonemapping/processing modules. Period Continue reading »

I took today to update the HDR How To Page to reflect the changes made in HDRsoft’s Photomatix 5 Program

If you or someone you know are new to HDR and Shooting and Processing of HDR Images it’s a great resource to get you started and the the over 180 other articles in the blog can help you to take your HDRs to the next level (as much as I hate that tag line)

Check it out!

Tell a friend

PT

Photomatix HDR Tutorial Final Image

Photomatix 5 review 

I’m a little overdue with this review but it’s given me a little more time to play. 

In November, HDRsoft released Photomatix Pro 5, which contains one of the most important upgrades since changes to it’s De-Ghosting way back when. 

It’s no secret that since the release of Nik Software’s HDR Efex Pro 2, I’ve used that for the majority of my HDR Image Processing. I found it was able to accomplish a more natural look easily and of course that’s the look I prefer. However Nik had some serious side effects, the worst of which, its alignment and Chromatic Aberration control. And while it’s de-ghosting was very good; it just didn’t have the power or the versatility of Photomatix Pro.

I would, on some difficult images, use the superior alignment capabilities of Photomatix to create a 32Bit Radiance file and then open that in HDR Efex Pro 2 to do my tone mapping. But with Nik acquisition by Google, I truly doubt that there will be any further releases or significant Updates to HDR Efex Pro 2 or any of Nik’s other software. Which IS very good but without support, I don’t see much future. 

Continue reading »

OnOne Software solves your Adobe woes 

I don’t think anything has caused a bigger stir in the Photography World, then Adobe’s announcement they were going to a Subscription based Licensing (Creative Cloud) instead of their long standing Perpetual Licensing. 

While subscription licensing makes sense for a lot of businesses, it’s not something that either small businesses or Hobbyists are used to nor do they like. 

At first the cost was prohibitive, but that’s lessened a bit, but still for a lot of people that want to buy and then hold for a few product cycles it proved to be a thorn in their side. 

I’m not here (nor will I) debate that subject. Nor am I here to do a full review of onOne Perfect Suite 8, which was released yesterday. I truly believe, it doesn’t matter much what I have to say about the software, they have a 30 day free trial so you have a whole month to take it for a spin and decide for yourself. 

But I am here to tell you that onOne Prefect Photo  Suite 8 IS a replacement for Photoshop/Lightroom if you so desire one and a good one at that.  Continue reading »

PRESS RELEASE:
onOne Software Announces Availability of Perfect Photo Suite 8

New Perfect Eraser for Content-Aware Fill, Enhance and Browse Modules, Perfect Batch Processor, and Re-imagined Effects Module Evolve Popular Plug-In Into a Complete Photo Editing Solution for Every Workflow