4July2009
Using The Masks Feature In Noise Ninja
Posted by Rob_Nunn under: tutorials.
Noise Ninja, the noise reduction software and plug-in for Photoshop and Elements, is great, but an often over-looked feature is it’s ability to apply a mask to the noise filter. You may want to prevent NN from touching parts of the image to avoid loosing texture and detail.
It’s incredibly easy to do, so if you’re using, or thinking about using, Noise Ninja, have a practice and pretty soon you’ll become more selective on the areas of your photographs that you’ll let Noise Ninja filter for noise.
To start off, load an image into Photoshop or Elements, then fire up Noise Ninja, “Filter”, “Picturecode”, “Noise Ninja”.
Before we start masking, it may help to increase the size of the preview frame – in NN, “Noise Ninja”, “Preferences” then click the “Other” tab, and choose a bigger preview Window size.
Now click the “Noise Brush” tab, and take a look at the buttons:
What we’re going to be doing is painting a mask in the preview pane, in effect stopping NN from changing the pixels behind the mask. You can change the size and hardness of your brush, look at the original pixels, see the mask, erase parts of your mask, or “Erase Mask” and start again.
In my image, I don’t want NN to work on the road, which is naturally “Noisy”, so I choose a large brush and simply paint over the road in the photograph. Easy.
Once you’re done, just click OK, the Noise Filter will be applied (as will your mask) and you’ll be sent back to Photoshop to finish your editing.
Have a play, experiment, and learn to get more out of Noise Ninja!
Cheers, Rob.
PS You could of course get a similar effect by duplicating your image on a different layer, applying NN to one of the layers, adding a layer mask, and then by “painting in / out” the NN filter.
30June2009
Canon EOS 350D Noise Ninja Profiles For Free Download
Posted by Rob_Nunn under: news.
As an occasional user of the Noise Ninja noise reduction software, usually in the Photoshop plug-in form, I took half an hour a couple of days ago to create some custom profiles for the Canon EOS 350D Digital SLR.
They consist of basic profiles, ISO 100 – 1600, taken with a 50mm F1.8 lens, with no exposure compensation, using the Noise Ninja Chart displayed on my monitor.
To install them, save the profiles to your hard-drive, unzip them, fire up Noise Ninja, then click “Profiles”, “Install Profiles” and point the browser at the folder where you’ve unzipped the files.
Download the Canon EOS 350d Noise Ninja Profiles here.
Cheers, Rob.
21July2008
Noise Ninja Custom Profiles For Fujifilm Finepix S5700 S700 Download
Posted by Rob_Nunn under: software.
If you’re using the excellent Noise Ninja noise reduction software, and have a Fuji Finepix S5700 or S700 Digital Camera, you may be interested in downloading the custom profiles I’ve created.
7July2008
Using Noise Ninja To Clean Up Your Photographs
Posted by Rob_Nunn under: reviews; software.
Noise. The bane of the Digital Photographers. In the days of film, it was called “grain”, and it made images look more artistic, stylish and cool. Unfortunately Digital Noise isn’t as pretty, as is sadly evident when you use higher ISO settings in low light or situations where you’re worried about camera shake and what a faster shutter speed.
One answer (apart from always using ISO 100 or 64), is the Photoshop or stand-alone programme, Noise Ninja. So does it work? Lets look at a few images.
