This article is for the photographers, and nerds. The issue of high ISO, and noise in photographs came up in a recent Owl article here.  I had the same conversations with my friend David Ramage one afternoon, he is a current user of Topaz DeNoise.

And so…

Above is the RAW image, in DeNoise, after being selected from the ‘edit in’ Lightroom option. I use DeNoise as a plug in. (click above to see screen options)

ISO in the above is 12,800! Huge. DeNoise previewed the photo in a zoom when opened, it shows an image that is ready for the ‘delete’ key. Great shot, but horrid ISO.

In the above I do not have Topaz set to ‘auto-update’ the image on changes, it takes time so I click the button when I want it.

I also do not have the ‘auto-detect’ selected. I use it, it can work.

The software is simple, it should be, it’s a tool.

Notice in the above there are two types of noise options. DeNoise and Clear. Clear is the simple, and somewhat faster method. It works many times.

Above is a photograph ‘cleaned up’. Click to review the results.

In the sample I let the program do the work. I also used the Clear option and the Auto-Detect. Next I clicked the Auto-Update button, let it ‘chug’ a little, and this is what I have.

Version 2.1.2 is what I use. There were some significant updates. The software is faster. Hey, it uses AI and various algorithms to get results so it is still slow.  Previous versions were so slow it was the option of last resort. It’s better now.

The standalone software is full price US $ 80.00. There are discounts available. If you are interested download the trail, use it, and a coupon should come your way.

Important !!! You must create an account (no credit card) to download. That’s normal, however… do not lose the account info or change anything prior to purchase. The account and software will get confused.

To end here;

I don’t use any other Topaz products. I try to keep things simple, never do composites, rarely HDR. ISO is always an issue with nature photography. I use Lightroom first, then NIK Define or Topaz.

Hope this helps.