Can Lightroom Classic’s new Denoise AI help you eliminate noise?

Adobe Lightroom Classic has a new AI-powered Denoise feature? Can it help you? Read on!

About Lightroom Classic AI-powered Denoise

Adobe states that using artificial intelligence, Lightroom Classic v 12.3 now efficiently removes noise while preserving details. At present, Denoise only runs on Bayer or X-Trans RAW images. Curious, I updated this latest version of Lightroom Classic to see how it would work.

Four easy steps to denoising

Adobe made the new Denoise function incredibly easy to use. I’ll walk you through the process.

Step 1. Select Denoise in the Details Panel to the right. You may also select Photo > Enhance from the menu.

Step 2. “Denoise” is probably already selected if you clicked on Denoise through the Details Panel. If not, check the box. 

Step 3. Use the slider to adjust the intensity of Denoise. If you press and hold on the preview window, you can see your original image prior to denoising.

Step 4. Click enhance to process the image to a new DNG file. The file will have “-Enhance-NR” appended to it. And Lightroom will of course place it next to the original source image.

Comparisons

Of course we have comparisons! 

Comparisons when Denoise is set at 30 out of 100

I compared a single exposure photo of the Milky Way in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. I used a Nikon D750 with with an Irix 15mm f/2.4 prime lens.

The settings were 15 seconds at f/2.5 with an ISO of 4000. With settings like these, of course you will get some noise. But could we get rid of it just by moving a single slider and pressing “Enhance”? Let’s have a look!

Left: original file. Right: Denoised file. 100% view with Denoise at 30.

Left: original file. Right: Denoised file. 300% zoom view with Denoise at 30.

Comparisons when Denoise is set at 50 out of 100

Left: original file. Right: Denoised file. 100% view with Denoise at 50.

Left: original file. Right: Denoised file. 300% zoom view with Denoise at 50.

Analysis of the applied noise reduction

Any noise reduction system or just about any other setting can look bad when you apply too much enhancement. The new AI-powered Denoise in Lightroom Classic is no exception.

Of course, everyone has personal tastes. I found that for this high-ISO Milky Way photo, I preferred a setting around 30, shown in the first two examples. I found that the noise was satisfactorily eliminated while retaining detail. The darker areas around the mountain were kept intact but didn’t look “fake” and “plastic-like”.

When Denoise was set to 50, the shadowy areas of the mountain began looking very “plastic” and over-processed to me.

Denoise also addressed color noise, the little spots of noise that are easily visible in the sky, while leaving the stars alone.

Simple but effective

I also must confess that I was pleasantly surprised at how well this worked. When I saw that Denoise was controlled by just one slider, I was a bit dubious. But I must say that it retains detail and applies noise reduction, well, intelligently.

Above: This and the header photo were processed using only Lightroom Classic, including their new AI-powered Denoise feature. This is from the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. Nikon D750 and Irix 15mm f/2.4 lens. I used a single exposure as an example of a high-ISO photo so you could see how the new Denoise feature works.

Other notes from Adobe

Adobe recommends that you denoise your image before applying AI masks and Content Aware. Applying noise reduction prior to other tools is generally good practice anyway.

Once the image has been enhanced with Denoise or Super Resolution, you may not process it again. However, enhanced Raw Details DNGs can be processed with Denoise.

Adobe also states that Denoise is a GPU-intensive feature. In other words, it’s perfectly normal for the process to take a while. And it’s also better if you use a faster GPU for Denoise and its other Enhance features.

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BOOKS AND PRINTS:
Head on over to the Ken Lee Photography website to purchase books or look at night photography and long exposure prints and more.  My books are available there and Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Target, Booktopia, Books A Million, IBS, and Aladin. If you enjoy the book, please leave a nice review, thanks!

NIGHTAXIANS VIDEO YOUTUBE PODCAST:

Night photographers Tim Little, Mike Cooper and I all use Pentax gear. We discuss this, gear, adventures, light painting, lenses, night photography, creativity, and more in this ongoing YouTube podcast. Subscribe and watch to the Nightaxians today!

SOCIAL MEDIA:
Ken Lee Photography Facebook Page (poke your head in, say hi, and “like” the page if you would, uh, like)
Instagram

PODCAST:
Behind the Shot video podcast – interview February 2020

VIDEO PRESENTATION:

How We Got the Shots: Five Photographers, Five Stories – Night Photo Summit 2022

VIDEO INTERVIEW:

Ken Lee’s Abandoned Trains Planes and Automobiles with Tim Little of Cape Nights Photography
Conversation about night photography and my book with Lance Keimig of National Park At Night

ARTICLES:
A Photographer Captures Haunting Nighttime Images of Abandoned Buildings, Planes, and Cars in the American Southwest – Business Insider by Erin McDowell
A Photographer Explores Southern California’s Desert Ruins – Los Angeles Magazine article by Chris Nichols

 

Advertisement

We asked ChatGPT for the five best night photography cameras

ChatGPT uses AI to offer information to responses — or sometimes create fascinating conversation. I asked ChatGPT what the five night photography cameras were. And it offered some poetry as well.

Just for fun, I decided to ask ChatGPT to offer an opinion about the top five night photography cameras. I’ll share how it responded after briefly describing ChatGPT.

What is ChatGPT?

Getting ready to help the public! Image generated by Dream. AI.

ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence deep learning program developed by OpenAI. And yes, our favorite Twitter guy, Elon Musk is involved. In 2015, Musk, along with Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, Ilya Sutskever and Wojciech Zaremba, founded OpenAI, an artificial intelligence research organization.

ChatGPT is based on GPT-3, the third model of the natural language processing project. The technology uses GPT-3 architecture to scour an immense pool of internet data and sources to build its knowledge base.

The language model can answer questions, and assist you with tasks such as composing emails, essays, and code. Or give you hints on night photography cameras or write poetry, as it turns out.

OK, now let’s see what ChatGPT has to say about night photography cameras.

ChatGPT, what are the top five cameras for night photography?

Space alien robot. Night photo, Vasquez Rocks, CA.

As an AI language model, I do not have personal opinions or preferences, but here are five cameras that are often recommended for night photography based on their features and capabilities:

Sony Alpha a7S III: This full-frame mirrorless camera has excellent low-light capabilities with a high sensitivity range and impressive image quality, making it a popular choice for night photography.

Nikon D850: This DSLR camera features a high resolution and large sensor, along with advanced autofocus and noise reduction technology, making it a strong performer in low-light conditions.

Canon EOS R5: Another full-frame mirrorless camera, the Canon EOS R5 boasts impressive image quality and excellent low-light performance, thanks to its advanced autofocus and image stabilization technologies.

Fujifilm X-T4: This mirrorless camera is compact and lightweight, making it a great option for night photography on the go. It also features advanced autofocus and image stabilization technologies, as well as a high ISO range.

Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III: This mirrorless camera is another compact option with excellent low-light capabilities and advanced autofocus technology. It also features in-body image stabilization, making it easier to capture sharp images in low-light conditions.

It’s worth noting that there are many other cameras that are capable of producing excellent night photography results, and the best choice ultimately depends on your specific needs and preferences.ChatGPT

Observations

Two space alien robots and their space ships. Trona, CA.

What’s fascinating about the response is the additional information it provides about each camera. But also, these aren’t specifically canned responses. I asked this question again, and it gave me a slightly different answer. On the second list, the D850, EOS R5 and X-T4 were the same. However, the two other cameras were different. The conclusion was also slightly different, mentioning accessories and lenses.

And no, it didn’t mention the Pentax K-1 or Nikon Z9 during the first two attempts.

Is ChatGPT Sentient?

In a word, no. It’s programmed to generate responses based on patterns and algorithms from its enormous pool of internet data. I suppose what’s startling is how human it often seems and where it will go from here. After all, we’re in the infancy of AI.

Whether machines will gain sentience is up for debate. But certainly, we’ve seen some fascinating science-fiction depictions involving SkyNet, androids on “Star Trek,” and more. We’ve pondered this collectively for a while.

Poetry

Night photo of a strange robot monster in the Mojave Desert.

I promised poetry. And not to worry, you’ll get it. After all, you do turn to my Photofocus articles for all your photographic poetry needs, do you not?

Here, I asked ChatGPT to offer up some haiku.

You’ll notice my polite request. I realize ChatGPT is not sentient. But better safe than sorry.

ChatGPT, please write a haiku about taking night photos in the desert. Thanks.

Poetry in motion. Star trails over Joshua Tree National Park, CA.

In the desert night

Silent camera captures stars

Desert dreams in sightChatGPT

Great. I think ChatGPT writes haikus better than I do.

If you have opinions about artificial intelligence in art, ChatGPT and its abilities, AI in general, whether machines will ever become sentient, or night photography poetry, please leave them in the comments below. An actual sentient human will respond.

“I’m ready for all your chatting needs!” Image generated by Dream. AI.

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VISIT ME, VISIT ME!

BOOKS AND PRINTS:
Head on over to the Ken Lee Photography website to purchase books or look at night photography and long exposure prints and more.  My books are available there and Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Target, Booktopia, Books A Million, IBS, and Aladin. If you enjoy the book, please leave a nice review, thanks!

NIGHTAXIANS VIDEO YOUTUBE PODCAST:

Night photographers Tim Little, Mike Cooper and I all use Pentax gear. We discuss this, gear, adventures, light painting, lenses, night photography, creativity, and more in this ongoing YouTube podcast. Subscribe and watch to the Nightaxians today!

SOCIAL MEDIA:
Ken Lee Photography Facebook Page (poke your head in, say hi, and “like” the page if you would, uh, like)
Instagram

PODCAST:
Behind the Shot video podcast – interview February 2020

VIDEO PRESENTATION:

How We Got the Shots: Five Photographers, Five Stories – Night Photo Summit 2022

VIDEO INTERVIEW:

Ken Lee’s Abandoned Trains Planes and Automobiles with Tim Little of Cape Nights Photography
Conversation about night photography and my book with Lance Keimig of National Park At Night

ARTICLES:
A Photographer Captures Haunting Nighttime Images of Abandoned Buildings, Planes, and Cars in the American Southwest – Business Insider by Erin McDowell
A Photographer Explores Southern California’s Desert Ruins – Los Angeles Magazine article by Chris Nichols

 

The Battle of AI: Adobe Sky Replacement vs. Luminar 4 AI Sky Replacement

Recently, in conjunction with the October 2020 Adobe MAX Creativity Conference, Adobe released the eagerly awaited version of Photoshop version 22.0, which comes with quite a few new features, many of which are powered by AI. 

Sky Replacement

One of the most anticipated features in Photoshop is their AI-powered Sky Replacement. While I don’t generally replace skies, I do take low-ISO night or “blue hour” twilight photos of the foreground, then take successive “stacked” photos of the night sky, and then blend them together. This can be time-consuming, so I am always interested in ways to quicken the process. 

Luminar 4 AI Sky Replacement vs. Adobe Sky Replacement

I’ve used Luminar 4’s AI Sky Replacement to do “drop in” my own sky before. I was curious as to how it would compare with Photoshop Sky Replacement.

Luminar 4 can only use JPG or TIFF files. There is no such limitation with Adobe. When used in Photoshop, Luminar 4 will create another layer. Photoshop offers the choice of creating another layer or a duplicate layer, including all the masks and the layer of the sky that come with it.

Another difference is that Photoshop version 22 has so far been absurdly slow for almost every function on my 2017 iMac with 40 GB of RAM. Photoshop 2020 was also very slow. Luminar 4, and for that matter, Photoshop 2019, run very quickly. Not everyone experiences this, but it’s worth mentioning.

First example – night photo

I began with a photo that I took of an unprocessed 3 minute low-ISO photo of a radio telescope taken at night. Luminar 4 struggled with identifying the night sky. How would Adobe fare?

Adobe recognized the night sky as being a sky, but struggled to determine what was sky and what was not. And as previously mentioned, I had the choice of creating a duplicate layer, which would allow me to tweak the layer further in a non-destructive manner. In this example, I chose one of Adobe’s skies, as numerous skies come with the program.

Above, you can see that Luminar’s Sky Replacement feature is ghosted. It could not recognize the night sky at all.

Second example – blue hour photo

I chose a “blue hour” photo of a lake in the Eastern Sierras, taken not long after the sun had set. I decided that this time, I would “drop in” one of my skies, a “stacked” Milky Way photo taken with the same setup later that evening.

Adobe performed quite admirably here, dropping in the sky, although I did have to adjust the size slightly to get it to match. This was easily done.

Next was Luminar 4. Luminar recognized the sky but struggled with both the blending of the sky itself as well as the horizon. Luminar struggles with darker skies. If I had increased the brightness of the Eastern Sierras photos by a stop or two, it would have been fine.

Third example – day photo with lots of trees

All examples of both programs use day photos for sky replacement. And for good reason. Both their AI recognize it very well. But how would they recognize something complicated such as trees with lots of fine leaves? 

I used a bright day photo of the forest in Mount Pinos in the mountains north of Los Angeles as the base photo. I decided to use the same Milky Way photo as the previous attempt. This would look incredibly fake. However, I felt the darkness would create greater contrast. We could then  examine the blend by zooming in close to see what was happening with the leaves of the trees.

Adobe’s Sky Replacement didn’t struggle to determine where the sky was here. First appearances looked good.

Next was Luminar 4. This also performed admirably. Although a little darker than the Adobe version, this could have been easily adjusted by using a slider. First appearances also looked good!

I’m ready for my close-up!

For Instagram or Facebook, either sky replacement would look good. But what if we zoomed in? What if we printed this at 100%? For this, I zoomed in to 200% so you could see the masking in detail. 

Looking closely at the details of the leaves and branches in the Photoshop version above, we can see that it’s generally quite good, but that some of the branches and leaves are missing.

Examining Luminar 4’s version above, we can see that the leaves and branches are noticeably more intact. The mask, even zoomed in at 200%, is quite good.

Which one is better?

 I don’t know that there is a clear, definitive winner here. We all love “bottom line” answers, and I would give you one if I had one.

For day photos, Luminar 4 created a better mask. It requires JPGs, although in practice, I doubt this will matter with almost anyone.

However, for night photos, Luminar 4 struggled immensely. Photoshop was able to create a mask even with the very dark night photo of the radio telescope, no easy feat. And with the ability to duplicate layers, one could work on the mask some more to get it to blend better.

I for one am happy to have both. And with Luminar^AI and subsequent versions of Photoshop looming on the horizon, I’d say that things are looking good. Whatever your position on sky replacement, we all can agree that if AI can make our repetitive or time-consuming tasks faster, then we all win.

I thought I would share this just for fun. I finished this after I created the examples above, experimenting with both Photoshop and Luminar 4. This is a photo of the radio telescope facing north. This is a version of the first photo combined with “stacked’ photos of the starry night sky to reduce noise reduction. I masked this using a combination of Starry Landscape Stacker and Photoshop CC 2019.

 

VISIT ME, VISIT ME!

MY WEBSITE:
Head on over to the Ken Lee Photography website to purchase books or look at night photography and long exposure photos.  My latest book, “Abandoned Southern California: The Slowing of Time” is available there and Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Target, Booktopia, Books A Million, IBS, and Aladin. If you enjoy the book, please leave a nice review.

SOCIAL MEDIA:
Ken Lee Photography Facebook Page (poke your head in, say hi, and “like” the page if you would, uh, like)
Instagram

PODCAST:
Behind the Shot video podcast – interview February 2020

VIDEO INTERVIEW:
Conversation about night photography and my book with Lance Keimig of National Park At Night

ARTICLES:
A Photographer Captures Haunting Nighttime Images of Abandoned Buildings, Planes, and Cars in the American Southwest – Business Insider by Erin McDowell
A Photographer Explores Southern California’s Desert Ruins – Los Angeles Magazine article by Chris Nichols