reducing noise and sharpening by painting??

I’m kind of in a bind. I am by no means an expert when it comes to PS CS, but here’s what I need to do:

The picture I have is of a landscape (basically trees, water and sky), but it has two shortcomings: excessive noise and lack of sharpness. For the noise, I have tried the various blurs of CS as well as turned to programs like Neat Image, etc, but the noise is enough that if removed to make the picture look good, I am left with an "oil painting" type result. The noise
already present means that I can’t really sharpen the picture without more noise as a result. Recently, I came across some information suggesting that
I could carefully repaint the picture and because of the repainting process,
the noise would be reduced. I have been attempting this for a week now using the various brushes and settings, but the transition between fine details is too sharp and the paint itself leaves the impression of a bit of
oil painting. I think this method shows a lot of potential though and, even
though it looks like it’s going to take a lot of time, I *think* if I can learn a better technique, the end result might be astonishing. I’d just like to mention that I have tried blurring the edges of freshly painted areas as well as applying the paint in very small opacity in many layers. There’s still too much smoothness and the especially the edges are too sharp. I want the repainting to be subtle, like as if the original picture
was taken under perfect conditions. Am I asking too much, or is it possible
and where can I find tips on this technique and a better method than the one
I have been using?

Thank you in advance for any responses,
Larry Samwells

I’m kind of in a bind. I am by no means an expert when it comes to PS CS, but here’s what I need to do:

The picture I have is of a landscape (basically trees, water and sky), but it has two shortcomings: excessive noise and lack of sharpness. For the noise, I have tried the various blurs of CS as well as turned to programs like Neat Image, etc, but the noise is enough that if removed to make the picture look good, I am left with an "oil painting" type result. The noise already present means that I can’t really sharpen the picture without more noise as a result. Recently, I came across some information suggesting that I could carefully repaint the picture and because of the repainting process, the noise would be reduced. I have been attempting this for a week now using the various brushes and settings, but the transition between fine details is too sharp and the paint itself leaves the impression of a bit of oil painting. I think this method shows a lot of potential though and, even though it looks like it’s going to take a lot of time, I *think* if I can learn a better technique, the end result might be astonishing. I’d just like to mention that I have tried blurring the edges of freshly painted areas as well as applying the paint in very small opacity in many layers. There’s still too much smoothness and the especially the edges are too sharp. I want the repainting to be subtle, like as if the original picture was taken under perfect conditions. Am I asking too much, or is it possible and where can I find tips on this technique and a better method than the one I have been using?

Thank you in advance for any responses,
Larry Samwells

Could you post a copy of the photo on the web somewhere? The last time somebody posted a similar message a few people regarded it

a challenge and had a go at it

www.micromountain.com

"Larry Samwells" wrote in message

I’m kind of in a bind. I am by no means an expert when it comes to PS

but here’s what I need to do:

The picture I have is of a landscape (basically trees, water and sky),

it has two shortcomings: excessive noise and lack of sharpness. For the noise, I have tried the various blurs of CS as well as turned to

like Neat Image, etc, but the noise is enough that if removed to make

picture look good, I am left with an "oil painting" type result. The noise
already present means that I can’t really sharpen the picture without

noise as a result. Recently, I came across some information suggesting that
I could carefully repaint the picture and because of the repainting process,
the noise would be reduced. I have been attempting this for a week now using the various brushes and settings, but the transition between fine details is too sharp and the paint itself leaves the impression of a bit of
oil painting. I think this method shows a lot of potential though and, even
though it looks like it’s going to take a lot of time, I *think* if I

learn a better technique, the end result might be astonishing. I’d just like to mention that I have tried blurring the edges of freshly painted areas as well as applying the paint in very small opacity in many

There’s still too much smoothness and the especially the edges are too sharp. I want the repainting to be subtle, like as if the original picture
was taken under perfect conditions. Am I asking too much, or is it possible
and where can I find tips on this technique and a better method than the one
I have been using?

Thank you in advance for any responses,
Larry Samwells

Larry Samwells wrote:

I’m kind of in a bind. I am by no means an expert when it comes to PS

but here’s what I need to do:

The picture I have is of a landscape (basically trees, water and sky),

it has two shortcomings: excessive noise and lack of sharpness. For the noise, I have tried the various blurs of CS as well as turned to

like Neat Image, etc, but the noise is enough that if removed to make

picture look good, I am left with an "oil painting" type result. The

already present means that I can’t really sharpen the picture without

noise as a result. Recently, I came across some information suggesting

I could carefully repaint the picture and because of the repainting

the noise would be reduced. I have been attempting this for a week now using the various brushes and settings, but the transition between fine details is too sharp and the paint itself leaves the impression of a bit

oil painting. I think this method shows a lot of potential though and,

though it looks like it’s going to take a lot of time, I *think* if I

learn a better technique, the end result might be astonishing. I’d just like to mention that I have tried blurring the edges of freshly painted areas as well as applying the paint in very small opacity in many

There’s still too much smoothness and the especially the edges are too sharp. I want the repainting to be subtle, like as if the original

was taken under perfect conditions. Am I asking too much, or is it

and where can I find tips on this technique and a better method than the

I have been using?

Thank you in advance for any responses,
Larry Samwells

Ah, starting from a bad picture and trying to make it good. That’s always a tough one.

I think about the only thing you can do is play around in Neat Image some more. I don’t have that, but I’m sure my Noise Ninja works much the same. For those really noisy picture that I get (I have one camera that is very bad at high ISOs), you may only want to get rid of some of the noise. I get NN to find the noise and then I adjust the sliders to get rid of a much as possible WITHOUT getting that painterly effect. Usually that doesn’t get rid of all the noise.

Then again, the human eye can usually handle some noise. I think back to all that Ilford Delta 3200 film that I shot in the past. It sure was grainy, but we lived with it. So, your picture is likely to be more usable with some noise than it would be looking like an oil painting.
Of course, you could really make it look like a painting and go with the flow. Dig out your Corel Painter and have fun. There are ways in PS too.
Clyde

I’m kind of in a bind. I am by no means an expert when it comes to PS CS, but here’s what I need to do:

The picture I have is of a landscape (basically trees, water and sky), but it has two shortcomings: excessive noise and lack of sharpness. For the noise, I have tried the various blurs of CS as well as turned to programs like Neat Image, etc, but the noise is enough that if removed to make the picture look good, I am left with an "oil painting" type result. The noise already present means that I can’t really sharpen the picture without more noise as a result. Recently, I came across some information suggesting that I could carefully repaint the picture and because of the repainting process, the noise would be reduced. I have been attempting this for a week now using the various brushes and settings, but the transition between fine details is too sharp and the paint itself leaves the impression of a bit of oil painting. I think this method shows a lot of potential though and, even though it looks like it’s going to take a lot of time, I *think* if I can learn a better technique, the end result might be astonishing. I’d just like to mention that I have tried blurring the edges of freshly painted areas as well as applying the paint in very small opacity in many layers. There’s still too much smoothness and the especially the edges are too sharp. I want the repainting to be subtle, like as if the original picture was taken under perfect conditions. Am I asking too much, or is it possible and where can I find tips on this technique and a better method than the one I have been using?

Thank you in advance for any responses,
Larry Samwells

Larry Samwells wrote:

I’m kind of in a bind. I am by no means an expert when it comes to PS CS, but here’s what I need to do:

The picture I have is of a landscape (basically trees, water and sky), but it has two shortcomings: excessive noise and lack of sharpness. For the noise, I have tried the various blurs of CS as well as turned to programs like Neat Image, etc, but the noise is enough that if removed to make the picture look good, I am left with an "oil painting" type result. The noise already present means that I can’t really sharpen the picture without more noise as a result. Recently, I came across some information suggesting that I could carefully repaint the picture and because of the repainting process, the noise would be reduced. I have been attempting this for a week now using the various brushes and settings, but the transition between fine details is too sharp and the paint itself leaves the impression of a bit of oil painting. I think this method shows a lot of potential though and, even though it looks like it’s going to take a lot of time, I *think* if I can learn a better technique, the end result might be astonishing. I’d just like to mention that I have tried blurring the edges of freshly painted areas as well as applying the paint in very small opacity in many layers. There’s still too much smoothness and the especially the edges are too sharp. I want the repainting to be subtle, like as if the original picture was taken under perfect conditions. Am I asking too much, or is it possible and where can I find tips on this technique and a better method than the one I have been using?

Thank you in advance for any responses,
Larry Samwells

larry, very good tool for reducing a noise is a kodak digital gem plugin for PS, but is expensive. Another (even more expensive 🙁 ), is LaserSoft SilverFast DCPro Studio / GANE filter (DCPro is really amazing sw). however, what you can do for free is to try next: in photoshop, use noise/despeckle, and then edit/fade despeckle. hope this will help.

regards,

vladimir

Ah, starting from a bad picture and trying to make it good. That’s always a tough one.

I think about the only thing you can do is play around in Neat Image some more. I don’t have that, but I’m sure my Noise Ninja works much the same. For those really noisy picture that I get (I have one camera that is very bad at high ISOs), you may only want to get rid of some of the noise. I get NN to find the noise and then I adjust the sliders to get rid of a much as possible WITHOUT getting that painterly effect. Usually that doesn’t get rid of all the noise.

I have both NN and Neat Image as well. Both offer the ability to create a noise sample for the camera used utilizing a checkerboard color pattern with the camera at the same exposure settings as when I took the pic. I haven’t done this, but it would require quite a bit of effort as the images are already "stacked" to help reduce the noise already there. I suppose I could take 15 or so images to be used as noise prints for NN or Neat Image. But my big question is: is a custom noise print created this way worth the effort? Would it in fact filter better than just using a sample from the same image like I’m doing now? If it is worth the effort and would really help reduce the noise without creating artifacts, I’m willing to try but only as a last resort because it will be difficult to recreate the same exposure settings in the camera.

Larry