If you are viewing on mobile, I suggest going straight to those full size jpegs to review the images and using pinch to zoom to inspect closely. I have also posted a link to the full-size jpegs for those who might prefer to make their own comparisons.

Today I wanted to investigate three different methods of noise reduction for digital photos and answer a question that has been on my mind for a while: how do different post-production noise reduction techniques compare? Do the differences even matter? To do this, I compared the same photo with noise reduction applied using three different software methods: Topaz DeNoise AI, DXO Photolab 4 DeepPRIME, and Lightroom Noise Reduction. Early in my hobby I was quick to throw away images with noise, but with great improvements in noise reduction software technologies, reasonable improvements can be made to even the most noisy images. These issues, coupled with limited budgets with which to buy expensive lenses that fare best in low light conditions can only lead to one thing: noisy images. When photographing wildlife, there are a number of challenges that affect the quality of the final photograph:ġ) the need to shoot in low-light when many wildlife are most active,Ģ) the lack of reach due to far-off subjects or “too short” lenses, which necessitates cropping to get a desirable compositionģ) sometimes subjects are fast moving and dropping the shutter speed to compensate for low light is not an option Unlike working with human subjects or in a studio, wildlife are unpredictable, and rarely are conditions ideal for getting the best quality photo possible.

Download Topaz Photo AI 1.3.2