Lightroom Classic's Denise can show up details you may otherwise miss

[vikasmg]

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I slightly esoteric observation I spotted today.

I was trying out the Tri-Elmar-M 16-18-21 on an SL3 today and just for the fun of it I also processed the files with LR Denoise (set at 50).  I noticed that this revealed some detail that I would have otherwise missed.  For on-line use the issue may be a little moot because you may never see the image at full resolution unless it's cropped quite a bit.  But it's there for sure.  I have two images below one without Denoise applied and one with Denise applied at the maximum size the forum allows -long edge 2480 - each followed by a 1:1 crop with the long edge also at 2480.

The wood post near the middle of the cropped images has a handbag with the slim red cord slung over the post.  In the non-de noised image the cord can barely be seen but in the demonised version the cord is quite clear.  This is not to say that I would always prefer to Denoise images, because I think many images also loose a certain crispness.  Still, it was something that surprised me.

First the full image with no Denoise

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now the cropped section of the above image

 

Now, the Denoise enhanced version of the full image

now the cropped section of the above enhanced image

 

On looking at the images here the difference doesn't look as distinct as it does on my monitor.  However if you click through and look at the images at full resolution posted, you will see the difference more clearly.

 

 

Edited August 2, 2024 by vikasmg
Amended last paragraph.

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[Konqi]

vor 18 Minuten schrieb Al Brown:

I knew a Denise once. She was a very hot girl.

klick

[vikasmg]

4 hours ago, Al Brown said:

I knew a Denise once. She was a very hot girl.

😄 Ha ha!  Sorry for the error in the topic name.  Seems to be no way to fix it now!

[thighslapper]

I routinely use the latest AI version of LR denoise even on base ISO images from my 100mpx Fuji GFX

There appears to be very clever sharpening as well as noise reduction going on and the images do improve significantly. They also seem much more resilient when applying shadow recovery and other processes that often cause artefacts and image degradation. 

I've found a setting of ISO/10 on the slider seems to be the optimum ..... although even if you inadvertently apply 'too much' the results seem much about the same.

The file changes are even more marked with Fuji X-trans RAW files (the GFX is Bayer based) which have a notorious 'worm like' appearance which is very obvious when viewed at 200% and worsens with sharpening (*). Applying LR AI Denoise seems to completely eliminate this and greatly improves the files. 

I'm sure others may have noticed this but your post is the only mention of it I've seen anywhere on the web. 

(*) Fuji users have long complained about LR's poor rendering of X-Trans files, which in the past was even worse. 

Edited August 3, 2024 by thighslapper

[vikasmg]

Yes, it’s interesting.  I the case of these pictures I only noticed it at or near 1:1 scale but I’d be curious to see what happens with more difficult images in future.

[Jeff S]

16 hours ago, Konqi said:

klick

Denise is much older now. Original from 1963, by Randy and the Rainbows.

Jeff

[250swb]

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If you never yearned for the difference that Denise can give why would you use her services now? Ok I get it, sharpening algorithms and 'clarity' have evolved over the years, but if you never knew the difference why add to the eye scratching sharpness of images that don't need it? Over-sharp images are irritating, they distract from the subject, it adds a sharpened mask over images that could instead show some natural quality bokeh, and it's promoting digital techniques with little or no aesthetic quality other than trying to win a pixel war only dilettante's are interested in.

[pop]

22 minutes ago, 250swb said:

If you never yearned for the difference that Denise can give why would you use her services now? Ok I get it, sharpening algorithms and 'clarity' have evolved over the years, but if you never knew the difference why add to the eye scratching sharpness of images that don't need it? Over-sharp images are irritating, they distract from the subject, it adds a sharpened mask over images that could instead show some natural quality bokeh, and it's promoting digital techniques with little or no aesthetic quality other than trying to win a pixel war only dilettante's are interested in.

This thread is about de-noising, not about sharpening. You could argue that smoothing the noise introduced by the sensor will enhance the natural quality bokeh of the lens.

[vikasmg]

I’m a little lost in this argument - I just saw some unexpected benefit of the denoise process 🙂

[250swb]

9 hours ago, pop said:

This thread is about de-noising, not about sharpening. You could argue that smoothing the noise introduced by the sensor will enhance the natural quality bokeh of the lens.

Yes, I said if you never knew these things like De-noise (opening sentence if you missed it), fancy sharpening, or clarity existed (the usual ingredients people now use to overly improve an already good digital file) would you really think something was missing? To put it into context the pixel race is over and has been for a few yours now, so there's now a processing surge which in practical terms is very good for people who want to go back and re-do old files. But as we can see it introduces another era of pixel peeping even for people with cameras like an M11 or SL3. The balance of time spent has once again swung back to correcting 'faults' that would only exist in the size of print that will never be made.

[jaapv]

Umm… Isn’t this about progress in correcting technical faults? The fact that the techniques have improved does not justify the sanctification of noisy unsharp images.