Iso 1600

[pressld2]

Originally Posted by d70mpv

I didn't realise that Neat Image is a free download, I'll be plugging that into Photoshop right away. Shame there's no plugin for Lightroom

Ah, what we really need is the ability to use masks and layers in Lightroom so the we can apply adjustments to certain parts of the image only. At the moment the only way I know to do this is to create two conversions from the raw file, one with the noise reduction sliders up high for the background and another with them set much lower to retain detail in the main subject. Open up one of them in your editor (I use Paintshop Pro but any editor that supports layers will be fine) and paste the other over the top as a new layer. Then simply erase the bits of the top layer that you don't want to allow the background image to show through. When you're done, flatten it down to a single layer again.

I tend to use the more detailed, low NR version as the background and paste the high NR version on top. That way I'm erasing over the main subject rather than the background. You can do it the other way around but in most of my photos the subject is smaller (in terms of image area) than the background so it's slightly quicker to do it this way.

Dave P.