Why I Always Denoise Before I Edit (Lightroom and Camera Raw)

Digital cameras have become incredibly good at producing clean images in low light. Some cameras can produce surprisingly clean results even at very high ISOs. However, even the best camera will produce some amount of noise, even if you shoot at the lowest ISO.

For Adobe Lightroom and Camera Raw users, AI-powered Denoise has made it easier than ever to remove noise without significantly reducing image quality. But a few questions remain:

• Is it necessary to remove noise from images taken at low ISO?

• At what point in the editing process should you remove noise?

• If you have a very noisy image, will you lose detail by using Denoise?

I’ll answer all of these questions and share a few helpful editing tricks in this article. For more information, watch the video below.

https://youtu.be/5XfT_a5309s

If you have any trouble watching the video above, you can also watch it here.

The Definition of Digital Noise

Digital noise is essentially unwanted variation in the pixels of an image. It often appears as random specks of brightness or color, especially in areas of shadow or other areas with little detail. Noise is most obvious when you shoot at high ISO, but ISO isn't the only factor. Underexposure can also create significant noise, which will become especially noticeable when you brighten shadows during post-processing. Long exposures can introduce noise as well.

Even when you shoot at base ISO and make a good exposure, there will still be some noise in the image. You might not notice it when viewing the photograph normally, but it becomes more apparent when you zoom in or make significant adjustments to the image.

How Does Adobe Denoise Actually Work?

Adobe's Denoise tool (found in both Lightroom and Camera Raw) uses artificial intelligence to analyze the image and distinguish between actual detail and digital noise. It then removes the noise while attempting to preserve important details such as texture, edges, and fine patterns.

Traditional noise-reduction tools work by smoothing pixels together, which can reduce noise but also soften fine details. AI-powered Denoise is much more sophisticated. The result can be especially impressive with images shot at high ISO, as you'll see in the video.

There is one important thing to understand, though: Denoise isn't magic. If an image is extremely noisy, there will be limits to what it can recover. That's why good exposure is still incredibly important!

Why Denoise at the Beginning?

Simple: Adobe has a preferred order of operations and wants you to do Denoise before applying any AI-powered masks or removal. If you apply Denoise after, you might notice some unsightly artifacts. So, it's easiest to just start your editing session by applying Denoise first, which saves you the trouble of having to recalculate AI-powered tools if you apply Denoise later in the process.

Why Use Denoise on Images That Don't Look Noisy?

The answer is that you're probably looking at the image before you've pushed it very far in post-processing. When I edit a photograph, I often make adjustments to contrast, shadows, highlights, and color. These adjustments can make subtle noise much more visible. So the noise is in there; applying Denoise will clean up that noise even if it isn't readily apparent when you first start editing. Also, if noise is minimal, Denoise won't have any noticeable negative effect on detail; since there is no penalty for Denoising a relatively clean image, there's really no reason not to do it.

Denoise & High-ISO Photography

When I'm photographing in low light, I often have to make compromises. If I know that I can clean up the noise later, I'm much more comfortable using a higher ISO to get the shot. This is particularly useful for night photography, wildlife, and other situations where getting more light onto the sensor isn't always possible.

Of course, I still try to use the lowest ISO that allows me to get the exposure I need. Denoise isn't an excuse to ignore good camera technique, but if the choice is between a noisy photograph and no photograph at all, I'll take the noisy photograph every time. You can't fix a photograph that you never captured.

However, even though Lightroom's AI Denoise does a remarkably good job of preserving detail, applying too much noise reduction can give an image an unnaturally smooth or processed appearance. Subtle details in things like feathers, foliage, hair, or distant landscape features can start to look very unnatural. To avoid this, make sure to zoom in and look closely at areas with fine detail. Adobe recommends using the Denoise intensity slider to adjust the strength of the effect rather than treating it as an all-or-nothing adjustment.

Other Noise Reduction Programs

If you use Lightroom or Camera Raw, Adobe Denoise means that you don't need to use another program for noise reduction. Apply the workflow I recommend above and you shouldn't need to do any noise reduction later on.

If you are using an alternative for your image editing, then you might need a third-party noise reduction program, like Topaz Photo or ON1 NoNoise AI. Both of these programs are excellent alternatives to using Adobe Denoise.

Conclusion

Applying Denoise is a smart first step when editing photos in Adobe Lightroom or Camera Raw. Just remember, although Denoise can clean up a noisy photograph very well, you're still going to lose some detail with noisy images, so use lower ISOs and proper exposure technique whenever possible.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments!