Being
keen on digital photography for a long time, I
have been drawn to Akvis when ever they have a new
release. They have such a user friendly website
with clear concise instructions on how to operate
their software that surely must appeal to all
levels of computer users.
In the not too distant past the average family photographer probably thought noise was just a grainy poor quality photograph that should head for the bin. Nowadays, with a variety of monthly digital photography magazines and a wealth of informative websites everyone is much more clued up. A lot more people now know what noise actually is, the small intrusive coloured flecks that appear where clear solid colour should be and the larger the photograph the more noticeable the flecks become. I find this particularly irritating on portraits. A digital SLR camera produces a much clearer almost noise free photograph due to the larger image sensor, but swapping the bulky size of a digital SLR to an unobtrusive digital compact does have it’s drawbacks and one of them is noise. Digital compacts, due to their small sensors are only able to produce noise free images at their lowest ISO setting i.e 50 – 100 any higher and the noise begins to crash in, hence you end up with small prints because anything larger than a 6” x 4” print will show a distinct fuzziness. This is where Noise Buster version 6 kicks in. A stand alone program or a plug-in for PC and MAC that is compatible with most major photo editing software. A histogram analyses your photo letting you know instantly which parameters need tweaking and with auto selected it tweaks itself. I personally found that the automatic preset worked extremely well and gave a good result . For those whose trained eye hones in on the tiniest amount of noise with loathing there are sliders that will independently deal with Luminance noise, (an intense variation of pixels sometimes described as grain) and colour noise, (random blue and red pixels) without losing other detail. The microdetail tab as the name suggests allows a little more tweaking of the elements without compromising any further noise and by ticking the unsharp mask you can further regulate the sharpness, contrast and blurring of the edges. What is also really helpful is that by hovering over each filter a short paragraph becomes visible explaining just how the filter can assist you. For those whom time is money, batch processing enables you to rectify photos taken in comparable situations with the same settings.
All in all Noise Buster is a ‘must have ‘. It may seem a boring and slightly technical program compared to other Akvis programs like ‘Coloriage’ that turns black and white into colour, or ‘Sketch’ that can turn photographs into pencil drawings but Noise Buster holds a very important place in your collection if you want to turn amateur photos into professional photos, and for the professional photographer, it’s a quicker way to get the result you want.
Check out the AKVIS website for, in all honesty, there are a host of ‘must have's and all very reasonably priced.
In the not too distant past the average family photographer probably thought noise was just a grainy poor quality photograph that should head for the bin. Nowadays, with a variety of monthly digital photography magazines and a wealth of informative websites everyone is much more clued up. A lot more people now know what noise actually is, the small intrusive coloured flecks that appear where clear solid colour should be and the larger the photograph the more noticeable the flecks become. I find this particularly irritating on portraits. A digital SLR camera produces a much clearer almost noise free photograph due to the larger image sensor, but swapping the bulky size of a digital SLR to an unobtrusive digital compact does have it’s drawbacks and one of them is noise. Digital compacts, due to their small sensors are only able to produce noise free images at their lowest ISO setting i.e 50 – 100 any higher and the noise begins to crash in, hence you end up with small prints because anything larger than a 6” x 4” print will show a distinct fuzziness. This is where Noise Buster version 6 kicks in. A stand alone program or a plug-in for PC and MAC that is compatible with most major photo editing software. A histogram analyses your photo letting you know instantly which parameters need tweaking and with auto selected it tweaks itself. I personally found that the automatic preset worked extremely well and gave a good result . For those whose trained eye hones in on the tiniest amount of noise with loathing there are sliders that will independently deal with Luminance noise, (an intense variation of pixels sometimes described as grain) and colour noise, (random blue and red pixels) without losing other detail. The microdetail tab as the name suggests allows a little more tweaking of the elements without compromising any further noise and by ticking the unsharp mask you can further regulate the sharpness, contrast and blurring of the edges. What is also really helpful is that by hovering over each filter a short paragraph becomes visible explaining just how the filter can assist you. For those whom time is money, batch processing enables you to rectify photos taken in comparable situations with the same settings.
All in all Noise Buster is a ‘must have ‘. It may seem a boring and slightly technical program compared to other Akvis programs like ‘Coloriage’ that turns black and white into colour, or ‘Sketch’ that can turn photographs into pencil drawings but Noise Buster holds a very important place in your collection if you want to turn amateur photos into professional photos, and for the professional photographer, it’s a quicker way to get the result you want.
Check out the AKVIS website for, in all honesty, there are a host of ‘must have's and all very reasonably priced.
