Reduce NOISE by A LOT in ANY Drone and DSLR Photo

[@mk0x55]

This is a nice technique and I used it a lot, too. There is actually one nice refinement by Tony Northrup (he calls it super-resolution, I think; and shares some Photoshop scripts): Load images as layers, upsize all using bicubic interpolatation (2x, 4x or 8x, based on how much memory and time you have), then align these upsized pictures (non-upsized pictures would typically be moved by a half-pixel or so, actually causing some sharpness loss - the greater upsize, the better for this, but more than 2x renders impractical to me with only 16 GB RAM), then convert to smart object, set stack mode to mean, then smart sharpen in Photoshop, and finally downsize back to its original resolution using bicubic interpolation. Using that reduces the noise, and actually even improves the sharpness of your final picture. One important thing to note (surely obvious to many), is that you are not gaining any real dynamic range advantage here; but you can lift up the shadows without getting too much noise (just the detail will sort of remain the same).

[@jamesjohnston6765]

This is the second time I have heard about this technique but the first time I have seen it in practice. Very interesting.

[@ingoschroeder4061]

Thanks Mads, that was a very quick turnaround.

[@MadsPeterIversen]

You're very welcome, Ingo :)

[@ethanrambacher]

I've just tried this on 2 drone shots and it works great! Thanks for demonstrating!

[@jrosedds42]

Finally had a chance to follow this tutorial step by step on some Mavic Pro shots from tonight. Huge, huge difference - like you said! Massive thanks for posting this in such detail, and with some other processing techniques thrown in as a bonus. This technique will definitely change the way I shoot tripod/drone photos that I know will be a bit noisy.

[@MadsPeterIversen]

You're very welcome, Joel! I'm happy it helps. This is still mainly how I shoot my drone shots :)

[@fijiimages]

Excellent Mads, many thanks!

[@jongrall]

Great tutorial, Mads! I use similar techniques for reducing noise in my astrophotography images, as well as some special programs like StarryLandscapeStacker. Here are a few related things I've learned about minimizing noise (without sacrificing sharpness): 1) When stacking images, the "median" stacking method will usually produce the best result. While "mean" might appear OK, it will actually average all the noise for each pixel across the stack, as well as average moving objects - which is why you get the ghosting of the cars and so forth that you showed in the video. When using a median stack, moving objects like cars and airplanes will disappear completely (as long as they have moved enough to not overlap in every frame), and random noise that is changing in every frame will be completely removed instead of just smoothed out. Additionally, if you have subtle alignment issues in some of the frames in your stack, if you take the mean then every pixel will be blended with some pixels that are potentially misaligned. This can be noticeable along edges and in areas of contrast, appearing as ghosting, and fine detail will look muddy/noisier than if you had excluded the misaligned frames. However, if you use the median method, as long a large majority of frames are correctly aligned, you are unlikely to see this issue because the misaligned frames will have their pixels ignored completely (some software even intelligently discards the "outlier" frames automatically). For the same reason, median will also handle changing light levels better - instead of averaging the exposures, which can reduce contrast, changes in a small number of frames (e.g. from the sun coming out from behind a cloud) are likely to be discarded. 2) If you can't use a slower shutter speed or bigger aperture (e.g. on a drone, when shooting video), then if there is a risk of underexposure, it is usually better to use a higher ISO, rather than trying to compensate later in post. This is because amplifying the analog signal from the sensor - which is what raising the ISO setting does - before it is encoded and processed digitally will often produce a better final signal-to-noise ratio (depending on the camera circuitry and ambient temperature). However, raising your ISO to get a better initial exposure is only worth it until you reach the ISO where your sensor becomes "ISO invariant" (which is different for every camera, and some are not ISO invariant at any point), beyond which there is no benefit because the same effect can be achieved in post, and the loss of dynamic range from using a higher ISO becomes a bigger disadvantage. 3) The amount of random noise in the blended result is inversely proportional to the square root of the number of images used in the image stack. So with 4 images you get half the noise, with 9 you get 1/3rd of the noise, etc. Most of the time it's not practical to shoot more than 25 images. An even better result can be achieved by also capturing "dark frames" which can be subtracted to remove fixed pattern sensor noise that is not changing in every frame, as well as by taking master flat frames which can be used to remove sensor and lens defects, and account for vignetting when shooting wide open. However, I rarely have the patience for dark frames, and if done incorrectly it can actually make the picture worse... 4) As you know, when shooting the Milky Way, Northern Lights, etc. to get the cleanest and best result (whether stacking frames or not) you will usually want to make a composite: taking frame(s) that expose for the sky, and blending them with frame(s) that expose for the land/foreground.

[@MadsPeterIversen]

Thanks for the long post, Jon! You're absolutely right. I tried out the mean vs median and in my examples, I preferred the mean mode, even though the median is "correct" :)

[@jongrall]

Mads Peter Iversen thanks, Mads! In the end, I suppose it doesn’t really matter what method you use, as long as you achieve your desired result. I do tend to waffle on sometimes! Lol 😂

[@valk-photography]

It's gonna be my standard way for drone-shots, the burst mode !!!! Thanks again for these tips and workflow Mads !!!

[@jonathansadler4911]

Great tutorial Mads. Useful for people like me without a full frame camera.

[@MadsPeterIversen]

You're welcome, Jonathan :)

[@johnsholian4318]

Interesting technique and very well explained Mads. Pretty amazing what one can achieve with today’s software. Well done Mads!

[@JohnHarvey]

This is fantastic. This will also work great for cell phone photography

[@paulus0109]

Thnx Mads, it’s in “the watch later list”.

[@jimhamilton8775]

Learned something new here Mads. Great technique.

[@bernadettebecher5668]

Thank you for your tutorial - plenty of great new ideas here. Much appreciated.

[@PhilipDurkin]

Great tutorial Mads many thanks for sharing your skills.

[@chriskirby70]

Great video mate. This would make for a great technique for those of us who dont have full frame wheee noise is a bit more of an issue. Thanks for sharing yet again.

[@epronske]

Brilliant. I have used this technique considerably. It's really great when forced to shoot hand held with a high ISO. My best examples of success with this is in Bhuddist temples in Asia or in dark Cathedrals in Europe. I always enjoy your videos and work! Cheers, Erik

[@worldwidewax]

Great tutorial. Thanks for sharing. Gonna try it out with my next noisy photo

[@MadsPeterIversen]

You're most welcome, I hope it helps :)

[@FlyingMerf]

Great tutorial!

[@jimcooke5590]

Brilliant mads. Thanks for teaching us that technique. Again i've just learnt something new from you, thanks

[@Snowcatnz2]

Awesome video Mads! A great technique. Another tool in my box. Thanks hugely for sharing!!

[@michaelcorrigan5232]

Thanks for sharing, learned a lot, hopefully will apply to my photos.

[@johnkelm1764]

Thanks so much for this tutorial Mads. Noise reduction is something I'm working on to improve my images. Cheers!

[@MadsPeterIversen]

You're most welcome, John! :)

[@alexcarrillo1]

Thank you so much for all your videos and for sharing your great knowledge.

[@MadsPeterIversen]

You're very welcome, Alex! :)

[@SCAerialsSteveCarpenter]

Thanks you Mads for this very outstanding tutorial of your tricks and tip working in Photoshop, I will indefinitely give the a try, again my thanks!

[@JohnMacLeanPhotography]

Just saw on FStoppers. Thanks for the video. 12:15 - the noisy corners are from the vignette lens correction. If you start with it dialed down or off, depending on the original falloff, then you’re less likely to encounter purple noise in night shots. Yeah I had a couple of 5DM3’s too. That’s where I realized what was happening. The Mark 4’s are thankfully better.

[@MadsPeterIversen]

Yes, I used the Sigma 20mm on a 5Dm2 and it was even worse! On my a7rIII it's hardly an issue.

[@SethPay]

Excellent tip! Definitely going to test this technique out, especially for the Mavic!

[@oddbjrnaustevikfoto]

That is a neat technique, never seen it before. Thanks for sharing Mads. I have much to learn in PS. hehe.

[@bartjes2509]

Thanks, nice tip ! I have been using AEB mode so now I have to choose per situation. When the scene's contrast allows it, I can use this technique.

[@paullachapelle7477]

Thank's Mads for the noise reduction technique. Your youtube shows us well your way to process drone photos and reduce the noise . Can I make a suggestion that could help new users of photoshop.? When you show us great user tips as you do in a photoshop on KZbin could you include at the bottom of the youtube a little summary of the keys used in photoshop to create the action (on this one "noise reduction"). Thank's again Mads

[@gheorghefalcaru]

Oh yes, Maestro!

[@timscanlanphotography]

Hi Mads. This is really helpful and looks a simple process. I've got many wildlife images taken in low light that have lots of noise on them and this technique is perfect for improving them. Many thanks for sharing.

[@MadsPeterIversen]

You're most welcome! Yes, that's also what I've found out after learning this technique. Go back and clean up old images :)

[@GingerPhotographer]

Great tutorial Mads, thank you for sharing!

[@MadsPeterIversen]

You're very welcome! :)

[@fintux]

Depending on the type and size of the motion/moving objects (and also even the noise profile of the camera, and whatnot), you might want to give the median filter a go as well. In some cases, it can retain the details of things like smoke better, but it can also completely eliminate small moving objects which can of course be a good or a bad thing.

[@Paul_Weedon]

Fantastic, I have really learnt something today. I have always been under exposing when I have too many bright areas and then lifting the exposure in post. but was getting noisy images. I will now either use filters or bracket.

[@MadsPeterIversen]

My point was to use burst mode and not bracket and I'm not sure what filters would do? :)

[@TomHerriman]

Very nice tutorial and great technique! I shoot with a 5D3 and I agree, the noise is AWEFUL! But now I'm going over my library in my head... I'm going to have to try this on a few images! :D If you find a fix for the under exposed corners... the dynamic range of the 5D3 is even worse than the noise!

[@scotty4418]

Mads, been looking at this issue and was wondering if Topaz DeNoise would be a worthwhile purchase, however now that you have shared this tutorial, it may be the case I can perhaps a similar outcome using the technique you described. Currently use a 5d mkii so it was interesting to see your comments about the 5d mkiii and pink hue in your images as I thought it was maybe something I was not getting right in my settings. Thank you for an informative vlog

[@JaypeaFoto]

Great tutorial.

[@arielalejandrogarma3672]

very good advice !!! congratulation mads !!

[@MadsPeterIversen]

You're very welcome, Ariel :)

[@JohnCollins-iy1pw]

I use this method with my bridge camera which has a small sensor,and edit in Affinity Photo.It does as you say works perfectly as a editing method,especially when working with low light.

[@MadsPeterIversen]

Exactly! It's super great for noisy night photos :)

[@willnotbetracked8222]

Excellent! Great examples of what is and isn't possible with this technique. Would you use the mean or median mode for stacking astropics?

[@MadsPeterIversen]

I haven't done it for astropics yet, but I'll have to see the differences first.

[@AndyAstbury]

Hi Mads - if you use MEDIAN instead of MEAN then you won't get the ghosting with moving subjects, and the level of noise reduction is nearly the same and can sometimes be a bit better. Just a thought! 😀

[@MadsPeterIversen]

Hi Andy, thanks for the input! I actually made some comparisons between median and mean and to my eyes mean looks better, although I've understood median should be the technical "correct" function to use. In case of the car I'd just clone it away :)

[@RonDonson]

Well done, Mads! I use a similar technique for focus stacking with my stills camera. Thanks for sharing this!!!

[@MadsPeterIversen]

You're most welcome and thanks a lot, Ron :)

[@nottreb]

Will be giving this a try, thanks for passing this on :)

[@MadsPeterIversen]

You're very welcome, Robert!

[@tony_r_pierce]

Nice technique, thanks for posting!

[@MadsPeterIversen]

You're very welcome, Tony :)

[@jrskeide]

Great. Maybe I will give the Mavic a second try after all.

[@MadsPeterIversen]

You should! The 12MP is enough for a pretty big print using this technique for cleaning the photos.

[@jbairdexp]

What a fascinating technique. I'm going to have to give this a try...especially for those drone shots. Thanks for sharing mate. :-)

[@MadsPeterIversen]

Yes for drones it should be really good. I think your D850 should be good with single exposures unless it's night ;)

[@jbairdexp]

Yeah, noise reduction isn't something I had to really worry about with the D850!

[@paulwayman5137]

Looking forward to that Julian :)

[@peterbiggin7193]

Thanks Mads that was really interesting to watch. Funnily enough I am intending to do some low light shooting in the next few days. I won't be able to use burst mode because they will be long exposures but I will take a few shots and try this. I am intending to light paint my foreground but I should be able to blend that foreground in with the stacked images?

[@Jon_Godfrey]

Nice!! Never thought of burst mode on the drone. I guess you could do the same on a phone if you were stuck with no Camera with you. That's happened to me a few times. Also; you could mask and blend back in a single image if say you wanted the single image water affect assuming that part doesn't suffer from Noise... perhaps as you say with a waterfall.

[@MadsPeterIversen]

Exactly, the phone should work too. And you're absolutely right about the masking :)

[@RS.Outdoors]

Nice technique.but if you are taking an image from a tripod wouldn't shooting as an HDR exposing for the shadows not do the same thing. Will try it with my drone though.

[@MadsPeterIversen]

It depends on how much contrast you have in your scene, how well your camera is at recovering shadows, what techniques you use for blending and how much you push the pixels overall in the editing. Using this technique you could theoretically reduce noise below base ISO, HDR can't :)

[@miklschmidt]

I like seeing astrophotography techniques being applied to landscape photos :) To simplify this process, try using something like Sequator, should work fine for daylight scenes as well :)

[@MadsPeterIversen]

Thanks for the input on that software! Definitely going to try it out :)

[@litnacabuan3762]

Nice,thanks man for this technique.:-)

[@ThyWorshipMetal]

Fantastic! would I be able to use this technique and then import the image back into Lightroom to finish the editing?

[@MadsPeterIversen]

I think so yes, I'm not using Lightroom though so not 100% sure.

[@bencorwin]

Great stuff, but I would like to know the technical explanation behind this noise reduction approach. Can anyone explain it?

[@MadsPeterIversen]

Someone explained it in the comments. Also check out the comment section here: fstoppers.com/aerial/you-need-know-about-noise-reduction-trick-you-start-photographing-258651

[@bencorwin]

Okay, thanks!

[@Lundeliphoto]

great technique... can I use this, if I make 5 to 10 copies of only one photo with lot of noice and then stack them?

[@hellyeah8055]

Pretty much. I think it's the same concept just a different technique.

[@MadsPeterIversen]

Hi Hans, not if it's the exact same photo as the grains/noise are the same in the copies. It only works if it's different photos taken in a sequence :)

[@Lundeliphoto]

Thank you Mads 😊👍

[@FilippoMasoni]

Great technique. This is really needed for small sensor drones like the Mavic. But I have a question, if I stack a bracket of 5 exposure spaced by 3 stops isn't that better to keep details in shadows and highlights? This way when i'm raising the shadows they won't have so much noise. I'm not sure if photoshop can stack them correctly though since the exposures are different. If I stacked them directly in lightroom the noise isn't really that much lower because it's not using the mean function.

[@MadsPeterIversen]

It depends on the dynamic range of the photo which technique is preferable. Using the bracket mode doesn't leave much space for editing/pushing the pixels.

[@ColinRobertson_LLAP]

I was thinking the same thing, but I'll have to experiment. You could always do a 5 shot burst at different exposures then blend from there...

[@rutgerdenhertog5846]

What about both?

[@joegowac4617]

So I usually shoot 3 bracketed shots. Could I take burst shots exposing for the sky burst shots exposing for the foreground and maybe burst shots exposing another area follow your technique then combine the three exposures?

[@germanassimonson1671]

Thanks for the video. So is this method better than the usual NR slide in LR or similar, and if yes, by what amount?

[@MadsPeterIversen]

Germanas Simonson way better, as long as it's still targets. I don't think it makes sense to talk about amount :)

[@JohnCollins-iy1pw]

Sorry Mads,but I forgot to mention that the stacking method can in Affinity Photo be used for object removal also.Not too sure whether this applies in PS.

[@MadsPeterIversen]

If you stack with median, then it'll remove the differences between the photos :)

[@rasicaphoto6450]

A very useful technique with detailed explanation Mads! If you have time, you can look at my recent photography video about Iceland. Cheers!

[@joegowac4617]

How is stacking bursts any different than stacking the same pic 5 times

[@evenaicantfigurethisout]

But *why* does this work though? Taking 5 photos at the exact same settings doesn't provide you with more information than just 1 of that photo, does it? I suppose you are collecting more photons and each photo doesn't have the photons falling in the exact same spots on the sensor so I guess there's that. Another interesting question to explore is what the correlation between the number of photos stacked and ISO reduction is, and whether this would effectively allow us to reduce ISO below the minimum allowable in camera. This would theoretically mean that we can achieve better noise levels vs long exposure because long exposure cannot reduce ISO below that available in camera

[@MadsPeterIversen]

You're almost right. It's not the photons hitting differently, it's the noise / signal which is different from exposure to exposure :)

[@itslimits1]

How do you make your mavic pros picture look sharp?

[@MadsPeterIversen]

Check out my video on exactly that ;) It's some months old.

[@chionoman]

NIce tutorial but, man, you need to not eat while recording, or dont smack your lips or something. Maybe the mic is way to close to your mouth.

[@paulwayman5137]

Thanks for sharing Mads, I'm going to give this a try.

[@unclebob7902]

Great tip Mads, many thanks!