How to Use Denoise in Lightroom

Most professional outdoor photographers spend about 50% of their time perfecting an image in post production. You have probably experienced a similar process in your own retouching and editing. And one of the biggest editing challenges is reducing noise. In this premium video lesson, photographer David Johnston takes you into his edit suite and shows you how the Denoise function in Lightroom employs techniques to help you quiet your photos.

On dark days or on nights, you need to employ a higher ISO in order to capture the light. Higher ISO’s mean more image noise. David edits his photo of a deep green forest taken on a rainy day, the ISO setting at 1250, which means the presence of noise in the shadows and darkest trees. It’s time to use the application AI Denoise in Lightroom. He compares the new Denoise in Lightroom to the old manual method.

The first step is to go to the Noise Reduction section in Lightroom’s Develop module, then “Reduce Noise with AI.” You have now accessed the Denoise in Lightroom application. You click on the Denoise button and adjust the slider that allows you to lower the noise. David suggests you stay at 30 or less to avoid muddling up the image. The next step is to press the Enhance button, which will begin the process to create an altered photo with less noise. Denoise in Lightroom can take about 30 minutes to complete, but it’s well worth the wait.

As David walks you through the pros and cons of using Denoise in Lightroom, he comes to the conclusion that it works better than the old manual version. In this premium video lesson, Outdoor Photography Guide’s pro photographer David Johnston helps you decide if you choose to use Denoise in Lightroom to control the noise in your images.