A couple of LR4 questions

[iceman2058]

Hi!

A couple of specific LR4 questions for you today:

-what level of noise reduction would you say corresponds to "standard" in-camera JPEG NR level (knowing full well that there is no such thing as "standard", it of course depends on the manufacturer/model etc etc)? Just curious at to what people typically feel is the "required" level of this particular slider (luminance NR slider, which in LR4 defaults to 0 on a freshly imported RAW file), to obtain a result most people would be used to seeing on a camera-generated JPEG.

-any impressions on 4.1 RC2? I've read about some pretty nasty issues on the release, involving massive artifacting when using lens corrections and even some types of simple cropping. Was disappointed to read that, since I was wanting to try it out now, hoping 4.1 would help address the performance issues I've been having with 4.0...but now it looks like it might add a whole bunch of other issues, so I've held back...

-Vibrancy and Saturation on skin tone. Skin seems to be particularly problematic when trying to crank up vibrancy and saturation on a pic, especially people with fair skins shot in sunlight....easy to get purple streaks in shadow areas, and also seems to me that they've overcooked the orange tones a bit here. That could all be user error or just the nature of the beast, but I thought I'd throw the topic out here to see what the experts have to say.

thanks!

[armando_m]

The amount of noise reduction would vary , depending on the ISO used , if I have a noisy image I zoom in at 100% apply some NR, and then back it off a bit until some noise is back (sorry for the scientific explanation)

I avoid vibrancy on the skin , to bad it can not be applied using a brush, or I haven't found how to do it,
I play with saturation on the overall image , an then using brush reduce the saturation on the skin

[iceman2058]

The amount of noise reduction would vary , depending on the ISO used , if I have a noisy image I zoom in at 100% apply some NR, and then back it off a bit until some noise is back (sorry for the scientific explanation)

I avoid vibrancy on the skin , to bad it can not be applied using a brush, or I haven't found how to do it,
I play with saturation on the overall image , an then using brush reduce the saturation on the skin

Thanks for the answer.

Like I said, I know it varies greatly, I'm just curious if there is a consensus around how much NR ("how much" in this case being expressed as a number on the LR4 NR slider...) the camera manufacturers apply in camera when shooting straight to JPEG. I also manipulate images individually...for most "normal" shots I seem to land at around 30-35 on the NR slider, that seems to get rid of the most obvious noise, while keeping a natural looking photo...I'm just trying to get a feel for whether or not this level corresponds to a "normal" in-camera JPEG.

For the skin tones, you are right, you can't use vibrancy with the brush, but being able to de-saturate with a brush sure helps. Depending on the rest of the image, pulling down purple and orange a bit individually also seems to help, as does overall WB....but yeah, skin is tricky! Thankfully I get to shoot a lot of people wearing helmets and loud clothing....in which case vibrancy and saturation can be liberally applied... :

[SmartWombat]

Since each manufacturer probably has a different in-camera NR algorithm, I agree there isn't a single answer to the question.
My default noise reduction is to leave it alone in LR.
Unless shooting at ISO higher then 800 in which case I use the slider and real time preview.
Slide it around until the noise goes away, and then back until I just see noise with enough sharpness to see detail.
Then play with the contrast and detail sliders until I like it.

[GB1]

I've always used NR on my Nikon D700 and other than waiting for it to process the image (which can take awhile with long night exposures) have never had a problem with side effects. HOWEVER - a friend who shoots astronomy says that NR can negatively affect stars, possibly even eliminating some of them. I need to ask him for details..

[iceman2058]

Since each manufacturer probably has a different in-camera NR algorithm, I agree there isn't a single answer to the question.
My default noise reduction is to leave it alone in LR.
Unless shooting at ISO higher then 800 in which case I use the slider and real time preview.
Slide it around until the noise goes away, and then back until I just see noise with enough sharpness to see detail.
Then play with the contrast and detail sliders until I like it.

I find all the RAW images a bit noisy out of my D7000, even the low ISO/easy lighting ones...so I always and up applying at least SOME NR in LR....but yeah, my workflow pretty much matches yours....slide stuff around to taste... :-)

GB1: I guess you are referring to JPEG shooting then, yes?