Lightroom Classic Denoise results

[Only RF]

Hali posted excellent results by DXO. As I believe Photofarmer once said this is a great site with no bickering about various apps and pretty much every else and I agree. I did not start this thread to invoke this type of thing. DXO is an industry leader, has been at it for a long time and put the time into Optics. I was a PureRAW user until Adobe Denoise AI came out. The main reason for a this stage of things I prefer everything under one roof. PureRAW creates a DNG when the file is sent back to LrC which is fine but I prefer no DNG's. I think for the really tough jobs DXO edges out Adobe.

The only reason I decided to start this is Adobe typically has had bad raps which is fine. I just wanted to show others who aren't familiar that Adobe is no slouch in the Denoise area. I went back to an ISO 20000 file to try out the new no DNG Denoise process that was just released. I did use the older DNG process this file but wanted to mess around with the new approach.

I waited a long time for this new process. After Deniose is applied there is no DNG and you can tweak it as many times as you like. After applying it I often go into masking to mask both the background and subject. Background to completely wipe out any remaining noise (if I want to) and to add a little Texture and Clarity to the subject. I did not do that this time just. I just wanted to show the minimal amount of steps I think was good enough for an OK result.

Here is the original. I did get a good exposure which did help.

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Cropped

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Post Denoise AI. The steps. Note I left Sharpening at default of 40. I usually work with that too.

1. Applied Denoise AI which for LrC (ACR too) is a default of 50.

2. Cropped

3. Added Masking in the Detail panel to about 50. This prevents from flat areas like backgrounds from being sharpened.

4. Applied Adobe's Adaptive Color profile. I had to raise the exposure a bit as I think it was trying to protect the highlights in the bottom left corner. 90% of the time it is very close.

5. As stated I didn't go into masking this time. I wanted to take out a bit more background noise so I bumped the Denoise AI slider from 50 to 70. A little high for me but for the purpose of this it's good enough. It will start to effect subject details so I would normally work on the background/subject balance a little more.

Final which took 10-15 seconds after the Initial Denoise process. Once that has been applied the first time any future Denoise AI tweaks like my bumping it from 50 to 70 is instantaneous.

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[Archibald]

Interesting. The result looks great.

What is Adobe Adaptive Color? I just tried it on a pic and the colors got bolder. Not sure I want that, but maybe it is better.

 

[Only RF]

It's the new profile that was released in February. It's not like Auto where it just measures clipping, etc. It's AI that analyzes the entire scene and in case you have done so you aren't supposed to use Auto with it. You will notice that none of the sliders move after applying and there is an amount slider so you can tune to taste. You can still fine tune the sliders.

The Adobe Adaptive Profile | Adobe Blog

This blog post introduces a new Camera Raw feature (public beta): The Adobe Adpative Profile. This image dependent profile provides an AI-powered starting point for editing photographs in both standard and high dynamic range.

blog.adobe.com

I had been using Adobe Neutral and Auto for a few years because the some of the other baked profiles quickly clip highlights and dark areas. I've seen quite a few examples of decent starting results with Adaptive Color. One person somewhere posted a moon shot which was small relative to the scene. The poster stated no matter how much effort went into trying recover it Adaptive Profile really did a nice job. I wish I had link to that.

This was not a difficult shoot. I really like skin tones in all the shots and have been using it inclusively since the release. It took a bit to adjust to it at first. Also it is just AI so some may not look great at first but it will get better. Colours can be bolder what you are used.

Post in thread 'Your R System Images - June 2025'

Jun 16, 2025

Our annual Manitoba Marathon. I very easy shoot I have so many I don't know what to post. As an experiment I imported all the files using LrC and the new Adaptive Color profile. No other edits aside from a bit of levelling and cropping.

Don't miss the last shot.

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This fellow is 88 years old

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• Only RF

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If you look what looks like a strip of sweat on her chest, shoulder and forehead Adobe Color would have likely blown those areas out a bit more. Skin tones look natural to me. Not everyone will like the results. I like them.

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[Archibald]

@Only RF , thanks, interesting. Something new (for me) to experiment with. I do all kinds of adjustments like this manually. Maybe Adobe Adaptive will speed up the processing.

 

[ACEkin]

Adaptive Color profile is best applied before making any adjustments because it makes internal adjustments in addition to applying a "suitable" color profile. If applied to an edited image, Adaptive Color may make things go over the top. And, don't use it with the "Auto" adjustment button either. It works for some images and not for others.

 

[Only RF]

Adaptive Color profile is best applied before making any adjustments because it makes internal adjustments in addition to applying a "suitable" color profile. If applied to an edited image, Adaptive Color may make things go over the top. And, don't use it with the "Auto" adjustment button either. It works for some images and not for others.

There is a list of order of development and Adaptive Color is near the end. Anthony Morganti had a video where he likes to see what the file looks like at first glance. So do I so am ignoring that list for that part. Besides if AI adjustments are out of order you get a warning and you just update, which takes seconds. Good point about over the top. Global adjustments (11) are after Adaptive Profile (10) so that makes sense.

https://helpx.adobe.com/ca/camera-raw/using/ai-edit-status.html

 

[Hali]

Hali posted excellent results by DXO. As I believe Photofarmer once said this is a great site with no bickering about various apps and pretty much every else and I agree. I did not start this thread to invoke this type of thing. DXO is an industry leader, has been at it for a long time and put the time into Optics. I was a PureRAW user until Adobe Denoise AI came out. The main reason for a this stage of things I prefer everything under one roof. PureRAW creates a DNG when the file is sent back to LrC which is fine but I prefer no DNG's. I think for the really tough jobs DXO edges out Adobe.

The only reason I decided to start this is Adobe typically has had bad raps which is fine. I just wanted to show others who aren't familiar that Adobe is no slouch in the Denoise area. I went back to an ISO 20000 file to try out the new no DNG Denoise process that was just released. I did use the older DNG process this file but wanted to mess around with the new approach.

I waited a long time for this new process. After Deniose is applied there is no DNG and you can tweak it as many times as you like. After applying it I often go into masking to mask both the background and subject. Background to completely wipe out any remaining noise (if I want to) and to add a little Texture and Clarity to the subject. I did not do that this time just. I just wanted to show the minimal amount of steps I think was good enough for an OK result.

Here is the original. I did get a good exposure which did help.

View attachment 38374

Cropped

View attachment 38375

Post Denoise AI. The steps. Note I left Sharpening at default of 40. I usually work with that too.

1. Applied Denoise AI which for LrC (ACR too) is a default of 50.

2. Cropped

3. Added Masking in the Detail panel to about 50. This prevents from flat areas like backgrounds from being sharpened.

4. Applied Adobe's Adaptive Color profile. I had to raise the exposure a bit as I think it was trying to protect the highlights in the bottom left corner. 90% of the time it is very close.

5. As stated I didn't go into masking this time. I wanted to take out a bit more background noise so I bumped the Denoise AI slider from 50 to 70. A little high for me but for the purpose of this it's good enough. It will start to effect subject details so I would normally work on the background/subject balance a little more.

Final which took 10-15 seconds after the Initial Denoise process. Once that has been applied the first time any future Denoise AI tweaks like my bumping it from 50 to 70 is instantaneous.


View attachment 38377

Great example and I definitely agree, the Adobe NR has gotten so much better. I use it on a lot of occasions, but it just didn't do it for my example. I don't really mind DNG files. I tend to toss them out after I generate a .tif when I work on the image in photoshop anyhow.
I really like the new adaptive profile, for certain things. I am used to using a linear profile so often the changes look awfully contrasty and overly bright. But sometimes it works great. LIke Cermal said, you need to apply that before you apply any other adjustments since it works on the very basic level of the image. You also don't want to use "auto" adjustment with it (I believe it throws up a warning if you do).

 

[Only RF]

Great example and I definitely agree, the Adobe NR has gotten so much better. I use it on a lot of occasions, but it just didn't do it for my example. I don't really mind DNG files. I tend to toss them out after I generate a .tif when I work on the image in photoshop anyhow.
I really like the new adaptive profile, for certain things. I am used to using a linear profile so often the changes look awfully contrasty and overly bright. But sometimes it works great. LIke Cermal said, you need to apply that before you apply any other adjustments since it works on the very basic level of the image. You also don't want to use "auto" adjustment with it (I believe it throws up a warning if you do).

Yes it warns you. I forgot about that. I have been using it since February and during the first month or so I tried anyway on multiple files just to see. I do remember I did not like the results on any file at an stage of development.

 

[Only RF]

If anyone is interested I created a preset so Adaptive Color is applied at import. However since it's AI it does not actually apply. After import you will get a warning to update for each file you open which kinda pointless. I think you can update the first file and apply "Auto Sync" to the rest.

I find it easiest to do this. After import while in the Library module select all the files. Select Photo - Develop Settings - Update AI Settings. Perhaps Adobe may change that someday but it's easy to apply.

The current update warning (which used to be one or two red dots). It's clear when no AI has been applied. Grey to indicate you have applied AI. Orange is telling you to update.

 

[Only RF]

@Only RF , thanks, interesting. Something new (for me) to experiment with. I do all kinds of adjustments like this manually. Maybe Adobe Adaptive will speed up the processing.

Did you not post a file at another site when Adobe Denoise AI came out? I remember a shot of a dragonfly where the flash didn't go off, the file was very dark and you recovered it?

 

[Archibald]

Did you not post a file at another site when Adobe Denoise AI came out? I remember a shot of a dragonfly where the flash didn't go off, the file was very dark and you recovered it?

Yep, good memory. It was 2 years ago. The flash failed and the pic looked almost entirely black. Instead of deleting it, I boosted the exposure by 5 stops. Then I denoised it using Adobe NR.

Here is the final result.

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[Only RF]

Yep, good memory. It was 2 years ago. The flash failed and the pic looked almost entirely black. Instead of deleting it, I boosted the exposure by 5 stops. Then I denoised it using Adobe NR.

View attachment 38421

Here is the final result.

View attachment 38422

I have a bad memory but a few of these things that stand out seem to lock in. I remembered saying wow. I like when the envelope gets pushed. Inspires to never give up. We are watching a series called The Pitt with good old Noah Wyle. They play a song at the end which I thought was from the 80's shows like Hill Street Blues, ER, etc. Nope it's a new song called Fail Forward. That's my new 2026 motto.

 

[Only RF]

I was looking for something else and came across an older photo from Japan in 2019. I blew the exposure so badly I never even bothered.

ISO 40,000. First click - Denoise AI

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Second click - Adaptive Color profile. See how it kept the light from blowing out. I would have to spend some time to get this working on it manually.

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[Only RF]

I figured out why that was so badly underexposed. I bracketed 3 exposures with the intent to apply HDR after but never got around to it.

 

[Archibald]

I was looking for something else and came across an older photo from Japan in 2019. I blew the exposure so badly I never even bothered.

ISO 40,000. First click - Denoise AI

View attachment 40195

Second click - Adaptive Color profile. See how it kept the light from blowing out. I would have to spend some time to get this working on it manually.

View attachment 40196

That is very cool. So is this Adaptive Color in LR, under Basic?

 

[Only RF]

That is very cool. So is this Adaptive Color in LR, under Basic?

Yes that is correct. It sometimes does not work but most of the time it does a good job. LrC15 will be out in about a week. They keep training this stuff so it always get better.