A couple of friends of mine who are members of the Photographers Exchange have been discussing the relative value of an updated image processing software published by DxO; DxO primeRAW 2 to eliminate or drastically reduce digital image noise (color artifacts). I will admit that using the combination of Bridge/RAW and Photoshop, I think that I can usually tweak an image pretty decently. Nevertheless, I was very intrigued.
I have a bunch of older digital images that are relatively dark and relatively noisy. With one image, below, in particular that I have not really been happy with my straight Bridge/RAW conversion. When I try to lighten areas in the image with the Bridge/RAW capture, I also obtain some very distracting color artifacts on the inside wall of the room I photographed, which can be seen in my original version below. In order to not allow the ‘noise’ become to become visually evident, I have had to keep this area with the photograph a bit darker than I preferred. Making my concerns a bit more urgent: it’s one image I want to use in conjunction with the pending publication of The Flow of Light Brushes the Shadow by Singular Images Press. Specifically for the Artist Special Edition book + print, for which this is the archival print that will be included in the limited edition.
Considering the relatively small one time purchase of $129 USD for the software and my concerns about this very noisy image, I purchased the DxO PrimeRAW 2 today. I figure that I will break-even selling one of the Artist Special Editions. cool. The investment risk seemed small and the upside could result in an even better looking print. And I ever glad that I did.
Okay, remember I am a book reviewer, not a software reviewer. Top line; it is a stand alone software, easy to download, easy to start up and for my first image processed, above, the results were quick to obtain and are amazing to look at. Really. The most obvious difference, besides reducing the color noise on the interior walls, is the difference in the details of the landscape seen looking out the window. Winner!
This is a software that you use to process your images before Lightroom, Bridge RAW and Photoshop. The processed image results in a JPEG, DNG or if you prefer, both. These are exported to a new DxO folder with the original images folder. Since I am planning to subsequent process in Bridge/RAW and Photoshop, I selected the DNG output. The DNG proceeded image worked fine. Folder was easy to find and Bridge/RAW opened it effortlessly.
There are also three image processing options to use; HQ, PRIME or DeepPRIME de-noising. The software default is DeepPrime, which after a quick look at some other software reviews state that this is what you will probably use most of the time. I am going to take their word for that option and that is what I used on the image below to obtain the image above. This image was captured on an original Canon 5D with their zoom kit lens, thus the first thing the software requested is to download their profile for this camera and lens combination. Quick and easy.
I am a very happy camper. Regarding this photograph, I now have an image that I can open up the lighting in the room without blowing out the highlights for the window view. This allows me to reveal with a bit more detail the chaos of the bed resulting from the immense amount of tossing and turning I did that that night resulting in very little sleep. Yeah, no sleep is not a good thing.
I think this DoX software is worth the investment for this one image alone. And I quickly realized that I have a few more images for this book that I need to evaluate. As the publisher states, I can make any changes I want right up to the moment that the book is on-press.
Happy Earth Day. Every day.
Doug
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New artist book: The Flow of Light Brushes the Shadow
Pre-publication Sale: Artist book $50.00 USD & Artist Special Edition (book + print) $100 USD, plus CA taxes for US sales and shipping. Message me (doug@douglasstockdale.com) or singularimagespress@gmail for shipping details and PayPal invoice. Your name will be listed in the book as one of the supporters! Thank you.
Book publishing details here and book portfolio here.
List price after publication is $60.00 USD and for the Artist Special Edition, $125.00 USD.
An artist book made in the USA.
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Workshop:
Colorado Photographic Arts Center (CPAC): Developing a Creative Photo Book, a virtual (Zoom) workshop I will be leading on: May 14 & 15 – 21 & 22nd, 2022, from 1PM-4PM (Mountain Time). More details and sign-up available now at Colorado Photographic Arts Center.
Singular Images 
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