Can Aperture 3 reduce chroma noise, or do I need a plug-in or another editor?
Asked 12/26/2010
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I’m editing low-light photos from a compact camera and want to reduce noticeable chroma/color noise. I found older references to a “chroma blur” adjustment in Aperture, but I can’t find it anywhere in Aperture 3. I’ve checked RAW Fine Tuning, and it doesn’t appear to be available there either.
At the moment I’m using manual workarounds like adjusting individual color channels or painting in local color corrections, but that’s slow and cumbersome. Is there any built-in way in Aperture 3 to reduce chroma noise specifically, or is this something that requires a plug-in or another editor?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
15y ago
2 Answers
1
I'd suggest downloading a free trial of Topaz Labs DeNoise (and you'll need the Fusion Express plug-in host for Aperture as well). The program is $US80, so it's probably not something you'd want to buy sight-unseen, but the trial is a full-feature 30-day deal (the only limit is the time). I was able to completely remove the noise from your images with a single click in both instances (although I've probable overdone it -- I used the "strongest" preset):
and:
You can tone down the de-noising process quite a bit and adjust the detail recovery levels to make a pretty good silkish purse out of the muddiest sow's ear.
Originally by user2719. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user2719
15y ago
0
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Aperture 3 does not appear to include a built-in chroma-noise reduction control like the older “chroma blur” references suggest. The mentioned Chromatic Aberration adjustment is for lens color fringing, not chroma noise.
Based on the answers, your practical options are:
- Use a noise-reduction plug-in. Topaz DeNoise was specifically recommended, and Nik plug-ins were also suggested. These can do a much better job than manual channel-by-channel corrections.
- Use another RAW editor with separate color/chroma noise reduction controls. Lightroom was specifically mentioned as offering independent luminance and chroma noise reduction.
The main downside of using a plug-in from Aperture is that it typically creates a new rendered copy, which breaks a purely non-destructive workflow.
So if you want to stay in Aperture, a third-party plug-in is the realistic route. If you want built-in chroma noise controls in your RAW workflow, you’ll likely need a different editor.
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