AB Soft NEAT IMAGE User Manual

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Neat Image

To make images look better.

User guide

Document version 3.0, November 20, 2003

User Guide Neat Image

1. Introduction............................................................................................................3

1.1. Overview..................................................................................................................................................3

1.2. Features....................................................................................................................................................3

1.3. Requirements ...........................................................................................................................................4

2. Key concepts .........................................................................................................5

2.1. What it can do – functionality of Neat Image..........................................................................................5

2.2. When it works – types of input images....................................................................................................5

3. Filtration process overview ..................................................................................6

3.1. Overview of filtration process..................................................................................................................6

3.2. Running Neat Image on a sample image..................................................................................................7

4. Filtration process details ......................................................................................9

4.1. Step I. Open an input image.....................................................................................................................9

4.2. Step II. Prepare a device noise profile......................................................................................................9

4.3. Step III. Adjust filter settings.................................................................................................................10

4.4. Step IV. Apply filter to the input image.................................................................................................14

4.5. Step V. Save the output image...............................................................................................................14

5. Building device noise profiles............................................................................16

5.1. Building a device noise profile for specific device mode.......................................................................16

5.2. Using the calibration target....................................................................................................................23

5.3. Profiling methods.............................................................................................................. .....................24

5.4. Preparing a set of profiles for different device modes............................................................................25

6. Using Component viewer and Variant selector ................................................28

6.1. Component Viewer................................................................................................................................28

6.2. Variant Selector......................................................................................................................................28

7. Queued processing .............................................................................................29

7.1. Filtration Queue window........................................................................................................................29

7.2. Creating new image filtration jobs.........................................................................................................29

7.3. Editing image filtration jobs...................................................................................................................31

7.4. Removing image filtration jobs..............................................................................................................31

7.5. Queuing and holding image filtration jobs.............................................................................................32

7.6. Starting and stopping the filtration queue..............................................................................................32

7.7. Saving output images.............................................................................................................................32

8. Using plug-in........................................................................................................33

8.1. Installing the plug-in into an image editor..............................................................................................33

8.2. Using the plug-in to process images.......................................................................................................33

8.3. Using the plug-in in Photoshop actions..................................................................................................34

9. Application options .............................................................................................35

9.1. General options......................................................................................................................................35

9.2. Job defaults ............................................................................................................................................36

9.3. Profiling options.....................................................................................................................................36

9.4. Profile matching options........................................................................................................................37

9.5. Filtration options....................................................................................................................................38

9.6. Folder options ........................................................................................................................................38

10. Examples..............................................................................................................40

10.1. Images to build a device noise profile...............................................................................................40

10.2. Images to fine-tune a device noise profile.........................................................................................42

10.3. Filtration results.................................................................................................................................43

11. Questions and Answers......................................................................................44

11.1. General questions...............................................................................................................................44

11.2. Filtration-related questions................................................................................................................44

12. Tips and Tricks ....................................................................................................46

12.1. Preventing banding............................................................................................................................46

12.2. Filtration of shadow areas..................................................................................................................46

12.3. Partial filtration..................................................................................................................................46

12.4. Faster processing ...............................................................................................................................46

13. Information...........................................................................................................47

13.1. Known issues.....................................................................................................................................47

13.2. Plans ..................................................................................................................................................47

13.3. Detailed feature map..........................................................................................................................47

13.4. Contacts.............................................................................................................................................48

13.5. Legal information..............................................................................................................................48

13.6. Registration........................................................................................................................................49

13.7. Acknowledgments .............................................................................................................................49

14. Index .....................................................................................................................50

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User Guide Neat Image

1. Introduction

1.1. Overview

Neat Image is a digital filter application designed to reduce visible noise in digital photographic images.

Neat Image detects, analyzes, and reduces image noise. The filtration quality is higher than that of other methods because Neat Image takes into account specific characteristics of particular image acquisition devices, making the filtration more accurate. You can train the program to adapt to almost any input tool (digital camera, scanner, etc.). Access to the rich

oise is a serious problem that hinders highquality digital image processing. In digital photography, the consumer- and prosumer-level cameras produce images with an easily noti ceable noise component. This component is especiall strong in images taken at high ISO rates. The noise reduces the visual quality of digital images and resulting printouts. Some image processing operations, like sharpening, make quality of noisy images even worse.

control set allows you to easily achieve your desired level of noise reduction.

In addition, Neat Image can make images look sharper without a ny degradation of image quality (which is usually inevitable with noisy images). The combination of the sharpening and noise filter makes such an effect possible.

See examples of Neat Image noise reduction.

Neat Image is currently produced in four editions: Demo, Home, Pro and Pro+. Demo is a free edition of the software with slightly-limited functionality. Home is the edition of Neat Image for home users. Pro is the edition of Neat Image for professional users. Pro+ additionally includes the Photoshop-compatible plug-in version of the filter.

1.2. Features

Noise Reduction and Image Sharpening

• Advanced noise filter to reduce the level of noise in digital images

• Complete control over the filter settings to achieve the desired level of noise reduction

• Smart sharpening filter to make images look sharper without amplification of noise

• 16-bit image support to fully utilize capabilities of modern image acquisition devices

• Photoshop-compatible plug-in version of the filter

Device Noise Profiles

• Rich set of free ready-made device noise profiles in the profile library

• Easy building custom device noise profiles for your camera or scanner

• Profile Matcher for automatic matching of device noise profiles to images

Queued Processing

• Queued processing / batch processing of image series

• Background processing (images are processed as you prepare a new one)

Preview

• Embedded preview of filtration results for a selected area of the input image

• Preview of filtration results for each image channel and frequency range

• Variant Selector for easier filter adjustment

• Full-size comparison of original vs. filtered images

Some features are only available in certain editions of Neat Image. Detailed feature map, page 47, explains the differences between Neat Image editions in details.

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User Guide Neat Image

1.3. Requirements

Recommended system configuration to process 2-3-megapixel images is:

• Windows 9x, ME, NT, 2000, XP

• Pentium-III class machine or higher

• 128 MB RAM or higher

• True color display, resolution 1024x768 or more

Minimum system requirements are:

• Windows 95

• Pentium-I class machine

• 32 MB RAM

• Hi-color display, resolution 800x600

System requirements for pract ical applications of Neat Im age depend on size of input images. T he more system RAM is available the larger the images that can be handled. The processing speed is determined primarily by CPU number-crunching power and memory speed.

For the standalone version of Neat Image, input images should be in one of the following formats (the same formats are supported to save output images

• TIFF (uncompressed, single image, no layers, no alpha channel, no mask)

- 24-bit RGB

- 48-bit RGB

- 8-bit grayscale

- 16-bit grayscale

• JPEG

- 24-bit RGB

- 8-bit grayscale

• BMP (uncompressed, Win3x)

- 24-bit RGB

- 32-bit RGB

Minimum size of the input images is 20x20 pixels; maximal size is usually limited by the amount of system RAM available.

The plug-in version of the filter is compatible with the following plug-in hosts:

• Adobe Photoshop 5, 6, 7, CS

• Adobe Photoshop Elements 2

• Jasc Paint Shop Pro 7, 8

• Ulead PhotoImpact 8

• Corel Photopaint

• PhotoLine32 9, 10

The plug-in may be compatible with other hosts as well.

Saving output images to TIFF and BMP formats as well as copying to the clipboard is only available in the Home, Pro

and Pro+ edition of Neat Image.

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User Guide Neat Image

2. Key concepts

2.1. What it can do – functionality of Neat Image

Neat Image is a digital image filter. Its main function is to reduce noise in digital images. Neat Image can work with many imaging devices – digital cameras, scanners, etc. The program can be

adjusted to a particular device by means of a device noise profile, which contains data describing the noise characteristics of the device working in some mode.

A device noise profile is built through analysis of featureless image areas. The key idea behind analysis is to let the human user specify image areas that contain no visible (or important) details. The program alone cannot distinguish noise (or some other unwanted details, like periodic interference) from important image details while a human user can easily select an area that contains no important details. By analyzing specified area, the program can bui ld a device noise profil e which describes this part icular noise. With the profile, Neat Image can efficiently reduce noise in the image. Also, the software can automatically select the device noise profile best matching a particular image.

The Neat Image noise filter processes images in three frequency ranges. This makes possible reduci ng noise in one frequency range even if details are present in other ranges.

Neat Image can use several working color spaces (RGB, YCrCb JPE G or YCrCb Symmetric) to process images. Choosing suitable working color space increases the filter efficiency as well. For example, color spaces of the YCrCb family separate the brightness and color (luminance and ch rominance) image components so it is easier to deal only with the brightness component, which often contains the major part of visible noise.

The characteristics of noise often str ongly depen d on the local brightness of an image area. Neat Im age can measure these dependencies and take them into account within the filtration procedure resulting in increased accuracy of the noise reduction.

In addition to noise reduction, Neat Image has the sharpening filter, which only sharpens important image details without increasing the level of noise. This filter uses the same device noise profile as the noise filter, so applying two filters together saves time and produces better overall results.

2.2. When it works – types of input images

Neat Image is designed to reduce noise in images produced by digital cameras and scanners, and can also be used to process images from other sources. The input image should satisfy the following requirements:

• Noise must be uniformly distributed throughout the image, i.e., there should be no strong

surges of noise intensity in some areas of the image or significant changes of noise characteristics across the image.

Neat Image works fine, for example, on images with high ISO noise. However, ‘hot’ or ‘dead’ pixels (produced by single ‘broken’ image sensor elements) do not satisfy the uniformity

condition and, therefore, are not efficiently removed by Neat Image

Another frequent source of no ise is J PEG co mpression. The JPE G noise is appr oxim ately uni form when high quality compression (low compression rate) is used. However, low quality compression makes noise non-uniform. Therefore, we recommend using the highest quality of compression whenever possible. Try to avoid visible artifacts ('squares' or ‘blocks’ introduced by JPEG compression) in input images beginning from the early stages of image processing!

• Noise should be concentrated in high and medium frequencies. This condition is usually met

by images produced by modern digital cameras. This condition may not be completely satisfied if you use the strong (e.g., x2-x3 and more) digital zoom features of digital cameras.

• If you are going to use the noise profile equalizer then the primary sensors of an image acquisition device should be RGB (as compared with image sensors with subtractive primary

colors). This requirement is not strict and may be dropped completely in the future.

Hot pixel removal is in our development plans.

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User Guide Neat Image

3. Filtration process overview

3.1. Overview of filtration process

You can filter an image using the Filtration Job Editor. The Filtration Job Editor opens when a new filtration job is created by you or automatically. When you start Neat Image for the very first time, the Filtration Job Editor opens automatically.

Using the Filtration Job Editor you can:

Open an input image

- the image viewer will display the input image;

- the information panel will display relevant image data;

Prepare a device noise profile – noise analysis necessary to filter input image

- you can select a ready-made profile or build new one on the spot;

- to build a new profile select a

featureless (noise-only) image area and

let Neat Image analyze it with the Rough Noise Analyzer;

continued on the next page…

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User Guide Neat Image

…continued from the previous page

Adjust the noise filter and sharpening settings to achieve desired level of noise reduction and sharpening

- select any image area and Neat Image will prepare a preview;

- vary the filter settings (start with the noise reduction amount in the Y channel) and immediately see the preview result;

- as soon as you are happy with the preview proceed to the next step;

Process the input image

- apply filter to the whole image;

- when processing is finished, evaluate the resulting output image by comparing it with the input image;

- save the output image to a file on the disk.

3.2. Running Neat Image on a sample image

To help you start using Neat Image, we have prepared a test-kit. You can download it from the Neat Image web page: test-kit folder/directory.

for Neat Image (250KB). Having downloaded, please unzip it to a new

The test-kit contains a sample image: the file SampleImage.jpg. This image is a part of typical photo taken with digital camera (Nikon CoolPix 950 in this case). Detailed information about the test image is available in the file SampleImageInfo.txt.

Please start Neat Image and follow the steps below to see how it can improve the image:

Step 1. Open the sample image

1. Click

on the toolbar of the Input Image tab:

2. In the Open input image file dialog, navigate to the folder/directory where the sample image has been unzipped and double click on the file SampleImage.jpg;

Neat Image will open the sample image. You will see that there is strong noise in the image, especially in the sky area (use zoom and scroll to see

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User Guide Neat Image

it). This is the typical noise produced by the Nikon CoolPix 950 digital camera. The task of Neat Image is to eliminate this noise. To do that the program generally needs some information about the noise. We have prepared this information in advance and saved it in a sample device noise profile. This profile is supplied with the test-kit in the file SampleProfile.dnp. Using the noise profile, Neat Image can efficiently eliminate noise in the image.

Step 2. Open the sample device noise profile

1. Switch to the Device Noise Profile tab:

2. Click

(blue disk) in the Device Noise Profile box on the right panel;

3. In the Open device noise profile dialog, navig ate to the folder/directory where the sample device noise profile has been unzipped and double click on the file SampleProfile.dnp;

Now the sample device noise profile is opened and Neat Image is almost ready to filter the sample image. Usually, you would adjust the filter settings at this stage. To make things easier for the first run of Neat Image, we have prepared a sample preset file that stores ‘good’ filter settings suitable for the sample image.

Step 3. Open the sample filter preset

1. Switch to the Noise Filter Settings tab:

2. Click

(pink disk) in the Filter Preset box on the right panel;

3. In the Open filter preset dialog, navigate to the folder/directory where the sample filter preset has been unzipped and double click on the file SamplePreset.nfp;

Now the sample filter preset is opened and the filter settings are adjusted to process the sample image.

Step 4. Apply the filter

1. Switch to the Output Image tab:

2. Click

on the toolbar and wait until the progress indicator disappears.

Processing may take some time (this depends on the speed of your computer's CPU). Then the filtered output image is displayed. You can click the image to compare it with the input image. Notice that the noise – especially in sky area – has been significantly reduced while the image details have been preserved.

Please note that the sample device noise profile and sample filter preset supplied with the test-kit are suitable only for images taken with that particular digital camera working in certain mode. Neat Image can perform similar noise reduction on images captured or acquired by any image acquisition devices working in any mode. To be able to do t hat Neat Image needs specific device noise profiles that desc ribe the noise characteristics of those devices. The good news is that you can build these profiles yourself. With Neat Image, you can easily do this because the program can automatically build the profiles by analyzing noise samples selected by you. Also, y ou can fi nd ready-m ade de vice noise profi les for m any digital cameras and scanners in the Profiles

section of Neat Image web page.

The next sections – Filtration process details, page 9, and Building device noise profiles, page 16,– contain detailed descriptions of the filtration process and building custom device noise profiles. There are also several examples of profiling and filtration in the Examples

section of Neat Image web page.

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User Guide Neat Image

4. Filtration process details

Neat Image can be used to filter a single image or multiple images at the same time. This section contains a detailed description of the filtration process involving a single image. Queued processing of multiple images is explained in the section 7, page 29.

The filtration process is described as a set of steps that have to be taken to process an image. Please follow the description step-by-step or read a specific part to find out particular details.

4.1. Step I. Open an input image

Use the Input Image tab in the Filtration Job Editor:

To open an input image

⇒ Click

(the Open input image… button) on the toolbar, or in the

Input Image box, or select the File | Open Input Image… menu item. Supported file formats are BMP, TIFF and JPEG (please see Requirements, page 4, for details).

or Use the Windows clipboard to bring an image into the program from another application: use the

Edit | Paste menu item. The clipboard image should be in 24/32-bit RGB format. or Drag an image file from the Windows Explorer and drop it to the input image viewer.

When the input image is ready, the Input Image box (on the right panel) displays related image information such as image

bit depth, size, channel names, and EXIF data fields available). You may need to refer to these data later on.

To scroll and pan the image in the image viewer:

• drag the image using the middle mouse button;

• press the spacebar and drag the image with the left

mouse button.

To change the image zoom level:

(when

• use the mouse wheel;

• use the zoom control on the toolbar;

• use the Ctrl-Plus, Ctrl-Minus keyboard shortcuts.

4.2. Step II. Prepare a device noise profile

Use the Device Noise Profile tab in the Filtration Job Editor: To filter an image, Neat Image needs to know the characteristics of noise produced by the image

acquisition device (digital camera, scanner, etc.) that the input image comes from. The noise characteristics of a device working in certain mode are stored by Neat Image in a device noise profile.

There are several ways to get a device noise profile that suits the input image:

• To automatically select the m ost s uita ble devi ce n oise prof ile from a rea dy -m ade set o f profi les using Neat Image automatic profile matcher;

• To manually select a suitable profile from a ready-m a de set of p rofil es usi ng t heir desc ript ions;

Only those EXIF fields are shown that could be extracted from the input image and are important for noise reductio n.

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User Guide Neat Image

• To build a new profile using the input image or a specially prepared test image.

The first two options are available once you have a ready-made set of profiles. You may find free sets of profiles for your imaging device(s) in:

• Profiles

• Device noise profiles

section of Neat Image web page;

section of Neat Image community forum;

• Other digital imaging forums and web pages from users of Neat Image.

Once you have a set of profiles for different modes of your imaging device, you can (automatically or manually) select a profile that matches the input image.

If you cannot find a ready-made set of profiles, then you can easily build profiles yourself. See the Building device noise profiles section, page 16, for more information.

To automatically select and open the best matching noise profile

⇒ Click

(the Profile matcher button) or select the Profile | Open Best Matching Profile menu

item. Neat Image automatic profile matcher uses the EXIF data fields of the input image to select the

device noise profile that best matches the device mode of the image. The device noise profile is selected among a set of profiles stored in a special folder (and its subfolders). You can specify t his folder in the application options.

See Profile matching options, page 37, for more details about the following profile matching options:

Matching device noise profile folder/directory, Matching parameters prio rities and Auto match on image open.

To manually select and open a device noise profile

⇒ Click

(the Open device noise profile… butt on, blue di sk) in the Device Noise Profile box or

select the Profile | Open… menu item. In the Open device noise profile dialog box, you can specify the name of the device noise to be opened.

or Select a profile using the popup menu: click on the button on the right side of the profile name

shown in the top part of the Device Noise Profile box, and select a profile from the popup menu. When selecting a profile that matches the de vice mode of th e input im age, use the profile file names

and folder structure to guide your search. See Preparing a set of profiles for di fferent devi ce modes, page 25, for more information on structuring the profile sets.

To build a new profile using the input or test image

If the input image has enough featureless areas or you have prepared a special test image (see Using the calibration target, page 23) then you can build a new device noise profile on the spot. Please see Building a device noise profile for specific device mode, page 16, for detailed instructions.

4.3. Step III. Adjust filter settings

Use the Noise Filter Settings tab in the Filtration Job Editor: The noise and sharpening filters have many settings that you can adjust. You can vary the settings to

find values that produce the best results from your point of view. The easiest way to do this is to use the preview.

If there is no popup menu, check the Folder options of Neat Image, see page 38.

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User Guide Neat Image

4.3.1. Use preview to adjust filter settings

To use preview

⇒ Select any image area: press the left button, drag the mouse and then release the button.

When an area is selected, Neat Image will

automatically apply filtration to the selected image area.

You can also manually invoke preview recalculation with

(the Preview button),

the Filter | Preview menu item, or the F5 hotkey. As soon as the preview is ready, you can left-click on the selected area to temporarily switch back to the original for comparison.

4.3.2. Adjust noise filter settings

The noise filter has separate settings for all frequency and channel components. There are the noise level and noise reduction amount controls for all image components.

The noise level controls determine which image elements are considered noise. Because the noise level controls are relative to the device noise profile, their defaults usually produce

satisfactory results. The noise level defaults are 0% means the noise levels are completely determined by the noise profile. When the level controls are set differently, the noise level estimations are raised or lowered accordingly. A noise level can be in the range from –100% (which means no image elements are considered noise, and therefore, noise reduction will not be applied at all to the corresponding image component) to +150% (which means noise reduction will be applied to the image elements that are ‘weaker’ than 2.5 times the noise level determined by the noise profile).

Noise reduction amount controls determine how much reduction is applied to the image elements identified as noise. Noise reduction amounts can be in the range from 0% (none of the detected noise is removed) to 100% (all the detected noise is removed). By default, the noise filter removes 100%

of detected noise

. Decreasing the amounts can have a positive effect if the input image contains some natural noise. For example, when you are filtering images of asphalt, sand, or anything else that contains fine natur al noise-like features , it may be help ful to reduce am ounts down

to 40-70%.

Our experience shows that these values generally provide a good balance between

preserving image details and noise removal.

, which

To adjust noise filter settings

• Adjust noise levels (optional)

⇒ Use the High, Mid, and Low; Y, Cr, Cb (R, G, B) noise level sliders.

The noise filter has access to three frequency components and three channel components of the input image. Corresponding sliders adjust the estimated noise levels for each of these components.

The higher a specific noise level, the more image elements in the corresponding image component are considered noise. Be careful, setting a noise level too high can lead to removal of important image details. Setting a noise level too low can lead to incomplete filtration: residual noise and

If auto recalculate preview is checked; see Filtration options, page 38.

Some of the noise level defaults may be different from 0%.

Some of the noise reduction amount defaults may be different from 100%.

See also Partial filtration, page 46, for additional tips.

It is advised to switch off the sharpening in all channels when adjusting noise filter.

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User Guide Neat Image

compression artifacts can stay in the output image. As a rule, if the device noise profile has been bu ilt properly, it is not necessary to increase the noise

levels by more than 50%. If the input image contains strong surges of noise in the high frequency range, it is recommended to increase the high frequency noise level up to +20 to 40%.

If the input image contains strong low frequency noise then you may need (in addition to low frequency component filtration settings) to switch on the very low frequency filter (check the Very low

freq checkbox in the Noise Filter Settings box).

Noise samples of different frequency/size are shown in the Noise filter settings box. These are examples of grainy structures typically regarded as noise.

If the input image contains strong color noise, it is recommended to increase the Cr and Cb noise levels to +30%. In some cases, it may be useful to increase these noise levels up to +100%.

As human vision is not very sensitive to variations of colors, strong filtration in the Cr and Cb channels does not noticeably distort a ima

e, but efficiently removes color noise.

• Adjust noise reduction amounts (optional)

⇒ Use the High, Mid, and Low; Y, Cr, Cb (R, G, B) noise reduction amount sliders.

You can vary the noise reduction amount for each frequency and channel component of the input image. The higher a specific noise reduction amount, the more of the detected noise is removed in the corresponding image component. Be careful, setting the noise reduction amounts too high can lead to loss of fine details and unnaturally looking (over-smooth, plastic-like, see page 44) results. Too low amounts may be not enough to sufficient ly remove the objectionabl e part of the noise. You need to balance the noise reduction amounts (most importantly, the amount of noise reduction in the Y channel) to get the result that looks best to your eyes.

If the input image has only fine (high frequency) noise elements you can utilize only the high frequency filter and switch off the filters for other frequencies by setting their amounts to 0%.

Turn on the Smooth edges checkbox to make edges and lines in the image look smoother (see an example on the right).

Smooth edges

Off On

• Use preview

⇒ Use the preview when adjusting the noise filter settings.

After you have made changes to the noise filter parameters, do not forget to check the preview.

Use the preview on different parts of the image to get a better feeling for the results of noise reduction.

If the noise filtration looks too strong (weak) try to decrease (increase) the noise levels and/or noise reduction amounts for the appropriate channels and/or frequency ranges. If this does not help, probably the device noise profile is not accurate enough. Return to Step II, page 9, and additionally fine-tune the device noise profile (analyze a featureless image area with the manual fine-tuning noise analyzer.

• Use Component Viewer (optional)

The Component Viewer is intended for detailed examination of both frequency and channel components of the image. Fin d m ore det ails abo ut usi ng thi s to ol in the Co m ponent View er su bsection , page 28.

• Use Variant Selector (optional)

The Variant Selector is designed to compare several variants of filtration side-by-side to find the

Using auto recalculation of preview is recommended (see Filtration options, page 38).

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User Guide Neat Image

optimum filter settings easier and faster. More information about this tool is available in the Variant Selector subsection, page 28.

4.3.3. Adjust sharpening settings (optional1)

The sharpening filter is designed to increase image sharpness without increasing the noise strength. The values of the sharpening settings are relative to the device noise profile and the noise filter settings.

The default values of the sharpening settings should produce satisfactory results (when sharpening is enabled for any of the channel components) but you are encouraged to vary the settings to find values that produce the desired level of sharpness. Zero sharpening amounts will not sharpen the image at all. The non-zero sharpening amounts will apply sharpening of the specified strength. Use sharpening controls for different frequency components to sharpen fine, medium or large image details. Like with any sharpening method, you need to balance the amounts to avoid oversharpening.

Use the preview when adjusting the sharpening settings.

To adjust sharpening settings

• Select color channels where sharpening should be applied

⇒ Use checkboxes in the Sharpening Settings box.

If the working color space is RGB, then all color channels should typically be processed. If it is the YCrCb color space (JPEG or Symmetric), then, usually, you do not need to sharpen the Cr and Cb channels.

• Adjust sharpening amounts

⇒ Use the High, Mid and Low amount sliders in the Sharpening Settings box.

Specify how much sharpening should be applied to each frequency component of the image. The standard sharpening settings used by many graphic editors are 100% for high frequency and

0% for medium and low frequencies (used by default).

• Use preview

⇒ Use the preview when adjusting the sharpening settings.

After you have made changes to the sharpeni ng settings, do not for get to check the preview. Use the preview on different parts of the image to get a better feeling for the results of sharpening.

4.3.4. Save the filter settings into a preset (optional)

To save filter settings for future use

⇒ Click

select the Profile | Save Filter Settings as Preset… menu item. In the Save filter preset as dialog box, specify the name of the file to save the preset. The filter

presets are stored in *.nfp files.

Saved filter preset includes the noise filter and sharpening settings. By saving-opening a preset, you can reproduce exactly the same filter settings later on. Also, you can exchange filter presets with other users of Neat Image. Together, a device noise profile and a filter preset can be used to accurately reproduce the filtration results.

You can skip this subsection when reading for the first time.

(the Save filter settings as preset… button, pink disk) in the Filter Preset box or

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User Guide Neat Image

To open a previously saved filter preset

⇒ Click

(the Open filter preset… button, pink disk) in the Filter Preset box o r select the Filter

| Load Filter Settings from Preset… menu item. In the Open filter preset dialog box, specify the name of the filter preset to be opened.

or Select a preset using the popup menu: click on the button on the side of the preset name shown in

the top part of the Filter Preset box, and select a preset from the popup menu.

There are several pre-written filter presets in the PRESETS subfolder of installed Neat Image application. Please explore these presets to see what combinations and values of the noise and sharpening filter’s settings can be used to solve typical tasks (names of the presets explain these tasks).

4.4. Step IV. Apply filter to the input image

Use the Output Image tab in the Filtration Job Editor:

To apply the filtration to the input image

1) Select output image type

⇒ Select the output image type from the list in the Filter Output box (24-bit RGB/48-bit RGB;

8-bit/16-bit Grayscale). The output image type can be made different from the input image type. In this case, the input image will be internally converted during processing.

2) Apply the filtration

⇒ Click

(the Apply button)

on the toolbar or select the Filter | Apply menu item.

Processing may take a few minutes (depending on the speed of your computer's CPU and size of the image). During this time, you can minimize the

eat Image is a CPU-intensive application, and in the current implementation, the processor's speed is the most critical. On Pentium IV 1.4GHz, processing a 2-megapixel image takes about 20 seconds (Neat Image v3.0). On a computer of typical configuration, the processing time is linear with res

ect to image size (in megapixels).

Filtration Job Editor window.

When the filtration is completed, you can compare the output and input images. Click

(the

Compare button) on the toolbar or just click the output image. If the filtration result is not satisfactory, please return to Step III, page 10, to change some of the filter settings, or to Step II, page 9, to build a new or improve the current noise profile to better match the noise of the input image.

See Filtration options, page 38, for more details about the following filtration-related options of Neat Image: audible indication and filter process priority.

4.5. Step V. Save the output image

Use the Output Image tab in the Filtration Job Editor:

To save the output image

⇒ Click

If there is no popup menu, check the Folder options of Neat Image, see page 38.

(the Save output image as… button) on the toolbar or select the File | Save Output

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Image As… menu ite m. The available output file formats are: BMP, TIFF, and JPEG (see the Requirements subsection,

page 4, for more details). When you save the output image in JPEG format, you can select the compression quality. The last used compression quality value is always used as default unless you change it when saving the output image in JPEG format.

or Use the Windows clipboard to export the filtration results to another application. Use the Edit |

Copy menu item for that purpose. An image put on the clipboard will be in 24bit RGB format.

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5. Building device noise profiles

Each device noise profile describes t he properties of noise produced by a device worki ng in some mode. Several device noise profiles corres ponding to different device modes constit ute a set that can be used t o process images produced in any of these device modes.

In this section, you will find out how to build a single device noise profile, how to document this profile for future use, and how to prepare and document a structured set of profiles for your imaging device.

5.1. Building a device noise profile for specific device mode

Building a single device noise profile for specific device mode includes use of rough and fine-tuning noise analyzers. Rough Analyzer is used to do initial analysis of image noise; it produces a rough

device noise profile. Fine-Tuning Analyz er improves the initial analysis to produce a fine-tuned device noise profile.

Both rough and fine-tunin g noise analyzers need uniform image areas to m easure noise properties. If the image has uniform areas that contain noise but no visible/important details, Neat Image can analyze the noise properties using these areas. Neat Image itself cannot find the uniform areas (or areas that contai n no details important for you), so you have to specify areas that it should analyze.

Use the Device Noise Profile tab in the Filtration Job Editor:

5.1.1. Preparing a rough device noise profile

To build a rough device noise profile

1) Select working color space

⇒ Use the Working color space list in the Device Noise

Profile box.

The working color space is an internal parameter of the filtration algorithm. An image is only temporarily converted to the working color space for processing (the input and output images are always in the RGB color space).

We recommend using the YCrCb JPEG or YCrCb Symmetric space to analyze and process color images. The RGB color space is not the best for discerning image details that are masked by noise. Using this color space most likely will not produce the best results.

Normally, you use the YCrCb JPEG (default) working color space for color photographic images or the YCrCb Symmetric color space for grayscale (halftone) images. The RGB color space may also be useful for specific applications. For example, if your intention is to filter only one specific color channel (R, G or B) of the image then you use this space.

To use a specific working color space you need a noise profile built in that space. Neat Image will re-build a noise profile if you change the working color space.

2) Find a uniform image area

⇒ Scroll, pan, zoom the input image t o find a uni form area.

A uniform area (with minor variation in all channels)

See examples of uniform image areas

the subsection 10.1, page 40) may be overcast sky, clear sky (without clouds and birds), or any other part of an image, where there are no visually perceptible details (except those caused by noise).

The uniform area should preferable (but not n ecessary) be gray (neutral). The area should be at least 60x60 pixels large. That is the minimum size; the recommended size is 100x100 pixels or more.

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⇒ Use

(the Show negative button) on the toolbar to temporarily turn the image into its negative.

This can make finding the noise and noise-only areas easier in some cases.

If you cannot find a uniform area in the input image, you can use an alternative test image. The test image is supposed to be produced by the same device working in the same or similar mode. The test image can be just another image from the same series that contains uniform featureless area suitable for analysis. Or you can prepare a special test image using the calibration target, which is specifically designed to provide several featureless areas of different brightness. See Using the calibration target, page 23, for more details.

⇒ To open the test image, click

(the Open test image… button) on the toolbar (or select the File | Open Test Image… menu item). The test image will only replace the input image in the Device Noise Profile tab for the purpose of building a device noise profile.

or Paste the test image from the Windows clipboard or dra g and drop it f rom another appl ication to the

image viewer in the Device Noise Profile tab.

3) Select found uniform image area

⇒ Use the mouse to select a uniform image are a: press the left button, dra g the mouse and t hen release

the button. The selection should be at least 60x60 pixels large; the recommended size is 100x100 pixels or

more. The selection frame will change its thickness according to the selection size. When you are selecting an area, the selection status in the Rough Noise Analyzer box is dynamically indicating whether the chosen area is large enough for analysis.

Warning

The selection status displays "signal clipping!" when the image in some of the channels (R,G,B) is close to the dynamic range limit in the selected area. A device noise profile built using th e selected area could be inaccurate. Please try to avoid this for best results.

4) Analyze selected image area with Rough Noise Analyzer

⇒ Click

(the Rough Noise Analyzer button) in the Rough Noise Analyzer box or select the

Profile | Build Using Selected Area menu item. The program will measure the noise characteristics of the image acquisition device by analyzing

uniform areas of the image. You only need to ma ke this analysis once to build a rough noise profile.

5) Describe device name and device mode

⇒ Use the Device name and Device mode fields on the Device Noise

Profile panel.

Here, you can specify the model of image acquisition device used. For example, "Olympus C5050Z".

Also, you can describe the de vice mode. Spe cify parame ters used to take the image(s). For example, this can be something like the data

ISO level: 200 Compression: 5 bits/pixel Exposure time: 1/80s Exposure bias: 0.00 eV White balance: Defaul

in the text box on the right.

⇒ Neat Image can automatically fill out the Device name and Device mode fields in the Device Noise

Profile box. The program can extract these data when EXIF data fields are available in the image.

Use the EXIF->Profile button on the toolbar or the Profile | Copy EXIF Data to Profile menu item to do that.

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About device name and device mode

It is recommended to specify these details to keep record of devices, device modes, and corresponding device noise profiles that you use. This is important because the noise characteristics of any two devices can be extremely different. Even a single device in different modes can produce significantly different noise. Therefore, it is always better to use separate noise profiles for different devices and device modes to avoid inaccurate filtration and artifacts. Commenting on the device name and device mode parameters helps you to keep track of them afterwards when you manually match the profiles and input images.

Automatic profile matching is using the EXIF data of the image files, not the Device name and Device mode fields, so filling out these fields may not be necessary for auto-matching. However, filling these out is highly advisable both for the clarity purposes and for the cases of EXIF-less input images (in case of EXIF-less images, you will have to manually select a matching profile based on the Device name and Device mode fields).

About cross-use of noise profiles Naturally, it is always better to build a new device noise profile for each image, because such

profile better matches the noise of particular image. Nevertheless, a device noise profile can be used to process many images received from the same device working in the same (or similar) mode. Several device parameters should be taken into account when such a cross-use of profiles is to be used.

It is most likely that any two images would be shot in different or slightly different conditions (device mode, shooting conditions); therefore, the noise characteristics would be different. In the table below, device mode data (for digital cameras) are described that affect the noise characteristics the most (from the most to the less important ones):

ISO rate

Sharpness adjustment

Compression

Resolution

White balance

50, 100, 200, 400, etc.;

depends on a camera

Low, Normal, High, etc.; depends on a camera

1:1 (or Uncompressed), 1:5 (or Fine), 1:10 (or

Normal), 1:20 (or Basic), etc. or 2 bits/pixel, 4 bits/pixel, etc.

depends on a camera

1:1 (original resolution, like 1600x1200), 1:2 (downsized in camera, e.g., 800x600), 2:1 (digital zoom, 2x), etc.

Sun, Cloudy, Incandescent, Fluorescent, etc.;

depends on a camera

Higher ISO rate produces more noise.

Internal sharpness adjustment of a camera makes noise more intensive. Using no internal sharpness adjustment produces least noise.

Strong JPEG compression typically produces more JPEG artifacts and destroys image elements including noise; weaker compression preserves more image elements including noise created by the image sensor. It is preferable to use the lowest amount of compression possible for the best results.

Camera’s internal interpolation (both downsizing and upsizing, e.g., that of digital zoom) changes many characteristics of noise.

White balancing changes characteristics of noise (mainly of color noise) slightly.

If two images were shot in the same or similar conditions (most the above device mode data are the same) then the noise of these two images should be very similar. If you have built a device noise profile using one of these images, you can use this profile to filter both with good results.

If however, the shooting conditions were different then the noise components of two images could be significantly different. In this case, cross-use of the device noise profile is not recommended. Instead, build a new profile for another device mode.

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5.1.2. Fine-tuning the rough device noise profile

For more accurate noise reduction, it is helpful to measure the dependence between the level of noise and the local brightness in different image areas. This dependence s hould be taken into account if noise appreciably depends on brightness (fo r example, if noise is st rong in dark areas and weak in light areas).

The Fine-Tuning Analyzer measures this dependence. T he m easurem ents results are displayed by the noise profile equalizer. Noise profile equalizer has nine sliders that represent the range of image brightness from darkest to lightest for each sensor (R, G, B) of the image acquisition device.

The values of the equalizer sliders correspond to the estimated noise levels in different brightness ranges relative to the rough noise profile. Positive values of sliders reflect higher estimated noise levels and make Neat Image consider more image elements to be noise; negative values reflect lower estimated noise levels and fewer image elements are considered noise in the corresponding brightness ranges.

The Fine-Tuning Analyzer ca n be used in manual and a utom atic way. B elow, the aut omati c method is described first. Then the manual method is explained in details to provide understanding of the whole process and result.

To automatically fine-tune the rough device noise profile

1) Enable Fine-Tuning Analyzer

⇒ Enable the Fine-Tuning Analyzer by checking the

in the Fine-Tuning Analyzer box.

2) Apply Auto Fine-Tuning Analyzer

⇒ Click

(the Auto Fine-Tuning

Analyzer button) or select the Profile | Auto Fine-Tune menu item.

The whole image will be automatically analyzed by Neat Image and some of the equalizer sliders will receive the ‘measured’ status (see page 21). The values of other sliders will be then automatically interpolated by the Auto Complete function and will receive the ‘manual’ status.

You may want to inspect the equalizer values after applying auto fine-tuning. In most cases, there is no need to do manual slider adjustments afterwards. If you feel this is necessary, please follow the guidelines given in the manual fine-tuning subsection below.

checkbox

To manually fine-tune the rough device noise profile

1) Find and select a uniform image area

⇒ Use the mouse to select a uniform image area: press the left button,

drag the mouse and then release the button.

See examples of uniform image areas, page 31.

The size of an image area can be from 30x30 to 300x300 pixels. The selection frame will change its thickness according to the selection size. When you are selec ting an image area, the selection status

on the bottom of the Fine-Tuning Analyzer box is dynamically indicating which frequency

components are contained in the selected area and would be analyzed: ‘high’, ‘high+mid’, ‘high+mid+low’, ‘high+mid+low+very low freqs’.

See “what is frequency”, page 45.

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Size of an area (pixels) Which frequency components would be analyzed Rating

200x200 - 300x300 High, medium, low and very low Best 100x100 - 200x200 High, medium and low Good

60x60 – 100x100 High and medium Ok

30x30 – 60x60 High Poor

The selected area would be analyzed according to its frequency com position (of high, m edium, low and very low frequency image components). When a frequency component is not anal y zed, al l the data related to this component are estim ated (extrapolated). That is always not accurate; theref ore, it is best to choose large areas so that all the frequency components could be analyzed.

Warning

The selection status displays "signal clipping!" when the image in some of the channels (R,G,B) is close to the dynamic range limit in the selected area. Fine-tuning a device noise profile using the selected area could be inaccurate. Please try to avoid this for best results.

When you select an image area, its position in the brightness range is shown with red font color of the value(s) of the corresponding slider(s)’ in the noise profile equalizer. Also, it is displayed by the color indicators at the bottom of the equalizer.

2) Analyze selected image area with Fine-Tuning Analyzer

⇒ Click

(the Manual Fine-Tuning Analyzer button) or select the Profile | Fine-Tune Using

Selected Area menu item. The analysis results are shown in noise profile equalizer. For uniform areas with noise only, the

corresponding slider(s) receives the ‘measured’ status – a green shading on the slider’s value, like –27%. If an area with signal clipping has been used to analyze noise characteristics then the corresponding slider(s) receives the ‘inaccurate’ status – a red shading, like –86%. When an area with unexpectedly strong level of noise is encountered, an orange shading is applied, like +215%.

Warning

An orange shading is applied when the analyzed noise in the corresponding brightness range is unexpectedly strong. There are several potential reasons for that:

• Fine-tuning is being done using a bad (e.g., containing visible details) image area;

• Wrong device noise profile is used (the profile’s device and device mode do not match

those of the analyzed image OR the (rough) profile has been built inaccurately);

• Noise in this image is unusual and contains strong variations.

An orange shading is a warning sign. It does not necessarily signify wrong measurement. Please make you own judgment in this situation and if necessary rebuild the device noise profile or select a more uniform area for fine-tuning.

A red shading is a sure sign of wrong measurement. You need to reset the corresponding slider or undo the last analysis (see below).

3) If necessary, reset status of a slider (optional)

⇒ Click on the color shading of a slider to reset its status and value.

If a slider has red (or any other color) shading, you can safely reset it and analyze another part of the input image to re-measure its value. There is no need to reset the entire equalizer because of one wrong value.

4) If necessary, undo the last analysis (optional)

⇒ Click

(the Undo button) or select the Profile | Undo Last Fine-Tuning Analysis menu item.

Undoing the last fine-tuning a nalysis may be usef ul when a bad choice of image area has resulted i n

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bad analysis results.

5) If necessary, reset the whole equalizer (optional)

⇒ Click

(the Reset fine-tuning results button) or select the Profile | Reset Fine-Tuning

Results menu item.

6) Repeat steps 1-5 with other uniform image areas of different brightness

To make a device noise profile more accurate you have to fine-tune it using several uniform areas1 of the image (naturally, analyzing the same area many times makes little sense). Try to choose uniform areas to cover all brightness ranges in all channels of the equalizer (i.e., to get shadings on all sliders’ values). Use color shadings as well as red markings (which are used to reflect the range of the current selection; like –40%) to guide the process of fine-tuni ng. Al so use the colo r indicato rs on the bottom of the Fine-Tuning Analyzer box as guidance when doing that. If the majority of sliders’ values have green shadings, you can stop the process.

7) Set remaining sliders at your option (optional)

If not set by the Fine-Tuning Analyzer, the sliders of the equalizer have default values. You can leave them with default values or can adjust these sliders to bring them into better agreement with the neighbor measured ones.

⇒ Set the remaining sliders as you consider necessary.

Manually adjusted sliders receive the ‘manual’ status (a yellow shading, like +175%). or Use Auto Complete to automatically adjust the unmeasured sliders by interpolation based on the

measured data. Click

(the Auto Complete button) or select the Profile | Auto

Complete menu item to automatically complete the fine-tuning. Using Auto Complete is highly advisable as the last step of the manual fine-tuning process.

Analyzed using an area with

non-flat) / up to use

details

Analyzed by Neat Image / bes

Analyzed by Neat Image then adjusted by user / good OR set b

user without analysis / o

Incorrectly analyzed

Neat Image / bad

The figure below summarizes the status marking of sliders: When using the noise profile equalizer, use the color indicator to simplify the fine-tuning process.

Colored lines of the indicator show:

• which sliders of the equalizer correspond to the colors of the selected image area/pixel

(press the Shift key for pixel-wise indication);

• which slider values are different from their default values;

• which sliders have (possibly) incorrect values.

The figure below explains each state of the indicator elements:

Will be affected if current selection would be analyzed

Analyzed /

ossibly incorrect

ot analyzed / default value

Analyzed or set by user / acceptable value

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How to check if a device noise profile has been fine-tuned properly

The equalizer sliders should be mostly shaded in green and, occasionally, yellow. The color indicators should be filled with solid colored lines at all positions.

5.1.3. Saving the fine-tuned device noise profile

To save a device noise profile for future use

⇒ Use

(the Save device noise profile as… button, blue disk) in the Device Noise Profile box or

select the Profile | Save As… menu item. In the Save device noise profile as dialog box, specify the name of the file to save the device noise

profile. The device noise profiles are stored in *.dnp files. Saved noise profile includes complete information about rough and fine-tuning analyses.

Therefore, by saving the noise profile, you can reproduce exactly the same conditions for image processing later on. Also, you can exchange noise profiles with other Neat Image users.

In addition, the noise profile can contain an image sample that has been used to build rough noise profile. You can control whether it is included into profile using the Save analyzed image area in profile option, see Profiling options, page 36.

File naming considerations

If you are going to re-use a device noise profile, select a good file name explaining the device name and mode so that you could easily recognize this profile by its file name later on. Alternatively, you can use speci al folder st ructu ring to keep m any de vice noise profi les arra nged according to their device modes.

See the subsection 5.4.1, Structuring profile set, page 25, for additional information.

See Profiling options, page 36, for more details on combination of last fine-tuning analyses option of Neat Image.

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5.2. Using the calibration target

This page is intended to be a test shot target for device noise profiling.

Alternatively, you can use a standard color or grayscale target available from your local photo store. The patches should be uniform, grayscale or color, without any visible details or texture.

Calibration target guidelines follow on the next page.

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5.2.1. Digital camera profiling

Use the calibration target page to prepare a test image for building a device noise profile for your camera using the following steps:

1. Set the camera to a specific shooting mode (ISO level, exposure, etc.) that you want to build a profile for.

2. Important: set the focusing system on infinity (you need to get an out of focus image).

3. Make sure the calibration target fills the whole frame and make a shot.

4. Bring the resulting image to Neat Image and build a device noise profile using this test image:

a. Use the central area to do rough analysis; b. Use the Auto Fine-Tuning Analyzer.

5.2.2. Flatbed scanner profiling

Use the calibration target page to prepare a test image for building a device noise profil e for your flatbed scanner using the following steps:

1. Set the scanner to a specific scanning mode (resolution, light level, etc.) that you want to build a profile for.

2. If possible set the scanner out of focus (an out of focus scan is preferred for profiling).

3. Scan the calibration target

4. Bring the scanned image to Neat Image and build a device noise profile using this test image:

a. Use the central area to do rough analysis; b. Use multiple smaller patches to fine-tune the rough profile or just use the Auto

Fine-Tuning Analyzer.

5.2.3. Film scanner profiling

Use the calibration target page to prepare a test image for building a device noise profile for your film scanner using the following steps:

1. Set the camera to a specific shooting mode (ISO level, exposure, film type, etc.) t hat you want to build a profile for.

2. Important: set the focusing system on infinity (you need to get an out of focus image).

3. Make sure the calibration target fills the whole frame and make a shot.

4. Develop the slide and put it into the scanner

5. Set the scanner to a specific scanning mode (resolution, light level, etc.) that you want to build a profile for and scan the slide.

6. Bring the scanned image to Neat Image and build a device noise profile using this test image:

a. Use the central area to do rough analysis; b. Use multiple smaller patches to fine-tune the rough profile or just use the Auto

Fine-Tuning Analyzer.

5.3. Profiling methods

In the subsection Building a device noise profile for specific device mode, page 16, building profiles using the input image is explained. In some cases, the input image does not contain enough featureless areas for building a profile. In such cases, other images can be used. Generally, there are several such profiling options that can be arranged from the most desirable to the least desirable (from the standpoint of profiling accuracy):

1. Use a 100x100+ uniform featureless area in the input image for rough analysis; then fine-tune the profile using several other featureless areas in the same image;

2. Do (1) with another image (for example an image of the calibration target) from the same camera/scanner shot/scanned in similar conditions; then additionally fine-tune the profile using

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the input image

;

3. Do (1) with another image from another camera/scanner of the same model shot/scanned in similar conditions; then additionally fine-tune the profile using the input image;

4. Get a ready-made profile built with a similar image from another camera/scanner of the same model; then additionally fine-tune the profile using the input image;

5. Do (1) starting with a smaller (60x60+) uniform featureless area in the input image;

6. Cut out a 59x59- uniform featureless area from the input image and (p refe rably) seamlessly clone it in an image editor to produce a 60x60+ area; do (1) with the resulting larger area;

7. Up-size your image (using your favorite method) in an image editor; do (1) with it; process the upsized image in Neat Image (do not process original image with such a profile); down-size the result in the image editor.

5.4. Preparing a set of profiles for different device modes

Since every imaging device can work in different modes, there should be several devi ce noi se profi l e s, corresponding to a set of modes to make possible processing of arbitrary images produced by specific device. If the set of profiles covers all modes of the device then any image from this device can be processed by using one of the profiles from the set.

A set of profiles for specific device shoul d be pre pared first . This can be d one by any owner of s pecific imaging device because he/she has direct access to its hardware. You can do this too. To help you, we give some guidelines about structuring and documenting sets of profiles so that you could prepare a set

of profiles for your camera, scanner, etc., in such a way as to make use of this set easy for you

5.4.1. Structuring profile set

When you prepare a set of profiles, for example, for a digital camera, you build profiles for camera modes with different ISO rates, quality (camera JPEG compression level), image size, etc. It is advised to put the description of the device m ode into the profile com ments fields (Device nam e, Device mode) but it is also smart to name the profile file using the key parameters of the device mode. For example,

the profiles for Olympus C5050Z can be named like the following

! Olympus C5050Z

Olympus C5050Z JPEG ISO 100 HQ 2560x1696.dnp Olympus C5050Z JPEG ISO 100 HQ 2560x1920.dnp Olympus C5050Z JPEG ISO 100 SHQ 2560x1696.dnp Olympus C5050Z JPEG ISO 100 SHQ 2560x1920.dnp Olympus C5050Z JPEG ISO 200 HQ 2560x1696.dnp Olympus C5050Z JPEG ISO 200 HQ 2560x1920.dnp Olympus C5050Z JPEG ISO 200 SHQ 2560x1696.dnp Olympus C5050Z JPEG ISO 200 SHQ 2560x1920.dnp Olympus C5050Z JPEG ISO 400 HQ 2560x1696.dnp Olympus C5050Z JPEG ISO 400 HQ 2560x1920.dnp Olympus C5050Z JPEG ISO 400 SHQ 2560x1696.dnp Olympus C5050Z JPEG ISO 400 SHQ 2560x1920.dnp Olympus C5050Z TIF ISO 100 2048x1536.dnp Olympus C5050Z TIF ISO 100 2288x1712.dnp Olympus C5050Z TIF ISO 100 2560x1696.dnp Olympus C5050Z TIF ISO 100 2560x1920.dnp Olympus C5050Z TIF ISO 200 2048x1536.dnp Olympus C5050Z TIF ISO 200 2288x1712.dnp Olympus C5050Z TIF ISO 200 2560x1696.dnp Olympus C5050Z TIF ISO 200 2560x1920.dnp Olympus C5050Z TIF ISO 400 2048x1536.dnp Olympus C5050Z TIF ISO 400 2288x1712.dnp Olympus C5050Z TIF ISO 400 2560x1696.dnp Olympus C5050Z TIF ISO 400 2560x1920.dnp

Here:

! – disk folder

Olympus C5050Z – camera name

JPEG / TIF – image file format

HQ / SHQ – JPEG compression quality

ISO nnn – ISO rate of the camera

####x#### – image size

Here and below, when additional fine-tuning is applied using the input image, the equalizer values should not change

much if the two images were indeed shot/scanned in similar device modes. If the equalizer values do change a lot, consider doing (1) with another image that is closer to the input image.

..and other people if you decide to share your results. Please do share because in this way you will he lp people with the

same camera or scanner brand. You can submit a set of profiles to Neat Image team to publish the set on www.neatimage.com (see Contacts, page 48) or just share them with other people directly.

This example is based on a real profile set prepared by Terry Nelms, available at www.neatimage.com

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When the profiles are named like this, finding and selecting an appropriate profile is not difficult. You simply check the device mode of the input image (using the Input Image box on the right panel in the Input Image tab of the Filtration Job Editor) and then select a profile for this device mode from the list of profiles in a folder.

There is another way to do the same, based on structuring the profile set using the disk folders. For example, the above Olympus C5050Z profile set could be structured like this:

! Olympus C5050Z

! TIFF ! 2048x1536