Sunday, 31 January 2016

Better tools/techniques to merge multiple high-ISO images for noise reduction?


Using Photoshop, I can take a burst of nearly identical exposures, "stack" them automatically aligning, and use the median stacking mode. This reduces shot noise and is something approximating a longer exposure from multiple short exposures.


Are there tools (stand-alone or PS/LR plug-ins) that are specialized at doing a better job? I suppose astrophotograhy has advanced tools for similar purposes. Problems I see include




  • sub-pixel mis-alignment between the shots

  • dumb per-pixel combining function

  • no integration with overall noise reduction


for a shot that's less than 100% pixel sharp due to shallow depth of field and the performance of the lens at large aperture, shot noise should stand out in a frequency or wavelet analysis. A shot combining function that looks at a kernel rather than a single pixel might make use of this.


I see periodic questions of "is there a way...". I have "a way", as specified by other posts on this SE. I'm wondering is there a better way, newer specialized tools or new goodies in Adobe's new 2015 editions, other raw processing tools, or cross-over from astrophotograhy?




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