‘Point and click’ simplicity is a somewhat overused cliche these days. Nearly every app we use on a Mac is ‘point and click,’ therefore, somewhat simple; provided you know what to click and when. When it comes to photo apps for Mac photographers, that’s the point. Point and click. Photoshop is point and click but comes with an enormous learning curve, not to mention the ongoing monthly rental fee.
One of the issues I’ve run into as a semi-pro photographer wannabe is low light photos. Even with the best of modern DLSRs, plus a lifelong subscription to Photoshop, there is work involved to rid low light photos of their inherent graininess.
Not any more.
Noiseless is an appropriately named Mac app which makes quick work of noise introduced by low light photography. The visual grain and artifacts can be reduced and sometimes removed entirely with little more than a click or two, and moving the all important slider bar.
Yes, it’s that easy. Select the amount of noise from the tabbed menu, move the slider bar accordingly, and view the adjustments in real time, original vs. modified, side-by-side.
If there’s an easier way of reducing grain and artifacts on a photo it’s probably assigning the work to someone else. Noiseless is smart enough to scan the photo and select a preset to match the photo’s light and noise levels. The slider bar merely adjusts the detail.
Obviously, the presets get you started and do yeoman work with little effort, but fine tuning a photo requires some trial and error. Noiseless gives you option to adjust noise filtering based upon the photo’s tonal range.
Photos can also be cropped, rotated, shared, and imported from iPhoto and Aperture (but oddly enough, not the new Mac Photos app).
What type of photos are best modified and improved in Noiseless?
Think low light. Any photo that suffers from a bit of grain due to low light conditions can be improved, sometimes dramatically, by running it through Noiseless. That means it’s a great addition to photos from smartphones, point-and-shoot phones, any type of low light photo (even those using a high ISO), low light portraits with typical yellow indoor lighting- but especially any photo with clearly visible grain.
The developers behind Noiseless also are publishers of a number of great Mac photo enhancements apps including FX Photo Studio, Intensify, and others. There’s also a more expensive Noiseless Pro version which features more presets, including two for RAW photos, special RAW noise reduction options, Adobe RGB color space, and plugins for Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, and Apple’s Aperture.
Fortunately, there’s also a try-before-you-buy version so you can see the noise reduction on your own photos before plunking down your hard earned cash.