I posted an article yesterday describing a method to reduce noise from photographic images shot at high ISO by using a free Action for Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom called the OD Virtual Tripod Action.

In that article I used an example image that was shot at ISO 400. I realized when I was writing it that the example image may not have been the most convincing; however, it was the best example I had at the time.

So I went out at sunrise and created a new series of images that could really demonstrate how well this action works.

This new example image was created from a series of 11 images that I shot in rapid fire on my Canon 1D Mark IV at ISO 12,800. I deliberately underexposed the images, which always results in noiser images than images that are exposed correctly. I also turned off all noise reduction in Lightroom. The resulting image (upper left) after applying the action is still somewhat noisy, but I think it’s a much more pleasant or organic noise than the originals.

Check out a closeup of the original image on the left below. It is really, really ugly. Now compare it to the image on the right. This is the resulting image after the OD Virtual Tripod Action has been applied. I think the result speaks for itself.

For more information about the OD Virtual Tripod Action check out the original article.

Download the Free OD Virtual Tripod Photoshop Action

• OD Virtual Tripod (Photoshop Action)