Edit Photos Faster: Using Noise Correction with Lightroom Library Filters
There are countless parts of my job that I love, meeting new people, experiencing new places and cultures, and seeing some amazing weddings and celebrations. Some parts of my work, such as spending long stretches of time editing in Lightroom, are more of a drag.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the creative side of my work and color correcting photos, but some editing tactics, like applying lens corrections, sharpening, and noise reduction, come down more to of an image science then creative action.
This is the reason I searched for a way to optimize noise correction in Lightroom, save time on editing, and ultimately end up with cleaner and more polished photos.
The Setup
To start out, open a Lightroom catalog and make your way to the Library tab. We will be using Library Filters to search for photos with specific ISO metadata values. Be sure to select the folder you’d like to work on before starting.
First we need to open the Library Filter dialogue box. Go to “View” in your Lightroom window menu bar, and select “Show Filter Bar”. A faster way to access the Library Filters is with the keyboard shortcut “\”, which will show/hide the Library Filter box. Then select Metadata at the top of the bar.
Pick any of the boxes, and change one of them to ISO by clicking the title of the filter category. Filters stack on each other from left to right, so I like to change the last box to ISO Speed (by default, this is typically pre-set to Flash State). Next, select the ISO value you want to correct. I find that I like to fix anything shot at or over 1250 ISO (although this will vary with different camera models). So I’ll be selecting the 1250 ISO filter to start.
Before we continue, let’s make it easier to access this filter in the future by creating a Filter Preset.
Click again on the filter dropdown at the bottom of the window. Select “Save Current Settings as New Preset” and name your Preset. Once you've created a preset, you can easily access your library filter at the bottom of your screen, regardless of the Lightroom Module your currently in.
Return to your Develop tab, select all the photos using COMMAND-A (CTRL-A on a PC) and make your corrections in the Detail panel. After that, just sync across all photos from the ISO group and you’re finished! Turn off your filter by pressing COMMAND-L (CTRL-L on a PC), or by choosing the filters off preset from the drop-down menu. Then simply repeat the process for the other high ISO values.
Filter Stacking
Lightroom filters stack left to right, multiple filters can be selected using COMMAND+CLICK (Mac) or WINDOWS+CLICK (PC)
As mentioned earlier, you can stack presets from left to right, and select multiple filters at once by using COMMAND+CLICK on a Mac or WINDOWS+CLICK on a PC.
Two situations where stacking would come in handy, shooting with two different camera models, or shooting with a second shooter. Selecting the specific camera model, then ISO Speed would allow you to quickly customize your settings for each separately.
You could also create one simple filter for all ISO values over a certain number, like a grouping of all ISO values over 2500 in your catalog. I shoot using ISO multiples of 160, so I know I personally need a preset for ISO 1250, 2500, 5000, and 10000, as these are my most frequently used high-ISO settings.
When I edit a catalog, this is something I always do after I finish color correcting. The reason I don’t start with this is because some presets do reset noise correction values, also I tend to use the “Previous” develop button to quickly work through situations with similar color and lighting, and I don’t want to mistakingly copy the wrong noise correction settings while working through a catalog.
Thank you
I hope this Lightroom quick tip can help speed up your workflow, and helps you create cleaner and better images. Once everything is setup, using Library Filters can dramatically cut down on post-production time, and can be easily modified for a variety of situations. Thanks for reading, and say hello by commenting below or using my contact form if you have any questions.