I applied the noise reduction strongly to the sky. Black pixels disable the filter on those pixels. The closer to white the filter is, the stronger the filter is applied. Select a filter and paint in black, grey or white. Each filter you apply is also a masking layer. I selectively applied noise reduction to just the clear part of the sky by taking advantage of AffinityвЂ™s filter masking system. In the case of the background sky, the general noise reduction filter in Affinity does a pretty good job. I donвЂ™t normally use general noise reduction filters because they tend to blur out details and make an image look plastic. That allowed me to remove the blotchiness in the clouds that increasing the contrast caused. Rapid shifts in color and tone do not occur in those areas. However, to smooth noise, the photographer need only mask out the high frequency layer using a black or grey brush. The photographer can leave the image unchanged by not masking out the high frequency layer. This is a powerful technique for selectively blurring portions of the image. By separating the high and low frequency information of the image we can selectively mask out the high frequency information. The low frequency layer contains broader information like tone and color for entire regions of the image.ДЇor this image, we use frequency separation in a totally different way. For portraits, the high frequency layer usually contains all the information about pores, clothe texture and other fine details. The low frequency layer contains all the вЂњslowвЂќ changes in the pixels.Д«y separating these two types of information, a photographer works independently on different aspects of an images. The high frequency layer contains all the вЂњrapidвЂќ changes in pixel values. The photographer splits the image into two layers. Photographers normally use frequency separation for portrait retouching. They were the only elements of the image that remained the same from frame to frame. I used image stacking noise reduction on the beach and water. The more images you average the closer the results are to the вЂњrealвЂќ values presented to the camera.

Real variation, such as fine details, remain and even become more distinct while random variations diminish. And, unlike most noise reduction techniques, image averaging actually approaches the real value instead of selectively blurring differences. That is a complex way of saying that when you have 5, 10 or 20 frames of the same subject, as we do with a time lapse like this, we can average them together and remove noise.Д«y averaging the frames, the noise will cancel out statistically. You could even calculate your confidence interval if you wanted. We can apply some very basic statistics and determine the most likely вЂњrealвЂќ value for each pixel. When you capture a set of frames of the same scene, you have essentially increased the size of the data set.

However, noise *should* be normally distributed around the вЂњrealвЂќ value. The better the sensor, the smaller the variation between frames, and the closer to the вЂњrealвЂќ value the pixels will be. That means any set of frames will exhibit random shifts in the color or luminescence of each pixel. Therefore, I am able to use image averaging to remove noise in the static areas. This milky way photo is a part of a sequence of images. After the initial raw processing in Capture one, I export the images to Affinity Photo for more advanced processing. When shooting at high ISOs, noise can be an issue even on the best camera. And, most of all, I love how good my images look with minimal work. Check out this edit walk through of a milky way photo on Padre Island National Seashore.Д®diting Milky Way Photos with Capture One and Affinity PhotoД¬apture One is my go-to raw editor. Combining them adds a whole new dimension to milky way photography. Capture One and Affinity Photo are powerful milky way photo editing tools.

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