Get Better Photos With Photo Denoiser
Photo Denoiser ($1.99) by Darrarski is an app that will improve your photos by reducing the amount of noise.
Noise is an annoying factor in photographs, isn't it? That grainy stuff that makes your photos look not as smooth as they are? Those low-light images that just look terrible because of the amount of grain? Well, if you've been looking for a way to reduce this problem on your iPhone, Photo Denoiser is now available.
In Photo Denoiser, you can take a new photo, import one from your Photo Library, or test out the denoising effect with the sample image (the same one as in the screenshots).
Once you have your photo, you can choose from four options: Resize, Blur, Edge Detection, and Remove Noise. There is also an option to dismiss all changes that you have made already.
The Resize option is self-explanatory. It's useful if you want faster results when removing noise. If the image is full-resolution, it does actually take about a minute or two for noise reduction. Photo Denoiser has options for Half size, 1024x768 or 800x600 resolutions.
Blur image will do just that - blur your image. However, there is no way to control the amount of blurring, so if you are looking for more control over this aspect, you may want to look into another app.
Edge Detection will look for any edges in the image and then create an outline of the image on a black background. I'm not sure when this would be practical or useful, but if you want something different, I suppose that this will work. No control over this effect either.
The main filter is the one you probably would buy this app for - Reduce noise. If you have a photo with a lot of noise, then the results will be extremely noticeable. Those grainy areas will be smoothed out and the image will look more natural. Keep in mind that reducing the noise of a full resolution image will take a few minutes to complete, so you've been warned. However, the results can actually be worth it, if you find yourself annoyed by the amount of noise in a photo. For images with not a lot of noise, the effect may be less noticeable.
All of these effects can be stacked on top of each other. However, there does not seem to be an "undo" button, but only the option to delete all changes. This can be annoying if you like experimenting and decide to take a step back, so I hope the developers can change that in the future. Undo and Redo buttons are always handy to have.
The best part about Photo Denoiser is the ability to compare your new image and the original image. When changes are applied, you can view the original by tapping the button. This will allow the user to easily view what the changes look like and how much the photo was affected by the effects. It's especially useful for comparing the noise levels.
Once done with the photo, it can be saved to the Camera Roll in full resolution (according to the original resolution of the image or whatever resolution you picked). Additionally, if you have made changes but decide to start on a new photo, the app will prompt you if you want to save the current image or discard it.
I found the results of Photo Denoiser to be pretty good for a $1.99 app. The other effects are decent, but the main entrée is the noise reduction. It's probably the only thing you would want to buy the app for, if you don't want to do the in-app purchase of the free Adobe Photoshop Express, which costs $4.99.
I think the only suggestion I can suggest is to offer an adjuster for the blur and edge detection filters so the user can have a bit more control of the outcome. The noise reduction is done by an algorithm, which from my testing, seems pretty good.
If you have been needing a way to reduce those pesky noise levels in your iPhone photographs, then check out Photo Denoiser. It's cheaper than paying $4.99 for this feature through an in-app purchase.
