Today’s Question: When is the best time to apply AI Denoise in the Lightroom Classic workflow? Should it be done early or late in the process? Or does it matter?
Tim’s Quick Answer: Ultimately, the answer is that it doesn’t matter when you use Denoise in Lightroom Classic. However, when it is needed I prefer to apply Denoise early in my workflow, as it can have a significant impact on how I approach other adjustments for the image. I expect this will become even less of a consideration once Lightroom Classic is (presumably) updated to match the capabilities of Camera Raw.
More Detail: With the current version of Lightroom Classic, when you use the Denoise feature based on AI technology (rather than the manual noise reduction option), a new Adobe DNG file is created based on the original raw capture. By contrast, with the latest update to Camera Raw, you can apply Denoise to the raw capture non-destructively, without the need to create a DNG file. Assuming Lightroom Classic is updated to match this workflow, the timing of using Denoise will be even less of an issue.
Of course, when you create a DNG file by applying Denoise to a raw capture in Lightroom Classic, existing adjustments will be incorporated with the new file. For example, if you convert an image to black and white and then apply Denoise, the DNG file created in the process will appear in black and white. However, the adjustments are still non-destructive, so for example you could later convert the black and white DNG file back to a color image by turning off the “B&W” treatment option.
While you can really use the Denoise feature at just about any point in your workflow, for images that I feel will benefit from Denoise I prefer to apply the adjustment as early in my workflow as possible. This is mostly a simple matter of the Denoise adjustment having a significant impact on the image, and therefore having a somewhat significant impact on my decisions about other adjustments. I therefore find it helpful to apply Denoise early in my workflow. I may apply some of the adjustments from the Basic section first to get a better sense of the overall potential for the image, but once I feel that the image has potential but would benefit from Denoise, I apply Denoise right away.
