Reducing noise in Camera Raw

The Noise Reduction section of the Detail tab has controls for reducing image noise, the extraneous visible artifacts that degrade image quality. Image noise includes luminance (grayscale) noise, which makes an image look grainy, and chroma (color) noise, which is usually visible as colored artifacts in the image. Photos taken with high ISO speeds or less-sophisticated digital cameras can have noticeable noise.

The Luminance control reduces grayscale noise, and the Color control reduces chroma noise. Moving a slider to zero turns off noise reduction.

When making Luminance or Color Noise Reduction adjustments, first zoom in on the preview image to at least 100% to see the noise reduction previewed.

Moving the Luminance slider to the right reduces grayscale noise (upper right), and moving the Color Noise Reduction slider to the right reduces chroma noise (lower right).