Field guide
Reduce noise first, then sharpen
Noise contains high-frequency variation, exactly what a sharpening pass is designed to emphasise. Operation order determines whether the tool sees texture or clutter.
01
Reduce chroma speckles and obvious block texture before sharpening. Preserve luminance detail cautiously so real edges still provide something to enhance.
02
Apply noise reduction while viewing flat areas and sharpening while viewing meaningful edges. One crop rarely reveals both failure modes clearly.
03
Mask or lower sharpening in skies, shadows and skin where noise is most visible. A uniform full-frame amount spends artefact budget where no edge benefit exists.
04
Reassess after resizing because downsampling averages noise and changes edge width. A pass chosen at camera resolution may be unnecessary or too broad at delivery size.