Helicon Filter Help

What is the recommended workflow

Suppose you shot an image and you have it on the disk. Helicon Filter has many controls, so many users ask what they should start from.

Helicon Filter was designed to follow widely accepted post processing workflow: "Noise Reduction >> Brightness, Colors adjustment >> other filters >> Sharpening"

The important point is that noise should be removed before making all other changes, sharpening usually is done at the end, while sharpening introduces much more artifacts than any other filter.

The unique feature of Helicon Filter is that you can switch between filters back and forth, you can change settings many times to get the best result. Each time your settings will be applied to 16 bit copy of the original image, so you will not loose quality due to multiple use of the same filter or due to operations on 8 bit images.

A general rule for the workflow is to open each tab from the left to the right and activate the filters you need.

As an example we will use the following image kindly provided by Derek Drury:

Step 1. Open the source image

You can open an image with the usual Open Dialog (menu->File->Open) or you can choose the image from the file browser on the Source tab.

If you would like to experiment with the sample image, I would suggest you coping the image from this page and paste it into Helicon Filter.

Step 2. Reduce noise

Once you've opened the image, switch to the Noise tab. Set 100% magnification and decide if the noise is too strong. Check the Enable noise reduction box if needed. Do not try to fine tune noise reduction now - first set up other filters (brightness, sharpening) and then return to the Noise tab to find the best settings.

Original image	After default noise reduction

Step 3. Normalize the brightness

The brightness settings affect the image the most. In many cases I start from this filter and fine tune the others only afterwards.

Your main task now is to optimize the brightness so that the image takes the whole dynamic range. This will make your image bright, colorful and and full of details.

Please read the tutorial How to use the histogram to learn more about this process.

To be short: use Auto contrast and Haze compensation first. Then use other controls to fine tune the image.

Original image	After Brightness filter

For this particular image I've used the Auto contrast sliders first, then the Shadows slider.

Step 4. Set the white balance

Now switch to the Colors tab. You can change the tone of the image here using the Colors map or point-and-click White balance tools.

Please read the tutorial How to set white balance to learn more about this process.

After Brightness filter	After Colors filter

Step 5. Apply sharpening

Now switch to the Sharpening tab.

Helicon Filter offers many controls to get the best result.

In short:

- use Sharpen fine details to make good image even crisper
- use Sharpen edges to emphasize the edges of the objects on the soft images
- use Threshold to keep excessive noise from sharpening
- use Suppress halos or White halo if halos are too noticeable

Please be cautious, you can easily spoil a good image applying too much sharpening on it.

Before sharpening	After Sharpening

For this image I've turned on the Suppress halos feature to get rid of strong halos around the bright dots on the dress.

Step 6. Retouch the image

Now switch to the Retouching tab.

Helicon Filter has full set of retouching brushes. For this image I will use the Clone brush to erase black shadow in the right corner of the image.

Before Retouching	After Retouching

Step 7. Save the resulting image.

Switch to the Save tab. You can preview your result now and compare it with the original using the right mouse button.

Original image	Resulting image

If you are contented with your result, switch to Save tab and save the result as usual.

If you are not, feel free to return to the filters, change your settings and process the original image with new settings.
To restart from a scratch, reset all settings with button.

If you have suggestions for changes to Helicon Filter or to the help and tutorials, please contact us at filter@helicon.com.ua