Fascinating cityscape. I imagine there were some challenges producing the image in the dim light and cold but there is plenty of information there for us viewers to work out the lay of the land. The highlights dominate and provide too much contrast for me although the Topaz Denoise has worked well here to tame them to an extent. They are quite overbearing in the original. Could you have gotten away with a lower ISO?   Posted: 04/15/2025 10:04:36

Looks like one of those photos I took that is visually impressive but no so much captured. Mountains and sky too "noisy". Happens with very high ISO if camera doesn't have denoise filter.   Posted: 04/19/2025 05:53:16

I like the waterfront, but there are just too many bright lights for me to focus on the remainder of the image.   Posted: 04/19/2025 13:39:38

Sorry folks, the true story is that I forgot to submit on time, Chris reminded me, and this was the first image I found that I thought might make an interesting conversion.

I didn't have a tripod with me, so a lower ISO would have probably lost out in camera shake, and the lens was wide open.

The camera's noise filter was off, as I've found in the past that Topaz Denoise wipes the floor with the camera's and Affinity's denoise functions.

I've tried again with a second image which was exposed at ISO5000 and processed in much the same way, although I've increased the contrast a bit. I've managed to keep the outline of the land in the background as before, which I thought enhanced the picture.

One issue with Topaz Denoise that's a nuisance is that it increases the file size, in this case tripling it! So I had to export at 1400x1050 pixels and 65% quality to get under the 1MB server limit.   Posted: 04/19/2025 18:34:09