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Easily enhance image quality in Lightroom

Last updated on Oct 14, 2024

Achieve crisper details and better color rendering in raw images. Quickly increase image resolution up to 4 times in raw and non-raw images like JPEGs and TIFFs.

Denoise reduces noise while preserving detail. It's ideal for photos taken in low light conditions or using a high-ISO setting. Currently, Denoise applies only to Bayer, X-Trans mosaic raw, Linear DNGs (including HDR and Pano DNG images created inside Lightroom and Camera Raw), and Apple ProRAW files.

Raw Details, previously called Enhance Details, produces crisp detail and more accurate renditions of edges, improves color rendering, and reduces artifacts. The resolution of the enhanced image stays the same as the original image. This feature is handy for large displays and prints, where fine details are visible. The supported file types are raw mosaic files from cameras with Bayer sensors (Canon, Nikon, Sony, and others) and Fujifilm X-Trans sensors.

Super Resolution helps create an enhanced image with similar results as Raw Details but with 2x the linear resolution. This means that the enhanced image will have 2x the width and 2x the height of the original image or 4x the total pixel count. This feature supports the same file types as Raw Details, plus additional file types such as JPEG and TIFF. Super Resolution is especially useful to increase the resolution of a cropped image.

Minimum system requirements

Your computer must meet the following minimum technical specifications to use Denoise, Raw Details, and Super Resolution:

Operating system

(Mac) macOS Mojave (version 10.14) or later
(Windows) Windows 10, version 1903 or later. See Windows 10 update history for details.

GPU

Enhance heavily uses the available GPU. View the graphics processor acceleration requirements in Lightroom system requirements.

Note:

Apple Neural Engine is disabled for AI Denoise on Mac computers with Apple silicon (macOS Sonoma 14.0 or later)

Apply Denoise

Open a supported raw file in the Detail view.
From the menu, select Photo > Enhance or select Denoise in the Detail panel.
Select Denoise to enhance your image.
Use the slider to adjust the amount of Noise Reduction. Preview the correction by clicking on the Preview.

Enhance preview after Denoise has been applied.
You can press and hold on to the preview area to view the changes made to the image.
Select Enhance to run Denoise. The result will be saved as a new DNG file with "Enhance-NR.dng" appended to the source file name.

Batch-apply Denoise

You can easily apply Denoise to multiple photos together. In the grid menu, select all the photos that you want to Enhance and then select Command + Option + E on macOS, and Ctrl + Alt + E on Windows.

Supported image formats for Denoise

Denoise applies to the following file types:

Linear DNG (including Adobe Merged HDR & Pano)
Smart Previews (DNG Proxies)
Monochrome Raw (Leica M & Q Monochrom, etc)
Canon sRaw / mRaw
Nikon sRaw
FujiFilm (Non X-Trans) (SR / EXR / 2x4 mosaic)
Sony Linear Raw (Merged Pixel Shift)
Pentax PSR (Pixel Shift Resolution)
Foveon Cameras (Sigma, Hasselblad, etc.)
Apple ProRaw
HDR
Samsung Expert Raw
Google Pixel Raw
Smart Preview

Unsupported file formats for Denoise

Denoise does not apply to the following types of source images:

Non-raw files such as a JPEGs, TIFFs, HEICs, JXL, AVIF, PSD, PSB
Four-color cameras
Foveon sensor images
Pentax Pixel Shift Resolution (PSR) files
Sony ARQ files
Video files

Apply Raw Details

To apply Raw Details to your photo, follow these steps:

Open a supported raw file in the Detail view.
In the menu bar, select Photo > Enhance.

You can also Control-click (Mac)/right-click (Windows) the image and select Enhance.
In the Enhance dialog box, ensure Raw Details is selected. Select and hold the preview to see the image's appearance before the enhancement. You can also select and drag the cursor across the preview to see other areas of the enhanced image.
Select Enhance to create an enhanced DNG version of your selected image.

Note:

The enhanced image is saved as a new DNG file with the filename in this format: 'Original filename-Enhanced.dng' and is stacked with the original image.

Supported image formats for Raw Details

Raw Details applies only to Bayer and X-Trans mosaic raw.

Unsupported file formats for Raw Details

Raw Details does not apply to the following types of source images:

Non-raw files such as a JPEGs, TIFFs, and HEICs
Linear DNGs (including HDR and Pano DNG images created inside Lightroom and Camera Raw)
Apple ProRAW files
Samsung Galaxy Expert RAW files
DNG proxies and Smart Previews
Monochrome raw files (such as Leica M MONOCHROM)
Four-color cameras
Foveon sensor images
Fujifilm cameras with SR, EXR, or 2x4 mosaic sensors.
Canon S-RAW/M-RAW files
Nikon small raw files
Pentax Pixel Shift Resolution (PSR) files
Sony ARQ files
Video files

Apply Super Resolution

Follow these steps to apply Super Resolution:

Open a raw image, JPEG, or TIFF in the Detail view.
In the menu bar, select Photo > Enhance.

You can also Control-click (Mac)/right-click (Windows) the image and select Enhance.
In the Enhance dialog box, select Super Resolution. Select and hold the preview to see the image's appearance before the enhancement. You can also select and drag the cursor across the preview to see other areas of the enhanced image.

Super Resolution is applied to an image in the Enhnace panel.
Select Enhance to create an enhanced DNG version of your selected image.
Note:
The enhanced image is saved as a new DNG file with the filename in this format: 'Original filename-Enhanced.dng' and is stacked with the original image.

You can enhance an image only once, which means you cannot reapply Super Resolution to an already enhanced image.

The preview for Super Resolution is shown at 2x linear magnification.

Using a quality image is recommended to achieve a higher quality result.

Enhance multiple images in one go

You can quickly enhance multiple images at once. To do this, select the images and choose Photo > Enhance. Your last selected option in Enhance (Raw Details or Super Resolution) is applied to the selected images.

Use a keyboard shortcut

To quickly view the Enhance dialog box with the enhanced preview, press:

(Mac) Control+Option+E
(Windows) Ctrl+Alt+E

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