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Recently i started shooting in RAW after understanding its advantages over JPEG format.
While processing the RAW file there is an option to reduce noise in a captured picture. It works great when i am working on RAW file. But as soon as I save file in JPEG format, noise comes back.
I understand that while converting from RAW to JPEG compression techniques will be applied. But how can i handle this situation (while doing post processing)?
JPEG doesn't retain 100% of the data. What you're calling "noise" in the jpeg might be what's usually called compression artifacts, or jpeg artifacts. If they're showing up when you save as a jpeg made with the maximum quality setting, the only fix is to save in a lossless format (tiff and png are popular).
I save everything in a lossless format, usually PSD. I save a jpeg version for the web, if needed, often at medium or high compression, and live with any artifacts. The only other reason I would save as jpeg is to send to a printing service that requires jpeg - if they take lossless formats I send them one of those (tiff usually).
As a side note different images can take different levels of compression without being too much impacted by the compression. Smooth gradients seem to be very susceptible to showing compression.
Saving in jpeg should not add noise. Yes it does not retain 100% of the data, but unless you use a very low quality factor when saving, you won't see any difference between a jpeg and a file in a lossless format under normal circumstances. But you are, so something odd is going on.
So- here are some troubleshooting questions that I thought of:
What quality factor did you use to same the jpeg?
Is the jpeg the same size as the RAW image?
What magnification(s) are you viewing each image at?
Did the software offer an option to sharpen the image while saving the jpeg?
