How far to push luminance noise reduction

[Big Stan]

I find that I am pushing luminance noise reduction too far; I am getting rid of the noise but my landscapes are becoming flat/plastic looking. When I back-off the noise reduction slider there is obvious evidence of luminance noise. Does anybody have guidance regarding "when is enough", i.e., how much noise is acceptable? I am using LR 4.1 & CS 5.1 (NoiseWare 5).

[Mike Buckley]

Welcome to CiC, Stan! Andrew made a very good suggestion.

You mentioned "obvious" luminosity noise. One tip that helped me a lot is to not worry about it if it can't be seen at 30% magnification. That works for me. If at some point I have a special printing need that requires me to perhaps eliminate all noise that can be seen at 50% magnification, I can always do that. My point is that it is not be necessary to attend to noise that is seen when you are evaluating the image at 100%.

[dan marchant]

When I back-off the noise reduction slider there is obvious evidence of luminance noise.

What is your definition of "obvious evidence"? Is it when you print the image, hang it on the wall and look at it from 4 feet away, or is it when you zoom in to 100% and view the image in a way no one actually will?

If you want useful feedback on images please post an unedited sample and let us know what settings you used to take it.

[Big Stan]

thanks for the suggestion. I'll try one and then post it.
watch out for the thunderstorms tonight