Interesting how different people advocate different workflows.
Andrew S Gibson (Mastering Lightroom) suggests using Denoise as a first step.
How to Use Denoise in Lightroom Classic | Mastering Lightroom (mastering-lightroom.com)
He says:
It’s a good idea to apply Denoise early in your workflow, before using Healing or AI masking. AI driven tools like Content-Aware Remove and AI masking can be affected by noise, and work best with a clean starting point.
If you apply Denoise to a photo that already has an AI mask or Content-Aware Remove settings, then Lightroom recalculates and updates those spots and masks. That adds to the processing time, and you also need to check the result to make sure everything is okay. This increases the work you have to do, which is why Adobe recommends that you run Denoise first.
Adobe also suggest applying Denoise early, before healing and masking.
Denoise Demystified | Adobe Blog
"Order matters. I recommend applying Denoise early in the workflow, before healing and masking. AI-driven, image-based features such as Content-Aware Remove and Select Subject can be affected by noise, so it’s best to use those features on a clean starting point. If you do run Denoise on an image that already has Content-Aware Remove settings or AI masks, Denoise will automatically update those spots and masks. This is handy, but be aware that the content of those spots and masks may change unexpectedly, so it’s best to review the results carefully."
I don't think there's any hard and fast right or wrong here. Just what works best for the image.
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