Topaz Labs - a world of creativity

While photography is a creative process in its own, software can either enhance or take a photo to a whole new level.

I'm not easily sold on software enhancements other than the general editing but when I want to have some fun, like Twirling (yeah I said Twirling) then Topaz Labs is my favourite for editing features.

While Twirling might not seem like a photographic quality, it does help to have a decent photo to start with and once you start with Topaz Clarity, Simplify, Glow etc you start creating beautiful abstract art.

My personal favourites are Clarity (for its non-destructive sharpening qualities), Remask (for detailed masking of areas) and Glow (beautiful ethereal results).

Topaz works with Lightroom and Photoshop as a plugin or can work through an standalone program called PhotoFXLab.

The PhotoFXLab allows you to apply multiple effects to one photo which is a plus when working in Lightroom and you want to add more than one effect.

Below are some examples from just some of the software from the Topaz Collection.  All was done in Lightroom 4.

 From the top go to the left: Original photo, Simplify, Lens Effects

From bottom to left: Restyle, Mix (Simplify, Lens Effects and Star Effects), Glow

You are also welcome to give the software a trial run for 30 days.  Read the requirements for Glow, Impressions and Textures.

Take a look at their website: Topaz Labs

Topaz Labs also features videos to help you get started with each of the different effects.

Topaz Labs releases Topaz Clarity

Topaz Labs released a new program to add to their selection of plugins, Topaz Clarity.

I am a huge fan of Topaz Labs products and use the plug-ins more than the presets available in Photoshop Elements 10.  But as we all know, increasing contrast and boosting impact in photos tends to create excessive noise, halos, blown out highlights and artifacts.

I use Topaz Denoise, which does a great job of reducing noise and allows to me to fine tune smaller areas as well. Still, as I work on a photo using other plug-ins and presets, the noise inevitably increases.

Noise is the bane of my life and it's something I loathe beyond reason.  So when Clarity was released I purchased it and got to work on a photo of The Painted Lady butterfly.  The presets gave some great options to play with but I was wary about noise increase as the contrast and colour increased.

Surprise, surprise when I zoomed in and compared the original to the edited version.  Hardly any noise increase!  Or course you do need to have a light hand with some of the sliders, as you would with any preset/plug-in, but impressive none the less.  Naturally, I'm in love with the program.

I still have plenty to learn and Topaz Labs provides tutorials on all of their programs, never mind that you get free updates when you buy the plug-ins.  Topaz Labs also made it possible for you to use a mask out areas for selective adjustments.  The sliders in Topaz Clarity may seem a little daunting, but once you get the hang of it you have so much control over every aspect that you feel like the puppet master.

For more information: http://www.topazlabs.com/clarity/

I used Topaz Adjust followed by Clarity.  The yellow cast has been removed, the green enhanced and now the butterfly stands out instead of blending into the background.

Before and After 100% crop (keep in mind the photo was saved at a lower resolution for Internet).

I didn't spend time on the photos, just gave a quick try of Clarity so the above photos can be improved even further.

Have a look at Topaz Labs facebook page where you can view some of the beautiful photos enhanced with Topaz Clarity.

Topaz also offers trial versions on all of their plug-ins as well as the stand alone program (if you can't afford programs like Photoshop Elements 10).  Signing up to the newsletter keeps you up to date with the latest versions (available free to those who have already bought) and discounts.

https://www.facebook.com/topazlabs

Topaz Labs Bundles

While going through http://farbspiel-photo.com/, the HDR Cookbook the author mentions using Topaz quite a bit. I looked at http://www.topazlabs.com/bundle/ where you can download trials and see how it works for you.

Keep in mind that the files are large so first check the size if bandwidth is a worry for you.

A special ran on St Patrick's Day and it was a pretty big saving for me. I bought the bundle, didn't include Star Effects, which I will get later, but for the price I was happy with my purchase.

The site seems to run specials on a regular basis so keep checking. My favourite is Simplify. It gives a very artistic look to a photo, almost as if the photo was drawn.

Another great tool is the Vignette in Topaz Adjust. I worked through a tutorial, which I will post a link to (trust me these are great tuts) where I needed to use a distort filter that PSE9 didn't have. Now I have a similar tool with Topaz Adjust.

So far I'm impressed with Topaz Labs. Because PSE9 is a watered down version of Photoshop CS5, Topaz Labs has provided that extra bit of flexibility to PSE9. Yes I know, why haven't I upgraded to PSE10?

No real interest since there isn't much of an upgrade in the program worth spending more money on. They apparently fixed the issue with laptops where they failed in PSE9 to tell consumers about the restriction in monitor size. Basically, some options on menus were not available if your monitor size was incorrect (as said they didn't let consumers know this before hand).

Anyway, when it's worthwhile upgrading I'll bother but not right now.