V & C Impressions

Almost Grey Nomads in Australia

Tag: Topaz

  • My Thoughts on Topaz Studio AI Clear

    My Thoughts on Topaz Studio AI Clear

    What is AI Clear?

    AI Clear is a pro adjustment plugin which has to be paid for separately once you have Topaz Studio.

    A quote from Topaz Labs:

     AI Clear™ is a powerful Pro Studio Adjustment that removes noise and sharpens detail in photos automatically.

    AI Clear not only achieves much higher quality result than existing products but does so automatically without the need for any manual tweaking.

    What is Topaz Studio?

    Topaz Studio is a free application which comes with basic image adjustments. You can develop raw files in Studio as a standalone product or you can use it as a plugin to Lightroom or Photoshop.

    While you may say that noise reduction can be done in Lightroom and Photoshop, they do require some skill in using the sliders. What I have found is that by sending the files through AI Clear from Lightroom you can minimize the time required to clean up an image.

    Below is a screenshot of Topaz Studio. In the menu on the right, you can see some items are colored blue, they are the ones that either came with Studio or I have bought. The ones in gray you can get on a 30-day trial or pay for them.

    To find out more have a look at this Topaz Labs help page.

    Topaz Studio
    Topaz Studio
    AI Clear
    AI Clear

    The above example shows that I am using the AI Clear in trial mode, which has 21 days left. If I decide to buy it then I just have to click on the Go Pro link and it will take me to Topaz Labs to purchase the plugin.

    Some examples

    I had to go back several years in my Lightroom catalog to find some challenging image examples. I don’t often shoot with high iso if I can avoid it.

    I used the Medium model Strength on all these images, Low didn’t seem to make much difference to me. These images were processed in Lightroom with the Auto develop function used.

    • Canon EOS 6D Mark II
    • 1/800 sec. f/5.6 600 mm, iso 12800

    [twenty20 img1=”1358″ img2=”1357″ offset=”0.5″ before=”Before” after=”After”]

     

    • Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark II
    • 1/500 sec. f/2.8 16.583 mm iso 800
    • compact point and shoot in underwater housing

    [twenty20 img1=”1371″ img2=”1372″ offset=”0.5″ before=”Before” after=”After”]

     

    • Canon EOS 70D
    • 1/200 sec. f/5.6 59 mm iso 3200
    • under-exposed
    • not a great lens

    [twenty20 img1=”1373″ img2=”1374″ offset=”0.5″ before=”Before” after=”After”]

     

    • Canon EOS 40D
    • 1/3200 sec. f/6.3 33 mm iso 1600

    [twenty20 img1=”1383″ img2=”1384″ offset=”0.5″ before=”Before” after=”After”]

     

    Summary

    The above examples give you some idea of what can be done by only selecting one of three buttons.  No mucking around with sliders and masks, which makes this an easy plugin to use and get good results.

    Obviously more can be done to the images like adding more contrast, but for the purpose of this demo, I have kept it simple.

    At the end of the day, you have to justify the expense for yourself. With a thirty day trial, you can give the plugin a good test and see if it is worthwhile.

    If you have any thoughts or comments, then please leave a comment.

  • Updated Website and News

    Updated Website and News

    Welcome to my updated website.

    I have made a few changes around here, tweaked the theme, and played around under the hood to hopefully streamline things. The most obvious change is to the URL. I thought a change in name may better reflect on what this website is all about. I do photography as a hobby, but I like to try out different post-processing techniques and ideas, so I have no qualms about image manipulation, using multiple images or whatever else can be achieved on a computer. I don’t want to just document what I see, I want to do something different.

    Flowers

    Over the past couple of weeks, I have tried my hand at photographing flowers in my studio. Also, a bit of creative post-processing has been used. This was inspired by a couple of Youtube videos by Visual Art Photography.

    Also, I have been having a play around Topaz Studio after watching of a few Youtube videos from Jim Nix, Getting Started with Topaz Studio. In this video, he explains what Topaz Studio is and demonstrates some of its uses.

    Topaz Labs Impressions
    Topaz Labs Impressions

    Rumors and Stuff

    It looks like at long last Canon and Nikon are going to release professional, full-frame mirrorless cameras. Is this going to be a big game changer? Probably not. If you know how to use a DSLR to its full potential, mastered manual mode then there is probably not much the mirrorless camera can do that you can’t do already.

    And if you think that your kit will become lighter, think again, the camera body may be 1 or 2 hundred grams lighter, but the lenses are still basically the same weight,  especially for the f/2.8 pro lenses.

    Will I change to mirrorless, yes I will at some point in the future, but if I do change to cut down on weight and size, then I won’t be staying with full-frame.