Does anyone use Topaz as an adjunct to photoshop?

[Mira]

I have about given up on learning photoshop when it comes to my photographs.

When I try to play with an image in photoshop, I always do better with Picasa, so photoshop is reserved for some of my file-manipulations or conversions that relate to my work.

Digital Photography website is running a special of 10 percent reductions on a few things, and they have a new offer every day during this week.
Digital Photography School, it is called, and I get their emails and save them for the rainy day when I want to learn and study.

Today's offer is for Topaz software.
the bundle would be $199 and then 10 percent off that

If anyone uses it - please let me know if it's worth it and easy to learn.

https://www.topazlabs.com/store/?p=bundle

[Stevenmarc]

1. I use Topaz

but like all plugins they aren't a be all and end all product, they do make the Photoshop experience easier in certain specific tasks. The Topaz interface is easy to use and in some of their plugins have a nice feature "I feel lucky" for when you're bored, it's a button with a pair of dice that randomizes the settings and can give you some unexpected results that lead you in a direction with an image that you might not have been thinking of originally.

That said, it's not a simple question to answer, I like Topaz but I also use the plugin bundles from Nik and OnOne and in the case of all bundles you will gravitate to some of the plugins in the bundle while others you will probably rarely use. Your best bet is to take advantage of Topaz's download and 30 day key and see for yourself.


http://www.topazlabs.com/downloads/index.php

[Mira]

2. Muchas Gracias Stevenmarc

I will follow your advice and test it out. I was curious to see if anyone had it - so I could get the 10 percent.
Thank you for taking the time to share your experience!

[Stevenmarc]

5. Another thought

You might think about getting a NAPP membership, it has a wealth of information about Photoshop and a ton of videos that might help you navigate your way around the product. One of the main benefits that I love about NAPP is that they have a lot of discounts for Photoshop and photography related products and in the case of Topaz they offer a 25% discount so basically on just this purchase you just covered half the cost of the membership.

So good luck with the Topaz download

[Richard D]

3. I just started using it

Mainly "Adjust".
I like what it does. Subtle, but it does improve some photos a lot.
Here's one I played with both Adjust and one of the other ones, I think "Clean".

Just with Adjust:



A bit more played with:

[Mira]

8. Astonishing! And beautifu to boot.

The second one's major advantage is that the fingers are so cleanly shown!

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

4. The Hitchcock movie?

how would that help?

[Mira]

7. Duh? Which Hitchcock movie - or maybe your are implying

the program is for "The Birds"?

Anyway - thanks for your input, especially the financial analysis.
I will not buy it, and plan to test it when I have a window of time.

My photoshop version was a gift, a creacked version, but it works just fine.

[MattSh]

12. Keep in mind...

that the newest versions of Topaz might not work with a too old version of Photoshop. Well, it should work at least back through CS3 or so, but anything much older, definitely downloads the trials to see if it will work with your version.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

6. but seriously folks

I have used it. I find that adobe lightroom does practically everything it does, and more since it is a database of images and such.

I think it is way overpriced, considering it is on top of already overpriced photoshop.

That said, I suppose some people find it useful.

[AlabamaLibrul]

9. I don't use much photoshop at all - mostly a film person

but I had an old photo from the Bahamas - the contrast was completely dead, colors gone, so I went ahead and gave it a shot.

This is the line art tool in Vivacity. The more extreme tools either work or they don't - it's not for everything.

[Mira]

10. Really amazing! A bit over the top for a photo, but has potential for other

applications. Thank you so much for showing up and "showing off".
I'm glad you showed up with this.
I'll give the free trial a whirl, maybe over the holidays.

[AlabamaLibrul]

11. Thanks! Give their stuff a shot

personally I know my way around curves and those kinds of tools well enough to pull basic adjustments off quickly and without another plugin (I should do an OP on this sometime) - but their stuff like the noise reduction tool and some of their lighter effects are good. No complaints with it, and you can always try the heavy effects if you get bored, or try and save a photo that's otherwise unusable :evilgrin: