Tuesday, January 5, 2010

My Favorite Things... Topaz Labs



Topaz Labs caught the photographic world on fire with their amazing plug-in selections. One of my favorite Topaz Lab filters is Adjust. What do I like about it? Let me count the ways... or the presets, Spicify, Vibrance, Portrait Smooth, the list goes on... The photo above was enhanced using Spicify. Try blending the various filter effects, create and save your own presets, mix it up, have fun!

Here is the original image, what a difference! Spicify helped define the features of the fisherman and enhanced the sky and ocean with a pastel and painterly look. Use a layer mask to remove or lessen the effect of the filter in selected areas as I did with this fisherman's face.

Here is an example of using Spicify globally, which worked well for this particular photo. Spicify accentuated the weathered look in this gentleman's face, and brought out detail and color in the entire image.

Some of my other favorites in the Topaz Lab collection include ReMask, Detail and Vivacity and try DeNoise for excellent noise reduction. You can accomplish some pretty cool results using the various plug-ins. Try Clean 2 to create illustrative textured effects with your photos as shown below. You can use this code - deborahsandidge for a discount for anything Topaz. Have fun creatively enhancing your photos!