Tag Archives: clarity

*Topaz drops deep discounts on all plugins for BF! 75% off all Topaz plugins in the Complete Collection.

by in Photography Apps, Postprocessing techniques, SALES!, Software tutorials / reviews and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

It’s that time of year.  Lights are strung, holiday music plays on loop, egg nog flows and consumerism kicks into overdrive. Well, one great benefit to this is that there are truly many great deals to take advantage of on things we actually use, or can actually use.  Topaz Labs is offering its entire suite of plugins for 75% off (over $1,000.00 worth of plugins) for $249.99 this week. As has been showcased on the blog here over the years, I’m particularly partial to ReMask, Clarity and DeNoise.  Three plugins (of 17 total) I find to be absolutely indispensable.  Glow is a wonderful artsy plugin, and speaking of, Impression is a spectacular art media conversion software creating digital paintings from your image files with a few clicks.  Adjust, Detail, Simplify, ReStyle, Texture Effects, etc, etc, etc.  All a lot of fun, creatively and commercially useful to boot.  I’ve already used Clarity and DeNoise today to finish off some files for large prints that will be gifts, so, there’s still time for that as well before we end up having to panic shop.

See the 75% off sale of the Complete Collection, as well as Topaz Studio HERE

Use code BLACKFRIDAY17 to get 75% off through November 28th.

Happy holiday season to all, and may we all make it through unscathed.  

All the best,

Tyson

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*12 days of Topaz with @TopazLabs

by in Photography Apps, Postprocessing techniques, SALES!, Software tutorials / reviews and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

 

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If you have been looking to pick up a Topaz plugin or two, Topaz Labs is running a promotion where each day they offer one of their plugins at a 40% discount with a new plugin each day, running for three days.  You can read more about some of my favorite Topaz plugins that I’ve reviewed HERE.  I’ll add each day of the sale and the showcased plugins as they’re released, so stay tuned and come back to see what shows up!

Day 1 – 12/12 is Topaz Detail use code DETAIL12 (running through Thursday the 15th) Find Detail for 40% off HERE.

Day 2 – 12/13 is Topaz DeNoise (best NR I’ve used!) use code DENOISE12 (running through Friday the 16th) Find DeNoise for 40% off HERE.

Day 3 – 12/14 is Topaz Simplify use code SIMPLIFY12 (running through Saturday the 17th) Find Simplify for 40% off HERE.

Day 4 – 12/15 is Topaz Impression  use code IMPRESSION12 (running through Sunday the 18th) Find Impression for 40% off HERE.

Day 5 – 12/16 is Topaz ReMask (I love this one!) use code REMASK12 (running through Monday the 19th) Find ReMask for 40% off HERE.

Day 6 – 12/17 is Topaz Adjust use code ADJUST12 (running through Tuesday the 20th) Find Adjust for 40% off HERE.

Day 7 – 12/18 is Star Effects use code STARFX12 (running through Wednesday the 21st) Find Star Effects for 40% off HERE.

Day 8 – 12/19 is Topaz Glow use code GLOW12 (running through Thursday the 22nd) Find Glow for 40% off HERE.

Day 9 – 12/20 is Lens Effects use code LENSFX12 (running through Friday the 23rd) Find Lens Effects for 40% off HERE.

Day 10 – 12/21 is Topaz Texture Effects use code TEXTUREFX12 (running through Saturday the 24th) Find Texture Effects for 40% off HERE.

Day 11 – 12/22 is Topaz ReStyle use code RESTYLE12 (running through Sunday the 25th) Find ReStyle for 40% off HERE.

Day 12 – 12/23 and finally, Topaz Clarity (one of my absolute faves) use code CLARITY12 (running through Monday the 26th) Find Clarity for 40% off HERE.

Happy, Merry everyone.  I hope all is well, and here’s to finally getting 2016 in the rearview!

Happy shooting,

Tyson

It’s that time of year again! Complete Topaz Collection 50% off.

by in Photography Apps, Photography gear, Postprocessing techniques, SALES!, Software tutorials / reviews and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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The gears of time continue to grind, and we’re at that most opportunistic time of year for photographers.  Personally, you couldn’t pay me to wake up the morning after our Thanksgiving holiday to wait in line for a $0.99 DVD player at Walmart.  It’s a silly tradition built on a consumer culture’s need to find a deal at any cost.  Luckily for us, the marketing world has found opportunity in offering online deals for almost anything available, and for those of us that can hold off until this time of year, many killer deals can be found.  

As is often the case, Topaz has brought their half off deal to the black Friday party yet again, and it is an amazing deal.  You get all 17 Topaz plugins for $250, which is 50% off the already halved price of the Complete Collection, so in reality, it’s more like a 75% off sale if you were to individually buy these programs one or two at a time.  For those who already own one or many Topaz plugins, don’t fret!  They offer a “Collection Upgrade” where if you sign in on the website, it will automatically deduct the pricing for the plugins you’ve bought and registered, and offer you the remaining plugins at an even further decreased price.  This only works if upgrading to the Complete Collection though, as singular plugins will stay at full price.  The sale runs from Friday November 25th, through Wednesday November 30th.  You can always download full free trials of any or all Topaz plugins, but I’d try them soon if you want to go this route as it will be another year at least before getting a crack at all 17 of the plugins for the price of a few of them. Click the link below to go directly to the Topaz sale site.

Find the sale on Topaz website HERE, and use code “BLACKFRIDAY16” at checkout to receive the sale price.

I’ve written about and reviewed many of the Topaz plugins over the years here on the blog.  I thoroughly enjoy, and constantly use a solid handful of them.  Here are links to my reviews for a few of my favorites:

Topaz DeNoise – comparing DeNoise 5 vs DeNoise 6 

Topaz ReMask – If you’ve ever had to select anything in Photoshop, try this.  Seriously.

Topaz Clarity – Professional punch and definition with a single click.

Topaz Glow – Some seriously slick fractal effects

Topaz Adjust – A library of effects in a single plugin

Topaz Impression – Artistically visualize your imagery

I could go on, but rather than add to a list of links, just let me know if you have any particular questions on any of the plugins and I’d be happy to give you my personal opinion or any insight that I can.

Happy holiday season and thanks for stopping by.

I hope you and yours are well, and happy shooting.

tyson

*Fun with Topaz, featuring Billy Burg! Also, Complete Collection 40% OFF w/ @topazlabs

by in Postprocessing techniques, Software tutorials / reviews and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

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I’m sure you’re getting sick of seeing me ramble on about Topaz plugins, so let’s try something new here… My friend and fairly frequent contributor, Billy Burg has shared with us, some of his results using a couple of his favorite Topaz plugins and insight into his process.  

It so happens that Topaz is running a couple of pretty substantial sales right now as well.  As mentioned last week, Glow and Impression are available individually for 25% off by using the code “TOPAZART” via Topaz Labs HERE, which runs through the end of May, but now Topaz has decided to go full bore and offer the complete collection, yes all 17 products, for 40% off (normally $499, now $299) using the code “SPRINGSUMMER2016” at checkout via Topaz’ website HERE!  

Now, here’s another cool tidbit for those of us who’ve already invested in various plugins, if you sign in at Topaz Labs with the email address/account you created to download software, your account will automatically deduct the plugins you’ve already purchased from the complete collection price, and using that same SPRINGSUMMER2016 code, you can get the remaining plugins for 40% off!  Of course, you can always download full, free trials via the link above too, and give any or all of these killer plugins a try before deciding to buy or not.  This sale runs through Sunday May 22nd, so you have a couple of weeks to try them out and decide.

Come on in to see more of Billy’s befores and afters.

Continue reading →

*Topaz End of Year Sale, anything and everything 35% off w/ @topazlabs

by in Photography Apps, Software tutorials / reviews and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Topaz Super Sale!

Hot on the heels of the Complete Collection Cyber Sale, Topaz Labs is offering anything and everything for 35% off.  If you’ve been waiting to try, grab or buy a Topaz plugin or two, now is an awesome time to do so.  You can find the sale on the Topaz Labs website HERE, and use code “TOPAZ2015” to get 35% off of anything that Topaz offers through the end of the year.

If you’d like to see more about my personal favorites, click the following links to my reviews.  I use many of the Topaz plugins, very often for personal stuff, along with most all my paid projects.

Topaz Adjust (reg $49.99, now $32.49) – the flagship Topaz plugin, and a great companion to high dynamic range photography.

Topaz Clarity (reg $49.99, now $32.49) – My go to for beautiful image definition through contrast without haloing.  Simply awesome. 

Topaz DeNoise (reg $79.99, now $51.99) – In my experience, this has been the best noise reduction plugin, hands down.

Topaz Glow (reg $69.99, now $45.49) – If ever you’ve searched for Fractalius, this is like that, only way better.  Fractalized and beautifully surreal effects.

Topaz Impression  (reg $99.99, now $64.99) – Adding a touch of hand painted flair, or going full blown Picasso, Impression is an awesome multi media simulation software.

Topaz ReMask (reg $69.99, now $45.49) – I might use ReMask more than any other plugin (topaz or otherwise).  If you use a layer based editor like Photoshop, and you’ve ever needed to select something (like oh, I don’t know, HAIR!), save yourself an amazing amount of time and try this out.  

You can try any and all of the Topaz plugins for free.  I really suggest that you do.  Don’t take my word for it.  Download the free trials via Topaz HERE, and give them a go.  If you do want to buy them, and you do so before December 31st, 2015, you can get 35% off using code “TOPAZ2015”!

Share your results with us via our Flickr Group HERE, or find me on the socials;  Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and Instagram.  If you’d like to receive my reviews, tutorials and sale posts as I release them, feel free to add your email to the top right of the page here and you’ll get them emailed as soon as they’re posted.  I’m currently working on a couple fun lens reviews along with a full frame vs micro 4/3 sensor comparison which should be showing up soon after the new year.

If you’ve got any questions, fire them off.  Thanks for the read and I hope that all is well, wherever you are.

Happy holidays, and happy shooting,

Tyson

*The Topaz plugin half off sale is here with @topazlabs

by in Photography Apps, Software tutorials / reviews, Uncategorized and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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Starting today through the end of the month, Topaz is offering everything for 50% off.  The entire collection (normally $500) is available for $250 HERE, and as an extra added bonus, for those of us who already own some or many Topaz plugins, we can still take advantage of the sale by logging into our account via the Topaz Labs website (here) and gaining the 50% off on additional plugins by using the code “BLACKFRIDAY2015” at checkout.  The Complete Collection is already at a 50% discount from the full price for all plugins individually ($1,010), so really, if starting from scratch, this is really a 75% discount from purchasing the plugins one by one, which is kind of nuts.  

I’ve never shied away from praise for the various Topaz plugins I use regularly, and feel that there are a handful of irreplaceable plugins in my workflow.  The complete collection includes 17 plugins from DeNoise, ReMask, Adjust and Clarity to the brand new Texture Effects.

Come on in for more details and to see the full list of plugins… 

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*Quick look! Check out the dynamic range recovery on the GX8, which also happens to be on sale!

by in Photography gear and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

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I am mere hours of work away from posting my GX7 vs GX8 final comparison, but going through images from my work trip last week, I came across a snapshot I took while rushing to catch the tram.  The sun rise was begging to be recorded, and I quickly pulled my GX8 (on sale for $200 off right now DOH! see it at B&H HERE and Adorama HERE) with the PL15mm out of the bag and literally stopped walking for a second to take this shot.  The sky dominated the exposure, as it should have in this case, and just now I tried bringing up the shadows to see what I could get as I’d not really pushed any of the GX8 frames quite this far, in this way.  Well, color me frigging impressed… have a look:

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*Happy Halloween! Using ReMask, Clarity and AS Exposure for some holiday fun.

by in Photography tutorials, Postprocessing techniques, Software tutorials / reviews and tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

happy halloween

 

Halloween is upon us.  We’re only a week away from discounted bags of little candies and the beginnings of Christmas decorations adorning every retail outlet.  With Topaz currently offering their cool photo enhancement plugin Topaz Clarity at 25% off until this Friday Oct 31st (Click HERE and use code “octclarity”), I thought it would be fun to use it as part of a little tutorial.  Last year, when Topaz ReMask went on sale, I used my jack o’lantern as my muse and replaced my head with it.  After fielding inquiries about my penchant for replacing my head with pumpkins, cameras and various other objects over the last couple years, I thought I’d take the opportunity to show you how easy it is, while creating a fun family portrait in the meantime.  I’ve set up links to download free trials of all the plugins used if you’d like to try it yourself.  Come on in…

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*Been waiting for this one. Topaz Clarity on sale!

by in Postprocessing techniques, Software tutorials / reviews and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

P1070930Ever since Topaz Clarity came out last year, I’ve fielded inquiry upon inquiry about my thoughts on it, and if I knew when it would possibly go on sale…  Well, come on in for a few of my thoughts, and yes, it’s on sale now through the end of October for 25% off HERE via Topaz Labs (use code “octclarity ” at checkout to get 25% off making the normal $49.99 a paltry $37.50).  If you want to see what Clarity offers, why not try downloading the full, free trial via the link above.  It’s a good one… Continue reading →

*Helpful Topaz Workflow Suggestions

by in Postprocessing techniques, Software tutorials / reviews and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

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image © Darcy from Topaz – all rights reserved, used with permission

Hi all.  Darcy from Topaz Labs was nice enough to share this simple yet remarkably helpful graphic showing us the proper order to best utilize and stage different Topaz plugins.

As many of you know, I’m a bit of a honk for the Topaz products as I really feel they offer an amazing value in the plugin universe.  I’ve fielded quite a few emails over the years asking about when is it best to implement noise reduction versus sharpening, etc and I’ve always said it is good to get your initial, simple exposure tweaks done in your host or digital asset management software (lightroom, aperture, et al) and then before altering the pixels any further, run through noise reduction before doing anything to sharpen or further define the pixels as that would also further define the noise or any artifacts, color shifts, posterization, etc.  Sharpening should be the last thing done to any image, and now we have a cool step by step in visual form.  Thanks Darcy!

Darcy has laid this out wonderfully in Topaz terms, and for those of you who’ve been getting into the Topaz plugins like myself, I’d imagine this graphic will do well to help us streamline our workflow through the various Topaz plugins.

Currently, Topaz Detail 3 is on sale for 50% off through April (click HERE and use “aprdetail” to get 50% off)!  What is normally a $40 plugin is now $20, so head over and download the free trial to give it a go.  If you like it, buy it before the end of the month to qualify for the half price license.

You can head over to Topaz Labs website to see what they offer, or below are reviews I’ve done of some more of the Topaz plugins that I use often, and love.

Topaz DeNoise 5, the best noise reduction software I’ve ever used.

Topaz Clarity, possibly my favorite enhancement plugin.

Topaz ReMask, anyone using photoshop masks should download this. Now.

Topaz Simplify, art filters with the click of a button.

Have a look, have a go, and enjoy.  Please feel free to share your results (or any imagery) with our ever growing community on Flickr HERE, and connect with me on Facebook and Twitter.

Thanks and happy shooting!

Tyson