Red Kite

Nice bird Russ ... no offence Russ but I'm not a fan of most of these Topaz AI photos.
They tend to look a bit like applied stickers, the edges are unreal ... sorry.
 
gramps said:
Nice bird Russ ... no offence Russ but I'm not a fan of most of these Topaz AI photos.
They tend to look a bit like applied stickers, the edges are unreal ... sorry.
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jerry12953 said:
Nice. How does the new version using Denoise AI compare with previous versions? It certainly looks very crisp.
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Lepus said:
Hi Russ , can you post your pre AI Topaz pic here as well so we can compare ?
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Hi guys - I'm sorry but I'm a bit caught up in something else tonight, I'll follow this up tomorrow if that's OK :)

Russ
 
gramps said:
Nice bird Russ ... no offence Russ but I'm not a fan of most of these Topaz AI photos.
They tend to look a bit like applied stickers, the edges are unreal ... sorry.
Click to expand...
Hi Roger - don't blame the Topaz software! I think the problem with the over-sharpening here is of my making - I applied too much output sharpening in Lightroom (not Topaz) when I converted to Jpeg in order to post the image here. The image should look like:
Sharpen AI-2.jpg

Better I think :)

Russ
 
jerry12953 said:
Nice. How does the new version using Denoise AI compare with previous versions? It certainly looks very crisp.
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Jerry, I have had this latest version of Topaz for only a few weeks (a Lockdown gift to myself!) - previously I just used Lightroom. :)

Russ
 
Look good to me- I had the Topaz on the 30 day trial- Now deleted :) ( I'm saving for the Sony e mount 90mm macro lens

Les
 
Hi Russ,

I'm wondering how the Topaz version compared with the LR version? Can you say what your subjective opinion was of the difference (if any)? Sorry to put you on the spot!

It's a decision I'm trying to make at the moment; whether to cough up for Topaz or stay with LR.

I had a photo of a red kite which I tried to sharpen with Topaz and it refused to sharpen the tip of the birds beak for some reason........
 
Lez325 said:
Look good to me- I had the Topaz on the 30 day trial- Now deleted :) ( I'm saving for the Sony e mount 90mm macro lens. Les
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- Cheers Les - there were some sharpening artefacts on the feather edges in the first image when viewed on a high res monitor - but they were mainly created by my over-sharpening in LR.
-A macro lens next, Eh? I wondered if that might happen when seeing your recent posts of pond life! :)

Russ
 
Rustydon said:
- Cheers Les - there were some sharpening artefacts on the feather edges in the first image when viewed on a high res monitor - but they were mainly created by my over-sharpening in LR.
-A macro lens next, Eh? I wondered if that might happen when seeing your recent posts of pond life! :)

Russ
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Yes the 90mm from Sony - would be a useful asset I think :) I have the Sigma 105mm f2.8 on an older Sony A mount DSLR

WEX are out of stock presently :( https://www.wexphotovideo.com/search/?q=Sony+FE+90mm+f2.8+Macro+G+OSS+Lens+-+Black&search_type=All

Les
 
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jerry12953 said:
Hi Russ,

I'm wondering how the Topaz version compared with the LR version? Can you say what your subjective opinion was of the difference (if any)? Sorry to put you on the spot!

It's a decision I'm trying to make at the moment; whether to cough up for Topaz or stay with LR.

I had a photo of a red kite which I tried to sharpen with Topaz and it refused to sharpen the tip of the birds beak for some reason........
Click to expand...
Hi Jerry - Disclaimer! - I'm not a pp expert, so:
- I use only Lightroom CC for all my Raw file work (never Photoshop), and output to the web in Jpeg
- I try to keep my workflow and pp work to a minimum
- I used to use localised, selective "sharpen" and "masking" tools in LR
- I now have Topaz DeNoise AI and no longer sharpen globally or selectively, or use the masking/ noise reduction tools in LR

Result: My workflow has speeded up when I use Topaz, and I find the noise reduction and sharpening much superior to LR. Here is a heavily cropped image of a fox taken in poor light:
.....after Raw processing LR
B59I3067.jpg

....after one pass in Topaz
Sharpen AI-72.jpg

I could never have achieved that noise reduction and sharpening in just LR

Russ :)
 
Deleting the raw seems a mistake to me Rustygun o_O That`s your digital negative :oops: :$

Anyways , it`s an interesting post as many of us seem interested in the Topaz Noise software . I think your Fox image is proof of it`s capabilities , and I think it has sold it to me , even with my ham fisted enhancement attempts , I might ask you for some help if I get it , ok ? :D

I think the second Kite image looks more natural somehow , it`s seems it`s always been a bit of a problem for noise software to get a good natural looking appeal , a hard line around the subject often seems a giveaway , even my good lady has picked up on it on some photos , and she is certainly no photographer . Be interesting to see what Gramps thinks now .

Still a cracking Kite image though . Well done .
 
Lepus said:
Deleting the raw seems a mistake to me Rustygun o_O That`s your digital negative :oops: :$

Anyways , it`s an interesting post as many of us seem interested in the Topaz Noise software . I think your Fox image is proof of it`s capabilities , and I think it has sold it to me , even with my ham fisted enhancement attempts , I might ask you for some help if I get it , ok ? :D

I think the second Kite image looks more natural somehow , it`s seems it`s always been a bit of a problem for noise software to get a good natural looking appeal , a hard line around the subject often seems a giveaway , even my good lady has picked up on it on some photos , and she is certainly no photographer . Be interesting to see what Gramps thinks now .Still a cracking Kite image though . Well done .
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Cheers Mark - I know what you're saying about the Raw file being the digital negative, and until I started using Topaz a few weeks ago I did keep all my Raw files safely in LR. However, when Topaz has weaved it's magic it automatically saves the processed image as a Tiff - hence you end up with 2 large files + a Jpeg; so I've (perhaps mistakenly?) taken to saving the Tiff and deleting the Raw. :)

Rustygun :cool:

P.S. The more I think about it, that's a mistake!! I'm gonna need a bigger HDD I think!
 
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Lepus said:
Be interesting to see what Gramps thinks now .
Click to expand...

Yes the Fox image works and shows its capabilities well.
I just see a number of these AI images that look horribly over-sharpened to the point that they seem to lift off the background.
Some separation from the background is great but many look just like a sticker stuck on a background ... as Russ says, probably user over-enthusiasm rather than faulty software. :)
 
A very enlightening thread,Russ. The second Red Kite photo is definitely more pleasing.

Here's my question. :) I've used TIFF (as you do) to return from PS to LR and last week I was advised to change that to PSD. I did a Google and if I've read it correctly a TIFF is twice the size of a PSD. I don't need to worry about space. I don't print, either. I send any I want doing to Photobox.

Maybe this question should be in 'Post Processing and Image editing'
 
Rustydon said:
Hi Jerry - Disclaimer! - I'm not a pp expert, so:
- I use only Lightroom CC for all my Raw file work (never Photoshop), and output to the web in Jpeg
- I try to keep my workflow and pp work to a minimum
- I used to use localised, selective "sharpen" and "masking" tools in LR
- I now have Topaz DeNoise AI and no longer sharpen globally or selectively, or use the masking/ noise reduction tools in LR

Result: My workflow has speeded up when I use Topaz, and I find the noise reduction and sharpening much superior to LR. Here is a heavily cropped image of a fox taken in poor light:
.....after Raw processing LR
View attachment 282817

....after one pass in Topaz
View attachment 282818

I could never have achieved that noise reduction and sharpening in just LR

Russ :)
Click to expand...

That is an AMAZING difference! Many thanks for taking the time to post them!
 
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