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Topaz Adjust Review
Topaz Adjust is cool! In short, it is a very simple, elegant, and easy to use product that allows you to achieve HDR-like results from a single image. I use it a lot, both as a product by itself, and as a finishing touch after my normal HDR process.
If you choose to order it from the Topaz Website (immediate download for the impatient!). At checkout, use the coupon code “STUCKINCUSTOMS” to save 10%. I recommend you get the full Photoshop Bundle, because it comes with all their products and it is a tremendous deal. I use many of their products and even have a Topaz Detail review here on the site as well. My contact there, Eric Yang, said he can be contacted at any time if you have problems with the software — they seem like a great company!
I’ve heard from a few different photography friends that I should really try this thing, and I am glad I did. It’s really a wonderful product and I could not recommend it any more. I told the guys at Topaz that I was going to give this a positive review, and I only recommend software that I actually use.
Okay, now, on with the review! As you know, my reviews are usually short and sweet and I let the results speak for themselves. I’ll get started with a few photos where I used Topaz Adjust.
So, Topaz Adjust is a Photoshop plugin that produces HDR-like results from a single image.
Once you have your image up in photoshop, selecting the plugin will open up a very friendly window that could not be any more simple. The Topaz team has created an amazing simple (and fun!) UI.
Over on the left, there are dozens of presets. Normally, I hate presets and I can never find a single one to meet my needs. However, there is such a nice variety that you can get a cool first adjustment. Something that is very smart about these previews is that they show little thumbnails. Clicking on one of them quickly shows the larger version on the right. VERY quickly. I’m used to having plugin options churn away forever just to get a preview. It’s not like that with Topaz; it’s almost immediate!
After you choose one of the presets from the left, you can then make a bunch of micro-adjustments with the sliders on the bottom. There are so many things you can do… it is simply amazing. The names are strange because the effects are strange. Much like other tools, I recommend you play with them a lot to get familiar with them. I don’t plan on talking about each feature… but for example, the “Boost” slider seems to really pump up the “HDR” effect.
Below, I have put a lot of pics from the tool so you get an idea of what I mean. Also, you can see the “before” shot of the 57 Chevy before I ran it through Topaz Adjust. I used the “Spicify” filter, which is really a bit too extreme, so I dialed down everything a bit. I believe that every image is different, and you should use Topaz differently with each image.
In the last one, you will see that I am using the built-in Noise Reduction. If you also have Topaz DeNoise, you can check that box and it will use those improved algorithms. I think both are good together, and that is why I recommended the full bundle up above with the link. Besides, the bundle comes with Topaz Simplify, which is another plugin that lets you do some painterly things to your photos.
In sum, I think it’s a wonderful product. I’m happy to use it. I’ll continue using it… and I look forward to what is coming next from these guys!
Any questions about the nature of these reviews? Visit my Ethics Statement. It’s all quite simple!
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Trey….thanks for this….I will check it out.
Scotty
trey…nice review and introduction. i will definitely look at it based on your use and review.
david
Crap! I just bought it 2 days ago. I could have saved a few bucks. Topaz adjust rocks, I’m having a blast giving life to some old images.
Mark
Cool great!
Sorry about that Mark… I guess I was too slow in the review! But you are right… since it only requires 1 image, you can go back and re-process some of your older stuff.
Good review, Trey. I have been using it for some time. Here’s a link to all my stuff on flickr tagged with “topaz”:
ow.ly/4lgv
evan aka ecstaticist
Thanks for introducing me to this nice software package. You might want to include a link to their site, I had to google them
Sounds cool. I recently bought Photo Whiz Contrast Master and it seems to work well. I’d be curious to see you compare the two. This sounds like it might have a better UI and I definitely like the sound of the noise reducer. Have you checked out Contrast Master yet?
Looked cool enough before the Topazing. And the background shadows on the left side look way too over-processed. I think I’ll avoid this software for now. The rest of the image looks cool though. Not as good as an HDR, but better than nothing when you only have one image.
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Nice review Trey.
As I told you, I use it on my 3 exposure HDR’s as a final “tweak”.
Basically I make a new layer, then do HORRIBLY extreme things to it, then bring down the opacity to “mix” it with the finished HDR, so the effects are very subtle. I think it is great for that! Like this one (for people who read this comment & not the one on the main page) www.flickr.com/photos/neilsingapore/3473690811/
And DRAT for me too, I only bought it a couple of weeks ago, after trialling it
i knew it, i knew when you said you were going to review a product that it might be topaz, i had let the trial version expire a year ago and revisited it last week, i saw that there were discount codes available but couldnt find one, i knew you sometimes have codes for products, and low and behold here it is, thanks im 10% richer. i have found it to be a great plug in for single frame portraits.
It is a great too l Trey. I have been using it for about 4 months and when an image just needs something special to make it pop Topaz Adjust can be just the thing. It may be worth mentioning, especially for anyone getting started in Photoshop, that duplicating the background layer before using it (CTL/CMD+J) and then using it on the new layer allows adjusting the opacity of that layer and lets you ‘dial up/down’ the effect.
So to all of you who are using Topaz, where do you think it ranks compared to Lucis Pro? It looks pretty similar.
Zsolt – sorry about that – I added a link to their site.
Jeff – no I have not tried that product yet… I’ll get it in my queue!
Steve – Thanks for the feedback. I cranked this one up a little bit to show what Topaz can do… but I tend to agree with your assessment
Neil – That seems like a good final step… I do the same thing sometimes.
Phil – Yes exactly right. I always dupe the layer too… I was gonna mention that, but I didn’t want to get too tutorially!
It’s nice to see an expert like you praise this product. I found it a couple of months ago (got in on a deal that gave Adjust free with the purchase of Denoise) and it has been a fun tool to explore. It can take what was a bit of a bland photo and open it up to new possibilities without having to spend hours in Photoshop. It has been great to go through older files that disappointed a bit and find a great picture there after all.
In addition to the extreme HDR effects you can achieve, it is also a great tool for just getting contrast and/or color pop.
The noise reduction tool (Denoise) is a great product as well. I took some shots at the beach a couple of years ago with the camera still on ISO 800. Hard light make for terrible noise but Denoise did a great job of rescuing them.
I haven’t sprung for Simplify so I would appreciate a bit of a review of that one from you if you could.
Thanks again. It’s nice to have confirmation of something I’ve begun to use a lot.
COOL! I’m going to go check that software out. Great photos and excellent results. I’ve been able to get some similar results with Photoshop’s Camera RAW on a single JPG image. But then I tried HDR Max and my images really came alive. I was thinking of buying that, but I’ll check this out first. Thanks!
I downloaded the package and gave it a whirl. As a test, I processed a bird picture I’d done just a few days ago and compared them. Topaz won, hands down. This package really does make post-processing much faster and easier. Gee, I guess I’ll have to scrape up the money somehow and buy it (the price is reasonable, but I’ve been unemployed for almost four months!). –Fenraven
Fenraven – Glad you like it! Sorry the unemployment continues! Best of luck though…. I think there are always cool things out there that we want but can barely afford whether or not employment exists!
I agree with you about Topaz Adjust. I have been using it for several months now, and I love it. It adds pop, and grittiness to some pictures.
hi trey,
could you tell me whether you think this is as good as photomatix pro as i am debating which bit of software to buy so i can start making my own HDRs. Currently messing with the PM Pro trial and am very impressed by it
thanks, dan