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Author Topic: New Topaz plug-in  (Read 23156 times)

plugsnpixels

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New Topaz plug-in
« on: May 22, 2013, 03:57:46 pm »

Called Topaz Clarity. Includes 20 presets for Landscapes, among other subjects.

"Topaz Clarity is the ultimate tool to create compelling and powerful images by intelligently enhancing contrast and clarity with absolutely no artifacts or halos. With just a few clicks you can easily manipulate your micro, mid-tone and overall contrast, transforming your image from ordinary to extraordinary, while maintaining the natural feeling and tonality you are after."
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David Sutton

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Re: New Topaz plug-in
« Reply #1 on: May 22, 2013, 05:35:30 pm »

If it's like Nik tonal contrast, one unexpected use I've found for a plug-in like this is to find those hard-to-see dust spots that usually don't show up until I've printed.
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Gulag

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Re: New Topaz plug-in
« Reply #2 on: May 22, 2013, 05:43:18 pm »

If it's like Nik tonal contrast, one unexpected use I've found for a plug-in like this is to find those hard-to-see dust spots that usually don't show up until I've printed.

if that's the case, you can add a solar curve for *free* in either photoshop or gimp for that.
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plugsnpixels

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Re: New Topaz plug-in
« Reply #3 on: May 22, 2013, 06:07:33 pm »

There's a software solution for batch eliminating sensor dust in post processing (as opposed to just identifying it).
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David Sutton

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Re: New Topaz plug-in
« Reply #4 on: May 22, 2013, 11:23:36 pm »

if that's the case, you can add a solar curve for *free* in either photoshop or gimp for that.
That's a new one on me! I looked it up and created a solar curve and on the the whole it works for dust bunnies, but it does miss any spots located on the peak of the curves. On my screen those areas are close to white, and the mid-tone-contrast-on-steroids-plugin works much better. See screenshots:
However I can see a use for such a curve to check my edits. 


Plugsnpixels, thank you for the link. I guess LR will do that as well.
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Schewe

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Re: New Topaz plug-in
« Reply #5 on: May 22, 2013, 11:38:54 pm »

I guess LR will do that as well.

LR5 has a spotting pre-visualization option...
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David Sutton

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Re: New Topaz plug-in
« Reply #6 on: May 22, 2013, 11:46:34 pm »

...... cool bananas   :)
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Gulag

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Re: New Topaz plug-in
« Reply #7 on: May 23, 2013, 12:01:07 am »

That's a new one on me! I looked it up and created a solar curve and on the the whole it works for dust bunnies, but it does miss any spots located on the peak of the curves. On my screen those areas are close to white, and the mid-tone-contrast-on-steroids-plugin works much better. See screenshots:
However I can see a use for such a curve to check my edits. 


Plugsnpixels, thank you for the link. I guess LR will do that as well.

There are infinite number of Solar Curves that you can create on the fly depending on the need. How many did you tried in your case?
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David Sutton

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Re: New Topaz plug-in
« Reply #8 on: May 23, 2013, 12:23:38 am »

There are infinite number of Solar Curves that you can create on the fly depending on the need. How many did you tried in your case?
One.
I suppose the trick is to save a second one with the sine curve shifted 18 degrees.
« Last Edit: May 23, 2013, 12:26:37 am by David Sutton »
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digitaldog

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Re: New Topaz plug-in
« Reply #9 on: May 23, 2013, 10:09:44 am »

LR5 has a spotting pre-visualization option...

And clarity! Do the job at the raw processing stage if you can!
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Bart_van_der_Wolf

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Re: New Topaz plug-in
« Reply #10 on: May 23, 2013, 12:39:51 pm »

And clarity! Do the job at the raw processing stage if you can!

Hi Andrew,

As I understand it, the LR Clarity control is basically a mid-tone contrast boost, maybe with a preference for a certain level of detail. It is applied in post-processing.

The Topaz Labs Clarity plugin gives much more control over the contrast adjustments in several regions of the tonecurve, and adds edge-aware, or tone-aware, masking capability. That allows to apply the effect only locally if that works better than a global adjustment. It also doesn't produce halo artifacts, unlike LR clarity if too much is added.

The TL Clarity plugin has a tendency to produce too dark shadows, but it also allows to open them up again with a separate control. I'm not yet fully convinced that I will purchase it, but that may change when I test it a bit longer and it becomes more intuitive to use.

Cheers,
Bart
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digitaldog

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Re: New Topaz plug-in
« Reply #11 on: May 23, 2013, 12:41:55 pm »

As I understand it, the LR Clarity control is basically a mid-tone contrast boost, maybe with a preference for a certain level of detail. It is applied in post-processing.

Applied "post processing"?

Clarity (in LR) is sort of a mid-tone contrast boost but not solely limited there. If that matters.
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Bart_van_der_Wolf

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Re: New Topaz plug-in
« Reply #12 on: May 23, 2013, 12:45:42 pm »

Applied "post processing"?

After the Raw conversion, everything is post-processing of the RGB data.

Cheers,
Bart
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digitaldog

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Re: New Topaz plug-in
« Reply #13 on: May 23, 2013, 12:46:54 pm »

After the Raw conversion, everything is post-processing of the RGB data.

Right, but want makes you say Clarity is post processing?
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Vladimirovich

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Re: New Topaz plug-in
« Reply #14 on: May 23, 2013, 03:58:40 pm »

Right, but want makes you say Clarity is post processing?
everything after demosaicking is postprocessing
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digitaldog

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Re: New Topaz plug-in
« Reply #15 on: May 23, 2013, 04:01:02 pm »

everything after demosaicking is postprocessing

OK, fair enough. So the same moves in the raw processor produces the same quality and flexibility doing it after the rendering in the raw processor? Or there's no difference?
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Vladimirovich

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Re: New Topaz plug-in
« Reply #16 on: May 23, 2013, 07:16:01 pm »

OK, fair enough. So the same moves in the raw processor produces the same quality and flexibility doing it after the rendering in the raw processor? Or there's no difference?
it certainly depends... it might be that doing something in a particular inner working colorspace at a certain stage in raw converter's processing pipeline after demosaicking will be better than doing that in some image editor after you save/export something from that raw converter as 8bit jpg sRGB file w/ a strongest lossy compression... but who says that ACR/LR have the best ever "clarity" (quotes intended) vs alternative solutions (including specialized plugins beyond Topaz) provided that we have sufficiently good material after the raw converter (not necessarily LR/ACR) ?
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digitaldog

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Re: New Topaz plug-in
« Reply #17 on: May 23, 2013, 07:26:36 pm »

but who says that ACR/LR have the best ever "clarity" (quotes intended) vs alternative solutions (including specialized plugins beyond Topaz) provided that we have sufficiently good material after the raw converter (not necessarily LR/ACR) ?

No one (yet <g>).

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Bart_van_der_Wolf

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Re: New Topaz plug-in
« Reply #18 on: May 24, 2013, 06:20:23 am »

Right, but want makes you say Clarity is post processing?

Hi Andrew,

If one were to apply non-linear contrast adjustments prior to demosaicing, that would create huge problems. That's why it much more practical to do these adjustments on post-demosaicing data. Once the data is in RGB space we can post-process it any way we want. Unless someone like Eric Chan tells us it is not, we can consider Clarity as post-processing that takes place on the demosaiced RGB data.

One common characteristic of images that span a large range of contrast, is that they may look rather flat, lifeless. Instead of a simple S-curve like adjustment (Clarity) mostly to the mid-tones, which can lead to ugly halos if pushed too far, the Topaz Clarity plugin is much more clever, and it allows to (adaptive to local contrast) adjust gradients that span different ranges of contrast and different size.

It is difficult to describe the effect, because it adapts to local contrast which is different in every image, so it's best to try for oneself, on one's own images. The real-time update of the preview helps to judge the creative effect quite well. As always, it's easy to go completely overboard with such tools, but with the proper amount of restraint it can do wonders in the hands of a master.

Here is a demo video that does a reasonable job of showing the different features.

Cheers,
Bart
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Vladimirovich

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Re: New Topaz plug-in
« Reply #19 on: May 24, 2013, 09:43:41 am »

If one were to apply ...  contrast adjustments prior to demosaicing, that would create huge problems.
such as ? just curious...
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