Archibald
Well-known member
Thanks for the reminder about edge sharpening. Very useful. As for the video on vivid light sharpening, the guy talks as fast as an auctioneer and lost me in the first minute. A web page would be better than a video.
Best alternative to Topaz AI
- Thread starter TamiBoise
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sorry about that. If you use PS, just download his action and try it. You adjust the guassian blur to change the sharpening.
Archibald
Well-known member
Usually what I have to do is make detailed notes while frequently rewinding the YouTube. I am not proficient at PS so his cursor scooting over the screen loses me right away. Not a fan of Youtube, but I'm quite impressed with all you folks who can watch one of these and come away with useful info.
I need to acquire some understanding before I have a need for his action.
Ooookay....
I take it back. Topaz Photo AI latest ver. IS SUPERIOR vs. all others. Even better than their older Sharpen AI.
I had a soft photo of a baby. DxO made a mess, and Nik 7 made a mess. Topaz Sharpen AI saved the face but only one eye, which was closer to the camera. Photo AI saved both eyes.
I need permission to post the picture. I will try to get it so you can judge for yourself.
I take it back. Topaz Photo AI latest ver. IS SUPERIOR vs. all others. Even better than their older Sharpen AI.
I had a soft photo of a baby. DxO made a mess, and Nik 7 made a mess. Topaz Sharpen AI saved the face but only one eye, which was closer to the camera. Photo AI saved both eyes.
I need permission to post the picture. I will try to get it so you can judge for yourself.
Fiat
Active member
Let's see...
Yes they are improving things. My concern with them is for everything they fix, they break something and haven't seen the consistency so I stoped using them especially when I found Vivid Light Sharpen. Have you tried something like that on this image?
The distortion correction and the chromatic aberration correction was beyond what Adobe does, especially the CA correction.
Better from NX?
I got permission.
I will post the NEF hopefully tomorrow.
I've found that for any given photo you results with different software will vary. Sometimes one package will be amazing and another "interesting". It can be the opposite for a different photo. If it is a photo I really want to try to salvage I will experiment with different software, but most of the time it is just LR.
I haven't used NX
I shared the original NEF as is.
Fiat
Active member
Is it before or after Topaz AI?
Its an NEF. Raw untouched.
Fiat
Active member
I am sorry to continue bothering you. But you said you did it with Topaz AI... Can you show the rescued one? Thanks
See above. I updated the Dropbox link, which now includes the fixed JPEG photo
Fiat
Active member
Great rescue, Joel!
Thank you!
The point of sharing it is too see that no other software that I know can do this. I tried.
JoPoV
Active member
Pureraw is to be used with other demosaicer than photolab and allows to get 2 importants things from photolab : denoising and lens corrections.
For now, last algorythm of DxO for denoising is in pureraw, photolab will get it in version 8 (the next one coming probably near end september, october).
Lens corrections come from tests done on lens/cameras combinations. You'll get them only if your couple has been tested. Lot of are. There is a list of tested combinations on Dxo web site.
They are supposed to enhance the IQ results of your lens/camera models combination, when it works normally. They do not compensate problems like out of focus, motion blur or maybe the strange problem you've got one time without knowing why, when topaz tries to handle that. So don't hope to get sharper image with photolab or pureraw where image is "blurred". Instead imagine this as getting a better lens than you have for the same price.
Their modules handle sharpness (called softness I think), distorsion, aberrations, vigneting.
I would recommend to lower default value of 1 for sharpness (softness) to 0 for better starting point.
I'm not sure pureraw has as much parameters to tweak than photolab in this area.
As I said above, photolab (or pureraw) lens corrections won't correct (sharpen) an image with a problem (out of focus, motion blur or something like this). They are supposed to get "the best" of your lens and camera combination when the shot is good.
PS: Photolab only displays most of those corrections when viewed at 75 % zoom minimum. Less than that, you can not see the preview of them. I don't know how pureraw4 manages this.
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Thank You. That is very useful info.
Regarding a RAW converter; I don't like Adobe, and I love NX...
NX isn't worth playing unless I don't need any normal post-work. I'm thinking about PhotoLab as a bridge gap.
As per Thom Hogan, PhotoLab's Raw converter does a better job compared to Adobe's ACR.
SCoombs
Well-known member
I think this is the best use case for Topaz: it can really do a good job of saving an out of focus or blurry human face, at least if the shot is not a close up on the face. I went back after seeing this thread and retested with the latest version and I can't say that I am finding it saving faces any better than it did in the past, but in the past it did do a good job. I've not found it especially useful for wildlife outside of cases where a very minor improvement is required.Here you go.
Enjoy resucing this image.
I did it with Topaz Photo AI (One version before the latest update)
Updated to include the fixed jpeg
Dropbox
www.dropbox.com
Topaz AI Beta
I agree - I had a very old photo that had already be duplicated and was able to restore features that did not exist in the original. It was remarkably good - and much better than anything else I've found.
With animals that are extremely out of focus, I find the out of focus areas or soft areas are either turned to hair or feathers, or left soft. There is no halfway transition, so the areas it does not address look odd compared to the fine detail it restores.