REMINDER: Topaz has been running a sale on the entire Image Quality Bundle, which consists of DeNoise AI, Gigapixel AI and Sharpen AI. This very generous sale ends in only 2 days (Friday, May 6). You can access the sale via the link above and if you use coupon code “plugsnpixels”, you’ll get an additional 15% off the sale price! And this 15% off is still good at any other time, but if you want to STACK the discounts, you need to act before the weekend 😉
These particular apps address noise removal, increasing image size and sharpening – treatments that on their own or combined can help any of your photos, especially older ones shot on grainy film or with early low-megapixel digital technology.
I wrote about this offer a couple of weeks ago and since this is such a great deal on great software, I’ll go through it again with some new examples so you don’t miss it! This software is best in its class, and it’s constantly getting better.
I’ll discuss the apps in the order listed above, with DeNoise AI first.
As I mentioned above, if you’ve been taking photos for a long time as I have (over 45 years), you will have a LOT of really nice captures in your collection that suffer from various visual ailments due to the technology that existed at the time they were taken. A most common problem will be noise, whether from film grain (who didn’t use Tri-X?) or low-megapixel grit (the first digital camera I used regularly was 1-megapixel…).
Here’s an extreme noise example, a night shot of the beginnings of one of those huge California forest fires, taken in 2004 with a 4-megapixel (non-DSLR) consumer camera. What a gritty mess! Bad light, slow exposure, low-end sensor. DeNoise AI cleared it right up! I didn’t even have to adjust the default settings for the chosen model. (Open any image in a new tab or window to view at 100%.)
Another extreme example, shot by photographer Judy Gilde at ISO 12800 (!). DeNoise AI took a nice but otherwise unusable image and completely salvaged it:
Next up, Gigapixel AI. I have endless fun with this app as it not only enables you to enlarge small-sized scans or low-res digital captures for extreme contemporary commercial use, but it also cleans the image along the way while restoring detail!
This shot was taken in Puerto Vallarta Mexico (also in 2004, a few months after the one above) with the same 4-megapixel camera. If you try to enlarge it 4X without assistance, you get pixelated mush. With Gigapixel AI, it’s like I went back and reshot the scene with a much better camera!
You can see the full frame in the navigation area of the screenshots below. I am showing the possible level of enhancement as applied to various tiny areas of the image in Gigapixel AI alone, without even attempting to sharpen or denoise it further:
Another example, from 2005. You cannot get this clean level of upscaling in other similar apps, I TRIED:
As if that level of restoration isn’t good enough, Gigapixel AI is always getting better! Here is a teaser; I can say no more…
*Until Friday (5/6), there is a sale on the entire Image Quality Bundle, which consists of DeNoise AI, Gigapixel AI and Sharpen AI. You can access the sale via the link above and if you use coupon code “plugsnpixels”, you’ll get an additional 15% off the sale price!
Next we move on to Sharpen AI. Sharpening is one of the basic things you can do to quickly improve a poor image, and this app does it very well. In the latest issue of Photoshop User, Scott Kelby says, “I sharpen my images with Topaz Sharpen AI, and it’s so good that I hardly use Photoshop’s sharpening tools at all these days.”
Creeping ahead into 2006, I’m still using that 4-megapixel camera and doing my best to get decent photos with it. This close-up of antique typewriter keys was really nice, but being handheld in poor light with shallow depth-of-field, just wasn’t as good as it should have been. All these years later, all fixed!
I hope you find this latest level of image enhancement technology encouraging! Take this chance to grab the entire Image Quality Bundle, which consists of DeNoise AI, Gigapixel AI and Sharpen AI at the sharply reduced price. You can access the sale via the link above and if you use coupon code “plugsnpixels”, you’ll get an additional 15% off the sale price!
