My recent blog post about the new Topaz AI Clear seems to have generated a lot of interest in this new technology! If you’re curious about trying and adding AI Clear to your digital imaging toolbox, please be reminded that while Topaz is not currently advertising a discount code for AI Clear or any of their other products, the ongoing Plugs ‘n Pixels Topaz discount code will get you 15% off this and ANY other Topaz product.
AI Clear is but one of many Pro Adjustments available in Topaz’ flagship Topaz Studio. Today I want give an overview of the standalone Topaz Studio (which means no Photoshop or other image editing host is needed). Topaz Studio is in the process of superseding Topaz’ earlier classic plug-ins, half of which have been integrated as what are called “adjustments” inside Topaz Studio.
So let’s fire up Topaz Studio and see what this software is all about.
After the splash screen, you’ll be taken to the empty interface, where you can take a moment to check for any general software or adjustment updates and get everything synced to your online account, ready to go.
You can load an image to edit by dragging it directly into Topaz Studio from the computer itself or Adobe Bridge (for example), or loading it through the Open button. Since it’s over 100 degrees here in LA at the moment, I chose one of my non-DSLR cool winter mountain images to work with today:
The default Topaz Studio setup is a list of included presets at left, ready to choose according to the effect type you wish to apply. Since this scenic needed a bit of “pop” due to the haze, I first chose the Clarity preset:
Out of the various Clarity sub-categories now displaying at left, I chose the appropriate “Color and Contrast Boost I”. The adjustment elements that make up this particular preset (Precision Contrast and HSL Color Tuning) now display at right and can expand to offer even further slider and other adjustments when you click on the little carrot icons. (Note: The Pro Adjustments which can be purchased and added to Topaz Studio offer much more flexibility than the base adjustments offered for free):
At this point you can add any number of further adjustments to stack into the effects currently being applied to the image by clicking the blue Adjustments button, at which point you see their dropdown menu. An option to add image layers is also offered here:
As you add and customize and experiment with these additional adjustments, you can preview the results in various manners. Here is a side-by-side before-and-after view (note especially the way the clouds are much more intense):
The image is already looking better, so it’s time to get artsy! Here are the first results from using the Impression adjustment. Note the choice of brush types as part of the customization options:
Next, after adding some Basic Adjustment tweaks and Edges, we have this more balanced, punchy and moody result:
The addition of the Quad Tone adjustment puts a little golden color into the sunlight highlights on the peaks:
I mentioned above about Topaz’ classic plug-ins. If you have these installed, you can access them from within Topaz Studio, as seen here, for even more corrective and creative options:
This is a screenshot of my work-in-progress with the addition of the classic Topaz Adjust (Exposure Correction preset) to the mix. BTW, if you owned no other plug-ins, Adjust would be a great acquisition on its own:
And here are the before-and-after images for quick comparison. That was a fun project!
Finally, here’s the original of another image I loaded into Topaz Studio, followed by a screenshot of the beginning of its creative treatment possibilities, and a sampling of the wildly different and varied results you can get with just a single click of any preset:
If you’re curious about trying and adding AI Clear to your digital imaging toolbox, please be reminded that while Topaz is not currently advertising a discount code for AI Clear or any of their other products, the ongoing Plugs ‘n Pixels Topaz discount code will get you 15% off this and ANY other Topaz product.
Your purchase of any software through the Plugs ‘n Pixels website or this blog gets you the best deal available and also helps generate a small commission to help keep these resources online. Thanks again!