Present day workflow and Topaz Photo AI

[SrMi]

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9 hours ago, LocalHero1953 said:

At risk of diverting the thread: how do you see Topaz Photo compared to DeNoise and Sharpen? Are they complementary or can you replace DeNoise and Sharpen with Photo? My biggest decision with the latter two is which one to use, because if I use them sequentially I get too many artefacts. A single Photo app as a plug-in to Lightroom would be useful.

I have all those tools and have an opinion. Could you please start a new thread in the appropriate sub forum so that I can share it with you?

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[LocalHero1953]

2 hours ago, SrMi said:

I have all those tools and have an opinion. Could you please start a new thread in the appropriate sub forum so that I can share it with you?

Thanks. Question asked here.

[jaapv]

On 3/6/2023 at 8:29 PM, LocalHero1953 said:

At risk of diverting the thread: how do you see Topaz Photo compared to DeNoise and Sharpen? Are they complementary or can you replace DeNoise and Sharpen with Photo? My biggest decision with the latter two is which one to use, because if I use them sequentially I get too many artefacts. A single Photo app as a plug-in to Lightroom would be useful.

It is something quite different. It is a single enhancer; you  use it before you edit to taste, or to clean up your final result, or even both. It can be used in conjunction with sharpen AI or Denoise AI, although it reduces the need for such plugins significantly and sometimes creates artefacts. My basic workflow now is: Open in DXO PureRaw3, run through ACR, open in Photoshop 23, run through Topaz Photo and take it from there  - although it is rarely more than crop, levels and curves and resize. And I often apply Gaussian Blur 0.1 or 0.2 to calm down the digital sharpness. Editing life has become a lot easier over time.

[SrMi]

3 hours ago, jaapv said:

It is something quite different. It is a single enhancer; you  use it before you edit to taste, or to clean up your final result, or even both. It can be used in conjunction with sharpen AI or Denoise AI, although it reduces the need for such plugins significantly and sometimes creates artefacts. My basic workflow now is: Open in DXO PureRaw3, run through ACR, open in Photoshop 23, run through Topaz Photo and take it from there  - although it is rarely more than crop, levels and curves and resize. And I often apply Gaussian Blur 0.1 or 0.2 to calm down the digital sharpness. Editing life has become a lot easier over time.

With the latest ACR, you can skip PureRaw and apply denoising in the Bridge instead.

[jaapv]

I find DCO Deep Prime superior. ACR  (which I assume you mean by Bridge) is in third place for denoising in my book. Topaz second. 

 

Let's get the various functions clear:

Bridge is the Asset Manager, to import, tag and select your image file and direct it to the next step like:

DXO PureRaw3 which is the most sophisticated raw converter on the market with industry-standard noise reduction on raw level,  which allows you to open your file in the next program, like:

ACR  which evolved from a simple raw converter into a basic editing program inspired by Lightroom with added features like a resolution-doubler (Enhance). From there you can open in (amongst others) in:

Photoshop 23 which allows you to use plugins like Topaz and edit your image to the ends of the earth, if so desired.

[SrMi]

43 minutes ago, jaapv said:

I find DCO Deep Prime superior. ACR  (which I assume you mean by Bridge) is in third place for denoising in my book. Topaz second. 

 

Let's get the various functions clear:

Bridge is the Asset Manager, to import, tag and select your image file and direct it to the next step like:

DXO PureRaw3 which is the most sophisticated raw converter on the market with industry-standard noise reduction on raw level,  which allows you to open your file in the next program, like:

ACR  which evolved from a simple raw converter into a basic editing program inspired by Lightroom with added features like a resolution-doubler (Enhance). From there you can open in (amongst others) in:

Photoshop 23 which allows you to use plugins like Topaz and edit your image to the ends of the earth, if so desired.

Yes, I meant ACR :). Did you try the new Adobe AI noise reduction? I found it on par with DxO in NR. It is also nice that it does not increase the frame size like DxO does.

(I have been using the prerelease ACR 15.3 since 2/2)

[SrMi]

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Here is a comparison of a very noisy SL2 file.

SL2, original

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Edited April 19, 2023 by SrMi
Better images

[jaapv]

Both good, but I prefer the residual noise of DXO over the fuzziness of ACR at first sight. Could you run Topaz Photo AI over both images?

[M11 for me]

To my liking the latest Adobe AI noise reduction makes an excellent impression.  By just using the "old" sliders in Lightroom you do not get an as good result.

Topas in comparison falls back: I had an image (12'600 ISO) with tulipes in vase standing on a wooden table where you could well see the structure of the wood. After using Adobe the structure of the wood was still visible whereas the same picture out of Topas did not show that structure any more. It was just a mush. 

In both cases I just accepted the settings that the tools rendered (Adobe and Topas). So there is certainly potential for improvement by making the adjustments. But at first sight there might be no need anymore for the use of TOPAS denoise AI.

Will see.

[SrMi]

8 hours ago, jaapv said:

Both good, but I prefer the residual noise of DXO over the fuzziness of ACR at first sight. Could you run Topaz Photo AI over both images?

In Adobe software, a slider easily adjusts the fuzziness/residual noise as desired. I will try to redo comparison, including Topaz Photo AI.

[LocalHero1953]

I have not yet tried the new LR, and I have not tried DXO. I find Topaz excellent, but there are times when it just cannot cope with noisy, low contrast shadows, and leaves a field of mush, with very obvious borderlands between the areas where it works and those where it has given up. I can remember this happening to one particular image, so I'll try it with the new LR. I've had the same effect with photos of theatre performances, where the well lit faces are well handled, while those in some shade off to one side lose all the detail they ever had.