Topaz Labs Blog « Tips and tricks

Transform Your Photo Into a Surreal Piece of Art

(6 votes, average: 4.67 out of 5)

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Software covered: Clarity, Clean, Lens Effects, ReMask Difficulty level: Beginner

In this tutorial I will demonstrate how to extract a subject (in this case a tree) from its background using the Color Range brushes in Topaz ReMask.

We’ll then apply selective adjustments by bringing out the tonalities & exposure in the tree using Topaz Clarity, followed by enhancing the tree’s edge texture using Topaz Clean.

To finalize the image, we’ll bring the background into Topaz Lens Effects to create an abstract, dreamy background.

So if you’re tired of your same ole editing workflow and looking to try something new, download the image to the right (or use your own) and follow along!

Guest article by Gregory Basco

Photography in the Rainforest

I’m fortunate to live and work in the rainforests and cloud forests (higher elevation tropical forests) of Costa Rica. This tiny country (about the size of West Virginia or Denmark) is home to an astounding number of different species. Costa Rica boasts more butterfly and bird species than in all of the US and Canada combined and there are 1,500 species of orchids and over 100 species each of bats, frogs, and reptiles. Subjects abound, and being a photographer here is akin to being a kid in a candy store.

Nonetheless, it’s a somewhat understocked, poorly lit, and messy candy store! There are a lot of species but few individuals of any one species. This means that finding subjects is the first challenge. Tropical forests also are quite dark, so even when I find a subject to photograph I’m dealing with low light. And these forests are characterized by exuberant, chaotic growth. The prolific growth is amazing and beautiful, but it makes getting a clear view of a subject or finding an orderly composition for a landscape quite difficult. With patience and some creativity, however, one can capture wonderful images!

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Creative Sky Replacement with ReMask 4

(21 votes, average: 4.48 out of 5)

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Software covered: Clarity, ReMask Difficulty level: Beginner

The conditions of outdoor lighting and nature can be sporadic. Mother Nature may not always grant you the most ideal weather when on a photo shoot; a flat, cloudless sky reflecting nothingness into the water beneath it may not be something you want to put in your portfolio or share to Facebook & Instagram (as compared to a magnificent painter’s sunset).

Knowing when the sky will be a beaut isn’t always easy to detect. Usually post-storm or pre-storm skies can produce interesting lighting as the sun sets, however there is no particular device (to my knowledge) that tells you when the sky will be brilliantly filled with vibrant colors.

Luckily, you can use masking tools, like Topaz ReMask, to replace a boring sky with a more interesting one. Topaz user Gary Lamott has shared his method for replacing an average sky & water reflection using ReMask, Clarity and PaintShop Pro. So follow along and learn how to transform a plain sky into something worth displaying on your wall! (download example image to the right – photo for personal use only please.)

Transform Your Photo Into a Surreal Piece of Art

Order Out of Chaos: Photographing the Tropical Forests of Costa Rica

Photography in the Rainforest

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The Essential Tilt-Shift Lens Guide

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Creative Sky Replacement with ReMask 4

ReMask 4 upgrade and sale