Topaz Labs Blog - Articles and tutorials on photography, post-processing, and Topaz software.

Behind the Facade with Alister Benn

(6 votes, average: 3.67 out of 5)

Software covered: Difficulty level: Intermediate

Who am I?

Am I a suit and a clean pair of shoes, punctual and articulate, or am I sleeping in the rain under a bridge in Glencoe? Am I Scottish, British or European? If I drop some money into the cup of a homeless person does that make me compassionate, or do I do that to appear compassionate? Does wearing black make me boring, or daring, a rebel or unimaginative? – Who am I? – You tell me, your perspective of these things defines who you think I am.

Who am I? – You tell me, your perspective of these things defines who you think I am.

Lost in Paradise

Alister Benn Reflection

(6 votes, average: 3.17 out of 5)

Software covered: Difficulty level:

I’ve been making photographs since I was a teenager, with growing aptitude and confidence. At the end of each year I reflect on the past 12 months and usually conclude that I like my most recent work the most. Why should this be? It is not always the case that I have been to the most dramatic landscape in the world, or had the best light, or upgraded to the latest camera. Instead, I have concluded that my preference for my most recent work is because it represents the best version of me, as I am today.

As we entered 2017, I made a commitment to diarize my personal and creative development and summarize it in a quarterly article. Here is my opportunity to share the little and the large revelations I feel are contributing to my own creative growth, along with some of my most recent images.

At the end of each year I reflect on the past 12 months and usually conclude that I like my most recent work the most. Why should this be?

Winterscape

Enhancing Macro Photography with Topaz ReMask

(32 votes, average: 4.59 out of 5)

Software covered: Photoshop, ReMask Difficulty level: Intermediate

Many times in photography, you can end up with a image that features a beautifully detailed subject and a distracting background. Even though your foreground subject is the focus, your background can take away from the focal point of the image. Here are some simple steps using ReMask and Photoshop to easily clean up distracting backgrounds and bring attention back to your subject.

Don’t own ReMask? That’s ok! We let you try ReMask free for 30 days, completely commitment free!

Textures & Beyond – Creativity with Topaz

(20 votes, average: 4.05 out of 5)

Software covered: Impression, Lens Effects, Simplify, Texture Effects Difficulty level: Advanced

By Hazel Meredith, APSA, MNEC, Meredith Images

This tutorial uses several Topaz products – Impression; Lens Effects; Simplify; and Texture Effects. We will modify two texture images before applying them to our subject image. You can follow along using the same images by downloading them from this link.

You can do this project in Photoshop CS/CC; PS Elements; or any program that allows you to do layers.

An artist streak runs in my family. My father painted and gave me an old Kodak camera when I was young. Painting frustrated me, as I was never able to put on canvas what was in my head. So I was always taking pictures. I loved animals from a very young age, having a “pet” squirrel that would follow me into the house, which would make my mother so mad. We weren’t allowed to have pets, so I made pets of any wild animal that trusted me. They were my subjects and for the most part, still are (like Masked Kitties).