When I process vibrant fall colors in an image using Super Focus v2 in Topaz Photo (Studio), I notice that a lot of the color depth is lost, even when I reduce the opacity. As I can fix this in Adobe Photoshop with a bit of judicious blending of layers, I am wondering if anyone else has experienced this and come up with an approach to reducing the loss of color.
Cheers!
Hello Frank,
can you post a before/after here to show this?
Hi Ange,
I have reduced the size and converted to JPEG from TIFF; the difference is not great, but there is a definite color change. As I finish up in Photoshop it’s easy enough to correct.
Thanks!
Frank
Hi Frank.
It’s great you’ve uploaded a before and after images but this doesn’t explain your specific workflow procedure for example; is this behaviour happening when you are using Topaz Photo as a Standalone Application or from within Lightroom as a plugin before correcting the vibrance in Photoshop or is this happening solely when using Photo as a plugin within Photoshop.
If you wouldn’t mind elaborating on your specific workflow.
May I also ask what steps you take to correct the vibrance in Photoshop for example; do you use Levels, Curves, Adjustments Layers Vibrance, Hue/Saturation, Colour Balance or do create a simple Colour Map from your original Layer or image prior to using Topaz Photo
Thanks
Yes, we would need the workflow details and also, the original added here! Keep in mind the original is not a missed focus case and not a case for Super Focus. Make sure if you want to force the enhancement on this file that does not need it (it makes it look unnatural) to put the Selection to Subject. There is nothing to refocus on the background and it will create artifacts. I would only use Sharpen Subject here, not Super Focus. Let us know how this goes!
Greetings and thanks for your responses. The workflow for these images has been rather straightforward with each only using Photo (Studio); for the before image, I did just a sharpen, so that I could export it as a TIFF; with the after image, I did just the Super Focus v2 (subject only), and then exported the TIFF.
For both I used Preview on the Mac to reduce their size and export them as a JPEG, as the TIFFs were rather large.
Neither of these were edited in Photoshop. As my usual Photoshop workflow will vary depending on the end state that I want to achieve, it probably won’t help much in this case. It tends to involve a number of steps, including the use of an ACR filter, possibly a Soft Light layer with minimal opacity, Hue/Saturation adjustment, Brightness/Contrast, and quite often a low opacity Black/White adjustment.
I have attached a final version with my adjustments to give you a sense of what I wanted to create from this image.
Hope this helps!
You say you only used Topaz Photo but, just to be clear did you import the RAW image into Topaz Photo as Standalone Application or did you import the image into Topaz Photo from a host application such as Photoshop, Lightroom Classic or similar and if you used Lightroom Classic for instance, was that via the Plugin Extras method or from the Edit in Menu
If, you used the Edit in method did you send the original image to Topaz Photo or with Lightroom Adjustments Applied.
Also, I know you mentioned only using Super Focus which should only be used with out of focus images you also, said that you converted the 16-bit TIFF image to an 8-bit JPEG which will reduce the Bit Depth and then, using your Mac for the conversion which has introduced another element to the mystery.
Apologies for all questions but, I’m trying to get a better understand of what the problem is as I’m not seeing this issue myself
Andy
We would need too see and use the original out of camera file, sent to support@topazlabs.com - cropping using preview will compress the file, and doing edits on a compressed TIFF will not give good results. Make sure to send the original out of camera file to support and we can have a look.
The results posted have a unnatural and over processed look and we can show you how to avoid this.
The
The Raw image was opened in Topaz Photo as a standalone app. And, yes, the color depth was reduced with Preview converting to JPEG for a smaller file size. I will send the original RAW file; should I include any reference, so that it gets linked to this support discussion?
And, no worries about the questions, as it’s a tricky thing to reproduce without them. I work in hi-tech, so I’m familiar with how challenging analyzing problems can be.
Cheers!
Frank
Hi Frank.
I’m not with support I’m a user like yourself please address Ange who is Topaz Support thank you although I’ll be interested to know how you get on
Andy
When you send your email with the RAW file - if you can show the in app RAW you see and color loss you get (screenshots) and we can test too see if can replicate!
Hi Ange,
Apologies for the delay. I have sent the raw camera file to the support email address and here are the screenshots of the before and after of Super Focus. Screenshot-DSF0122-Topaz-Photo-1 is the before and Screenshot-DSF0122-Topaz-Photo-2 is the after.
Thank you!
Frank
Thanks! We see in the original there is already a grid pattern in the background. It will be important to not put any sharpening or focus enhancement on the backgrouond. There is also no missed focus here and Super Focus is not the tool to use for this.
