I have a photo that will likely be heavily cropped. Do most people fix the photo including crop, the upscale using gigapixel, or upscale then fix and crop?
I can think of arguments for both, but wondered what others process is.
I did a search first and couldn’t find anything on this, but I probably missed the questions.
Hi.
Here’s the Topaz Recommended Workflow
Although you’re asking about Topaz Gigapixel you’re have better results using Topaz Photo for this kind of work here a link explaining the difference between the two
Hope this helps
I always crop first to speed everything else up. Then denoise before upscaling to avoid enlarging the artifacts. I never sharpen until after enlarging to minimize the dreaded halos.
Just to tag a couple of notes to Andy’s good sound advice
When Denoising an image even with AI this can often soften the image so, during the process Topaz automatically adds a subtle amount of sharpening to bring back the crispness to the image.
For example; and you can try this for yourself open an image then apply Sharpening to it any Sharpening Model will suffice it’s just an experiment afterall once, the Sharpening has completed then apply Denoise and you’ll see the image get even Sharper.
It’s a similar story or process with Upscaling because, when you enlarge an image with AI you are not increasing the size of the original Pixels that are already there the Software is actually interpolating the Pixels that would be there if that image would have been that larger size in the first instance thus, increasing the Details and Sharpness of the Upscaled image.
Therefore, be very careful when applying Sharpening after both Denoising and Upscaling as we’re already established both processes can increase Detail and Sharpness.
That’s why Topaz Recommends Cropping and applying Enhancements first before finally Upscaling here’s are the Topaz Recommendations
RAW Denoise (if RAW file) → Dust and Scratch → Super Focus → Remove Noise → Sharpen → Remove Object → Adjust Lighting → Balance Color → Recover Faces → Preserve Text → Upscale
One thing you may be wondering why Topaz Recommends Sharpening before Upscaling let’s use another example; the three basics rule Denoise, Sharpen and Upscaling
Now then there are no hard and set rules here only Recommendations by all means apply Sharpening last if that’s what you prefer but, I’m suggesting just be a little vigilant when doing so
Andy, mentioned applying Sharpening last because, there may be artifacts and halos within the image and applying to much Sharpening can make the image worse.
This can happen especially from heavily compressed JPEG’s and images downloaded from the internet and as mentioned increasing the Sharpening to those will make them worse.
By all means apply Sharpening before or After Upscaling it’s entirely up to you there are no rules just be careful when doing so.
Hope this helps
Hello!
Great advice from everyone so far.
Generally, Topaz Gigapixel is a finishing tool for the end of the workflow.
Depending on what your “fix” is, it’s best to do all other work before the upscaling process.
In some cases, upscaling is done first in order to have more pixels to work with before certain retouching processes.
Thanks for all the feedback. I appreciate it. I upsized last.
