Re: Topaz Labs Bundle 2019
Rivka Licklider
I received a promotional email today offering the Topaz Labs plugin bundle for $152.99. I don't know anything about Topaz other than having seen many posts where this plugin was used and recently the Pictus video tutorial on his technique in creating an outstanding extraction. I am an old timer that loves playing with PS but don't want to throw my money away. I am using PS CS3 Extended and will probably not upgrade in the near future. Topaz Labs offer a 30 day fully functional demo but in 30 days I probably will not fully utilize/learn most of it's capabilities. Is there a long learning curve for Topaz? Would 30 days play be worthwhile?
I believe that with your experience you will master Topaz (the entire bundle) in 30 days. I have only a selection from the bundle, but I use them over and over and for me there is no such thing as a quick learning curve. Most of the Topaz adjustments are reasonably intuitive. I would highly recommend these add-ins, but try them out and see what you think. Topaz Labs is a sound company with a great service response reputation.
Merry Christmas,
Jack
Always teach for understanding, not agreement.
JC Sofield
Thanks for your quick response. I will do as you recommend and download the trial and see what happens. I have seen some really great retouches using Topaz and that is why I was interested in this special offer.
That's a good point. I have now downloaded all of their bundled products in the offer. I will play with each as much as possible then check the single product prices of any product I am interested in before deciding on buying the entire bundle.
I have licensed versions of pretty much every plug-in there is, old and new, and feel the Topaz folks offer the best value/performance combo out there. You can get the suite of 7 plug-ins for less than others charge for a single one.
Topaz development is constantly ongoing and their upgrades are often free for existing users. Their plug-ins (I'm thinking especially of Adjust, Detail and Simplify) have also replaced the need for certain other plug-ins in that same genre that are either way too expensive or discontinued.
been using the topaz stuff for about a year..finally upgraded to the bundle..well worth the dollers for what you get and they always seem to be making improvments..easy to use also for us begginers...great product and great company
Topaz simplify is on it's own. there is some overlap with topaz adjust and denoise for instance, but topaz denoise as it's own product is way more powerful. As goes for topaz detail, it is way more powerful then the detail settings in topaz adjust!
Adjust, Simplify, and DeNoise are the core products for me and worth every penny. Use of the others will depend on your needs; but, with a good price for the bundle, I would go for it. (I believe Nik is also having a Complete Collection promotion and I think that Silver Efex Pro, Color Efex Pro, Viveza, and Dfine with the control point technology are also a terrific package!!)
I doubt that you can find a better value for a package of plugins, which aside from being a great value, are very useful. Were I you, I would buy them. ( I began purchasing them individually, or I would buy the package myself) I use at least one of the plugins, and often more than one, on most every image I retouch.
Allen mentions using more than one Topaz plug-in on an image, and that is exactly the way to go. I often start with DeNoise to get the image off to a good start, followed by Adjust or Detail for tonal and detail pop, then add Clean and Simplify for artsy effects.
Thanks to everyone for your comments/suggestions. Sounds like almost everyone has found Topaz to be a wonderful PS plugin and well worth the money. With all your input I will intend to put more of an effort at working with the fully functional demo. I am currently working on ReMask and I must say it is going to take a fair amount of practice to become somewhat proficient. I have watched a couple videos as well as the excellent video by Pictus and although it looks easy I am finding out that is not the case. Perhaps the image I have selected to practice on is too difficult to start with so I will pick an easier image and go from there. The image I was using to practice Remask is the one in this post: =1006&message=33907448
Scott Kelby had a promo code for past weekend only, I don't know if it is still valid. I have TA, Denoise and by adding Mask, then it will be more than the 119. It was a good investment.
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Alan
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