Topaz Plugins Thoughts

Sorry if this is asked to death.I dled the plugin bundle for LR3.It seems pretty cool with all the differnt plugins.Adjust-lens seem to be the best overall but im early in the 30day trial.I enjoy the HDR effects.I guess if you tweak it just right its awesome.HDR seems to be from what ive read a semi-science ,but this program might be a lazy mans way out.

Having said all that,what are your thoughts about the Topaz plugins(any or all)?The bundle is like $255 with topaz user promo code for all the plugins.Might never use all, but adjust - lens-denoise are pretty neat.

Thanks for any an all replys

I've used some of the Topaz plugins for a few years now. They've added a few since I bought the bundle. The main ones I use when I use them are Adjust, Detail, Denoise. I've used Simplify and Clean a couple of times. All in all they're pretty good. The only one I didn't like was Remask as I never could get any better/easier results than I was already getting. So far, they've offered all the version upgrades free for existing users. There is a little overlap in some of them too. Can't help with some of the other ones.

I like them too. Maybe not quite as good as the Nik but they are also $200 less and you can usually find a discount code that makes them almost half the price of the the Nik. I use Adjust, Detail, DeNoise a lot. Clean and Simplify are a bit too cheesy for me but the new Star Effects is nice and the InFocus can be useful once you learn how to use it. B&W Effects is not quite as good as Nik's Silver EFX but it is very good. Unlike something like OnOne lifetime upgrades are included.

D Thompson wrote in post #13858406
I've used some of the Topaz plugins for a few years now.

IN between the lines, this says it best. I've always viewed Topaz plugins as the "Dollar Store" of plugins. Some are usable, but most are not. Among those that are not are many of the FX plugins that basically make an image look like crap.

Depends upon what you are using them for. If for FX, Nik ColorEfex is far better. The tonal contrast can be used for the faux hdr effects, plus the suite contains many other good FX effects.
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Also try rad actions

I only use Topaz Adjust from time to time. I would NOT invest into the entire bundle. I do most of my editing in LR, sometimes in PS when more image manipulation is needed, but it's rare. I tried all of the plug-ins during the 30 day trial. Ended up buying Topaz Adjust because in some situations it can speed up my workflow - but I use it maybe on 5% of my pictures only.

Picture North Carolina wrote in post #13861196

D Thompson wrote in post #13858406
I've used some of the Topaz plugins

IN between the lines, this says it best. I've always viewed Topaz plugins as the "Dollar Store" of plugins. Some are usable, but most are not. Among those that are not are many of the FX plugins that basically make an image look like crap.

I'm not a big plugin junkie anyway and don't put them to a lot of use. Yes, the price is right and a added benefit is they (so far) have offered free upgrades to new versions. Adjust took the place of Lucis for me, as I could get close to the same results with less effort. There seems to be a bit of overlap between a couple of them. I think if you want to do "painting" type stuff then Simplify and Clean are probably decent. Just my .02, but several of the last Topaz offerings are junk based on what I've read about them.

I use Topaz Adjust and Topaz Black & White Effects. Both works well but, as for all plugins, should be used with caution. It is so easy to go overboard in some HDR-frenzy with Adjust 5, and in B&W Effects over-sharpening or cranking up the details to far is the real danger. Still I would recommend them both.

I also tried the trial of Topaz Detail, but I didn't really feel the need for it.

How the Topaz plugins compare to the Nik effects I don't really know, as I only have Nik Color EFEX Pro 3 which I also like, but find rather user unfriendly compared to the Topaz plugins

Thanks all for the advice.I finally got around to checking out Nik software site.Wow they offer alot as well.Going to try out there demo for lightroom.Im not at the photoshop level right now.PS seems really complicated for a beginner like me,thou im sure time invested you get great results.

D-Noc wrote in post #13863927
... but, as for all plugins, should be used with caution. It is so easy to go overboard....

I think this is the bottom line, whether you're using filters, tone mapping, layers, or just the saturation slider.

Yes, but when you start out in the Post Processing "business", you tend to think that the sliders should be as far to the right as possible to gain professional looking results.
After a lot of frustration I began looking at other photographers work and tried to mimic that look and found out that most sliders were hardly moved. Then I began to catch on.. even though I am still just a happy amateur enjoying my photography hobby.

I just bought the Nik Full Collection. One word, awesome!

I have been using Topaz denoise and detail for over a year. I find them extremely valuable. I submit my photos to istock and Topaz has helped me bump up my acceptance rate. Still I do most of my post process in the RAW converter, but Topaz gets used on the really tough images.

If you attend to a live webinar for NIK software, they usually give you a discount code good for 15%.

fidelfs wrote in post #13929703
If you attend to a live webinar for NIK software, they usually give you a discount code good for 15%.

This is true but a simple google search will also net you 15% off.