Toment Loc: FL, IL

MacPhun products?

MW

Much like someone else wrote the whole suite is very expensive. However, I believe you can get get a 30 trial. If you are like me you will find one or two modules (I like "Detail") that are must-haves for you. You can buy them individually. That would be more economical.

To my eye and taste some of the modules do things to images that dislike although I may be just what you want. In any case the effects Topaz offers can be very extreme so one of the first things one needs to learn is to be gentle with the sliders!

Annie-Get-Your-Gun Loc: Byron Center, Mi

Thank you, MW. I appreciate getting this information. My budget can't handle $500 for the entire suite so I'll have to be satisfied with a couple modules. I'm interested in creating images like Snap Shot posts.

Ednsb Loc: Santa Barbara

I have the full Topaz suite which is really plugins to Lightroom for me. I also have the Nik collection but be warned it will not be updated from Google so its use might be of limited time. I get the feeling you are a mac user. If so IMHO you should look at ON1 Raw and/or MacPhun Luminar. Both are quite a bit less expensive than Topaz. Both are Raw processors plus all the things you would expect in a post processing application. Luminar can be easier to learn and use but has most of all the functionality except for lens and color aberation correction (they say it is coming). On1 Raw has all of that. Both can be used as plugins to Lightroom, PS and PS Elements as well as Apple Photos. Both have free trials and lots of videos for training. I had used the ON1 10 plugins extensively with Lightroom but am moving to either luminar or Raw (still deciding). Raw has some big hickups when it was first released but they seem to be working hard to correct and add functionality quickly. Latest version is pretty stable. Luminar fixed the big issue I had with them which was they created huge files in their own format. 24 MG raw files were becoming 500 MB copies. Now they are about the same size as the orginal. It has a very interesting new filter called A.I. I find it very quick to use for fast and dirty post but Raw has a bit more horsepower and creates very small metadata files (1 to 2 MB) rather than huge files like Lightroom, PS and others.

Try them out.. Worth the effort.

Annie-Get-Your-Gun Loc: Byron Center, Mi

I appreciate receiving this information from you, Ed. After receiving other responses, I'm beginning to feel out in left field and don't know squat. I do use Mac. It sounds like ON1 or MacPhun Luminar would
be good ones for me to try. Thank you!

James56 Loc: Nashville, Tennessee

Then you will need Topaz "Glow2". It is now a stand alone program, so no other editors or software are required. To get Snap Shots" swirly effects will take some trial and error efforts till you find the right combination with the adjustment sliders in the program. Here's the effect subtly done on a squirrel (I didn't have any flower images on my computer at this time).

(Download)

Annie-Get-Your-Gun Loc: Byron Center, Mi

I LOVE your squirrel! That's exactly the effect I want to get. Thanks so much for telling me about Topaz "Glow2" I'm sure I'll have to play around with it. You've been very helpful, Jim.

Ednsb Loc: Santa Barbara

Interesting enough I was watching an online seminar by Matt Kloskowski. He was taking people images and processing them in Lightroom. My go to guy for post processing. He used to work for ON1 but has split off on his own. Anyway someone asked if he used Topaz plugins. He hesitated to say what was probably on his mind but did say he never liked them much. Main reason was their pricing model. When you buy a plugin you get upgrades free for ever. But to make money they put a ton of plugins out there which basically do the same thing so Matt said he always had a problem knowing which plugin to use. He used NIK until Google bought them (so did I but with Aperature) then moved to On1. He uses Lightroom as his main program then pushes out to plugins to do special effects. Mainly he uses on1 10 effects and PS.

Snap Shot Loc: California

If you wait till around September-November Topaz goes on sale for about half price for the whole suite. All updates are free and it works well with Photoshop, Photoshop Elements etc! It's worth every penny IMHO!

StaneeRae Loc: Lincroft, NJ USA

Last year, Topaz had big sales over Black Friday and again between Christmas & New Year. Sometimes it's the whole bundle; other times individual plug-ins. Follow their Facebook page for details. They sometimes publish discount codes there.

JCam Loc: MD Eastern Shore

Annie, as some others have said, you don't have to buy the entire suite and can get the individual plug-in separately. Try their 30 day free trials. The only one I have is Adjust and like it for what is does; I mostly use it to ad some POP to pictures that I like but seem dull; it's a quick and easy fix.

One of my camera club friends said he also has some of the plug-ins, but doesn't like them too much because there is no way to fix only a portion by selecting only that section that needs help and adjusting it alone as you would with PS or PSE.

rjaywallace Loc: Wisconsin

Very nice, Roni! Tranquil.

ronichas Loc: Long Island

Thanks so much!