ScottWardwell Loc: Maine

I have had Topaz Gigapixel AI since it was first released and thought it made a marginal improvement when up-upsizing cropped images.

Recently Topaz has been trying to bait me with Sharpen AI and DeNoise AI. So I took the bait last night. The price of admission being about $130. I also got the new version of Gigapixel.

I took an early effort from 2010 taken with a 6 mpxl D70s (my first DSLR). Time exposure of a lightening storm in the distance over Baxter State Park not far from where I live.

The first image is the tiff from my original efforts at post back then. The basic work flow starts with creating a tiff of the raw file in Photoshop, then putting that through Sharpen and then finishing it off with Denoise and back to Photoshop for final touches and printing if so desired.

As you can see, there are marked changes all along the way. The clouds are heavily mottled in the 2nd image with artifacts from over-sharpening and significant noise present in the trees in the foreground. The third image shows a marked tamping down of that effect in the clouds but the detail in the foreground is smudged out somewhat excessively in my opinion with Denoise-AI. Foreground "Bokeh"?

The AI also choose to replace gradients in the cloud cover on the lower left and just over Mt. Katahdin with what looks like creases you would see if you folded a sheet of paper. I did apply the Spot Healing Brush tool in Photoshop as an afterthought and it pretty much smoothed this out.

Final thoughts -
I am overall impressed with what it did with this relatively lower-rez image from essentially a 1st or 2nd generation DX sensor.

The software imports a data base reference library of images it uses to "learn" your images.

The software is big and it requires a lot of processing power. When the image is being processed and saved, the fans in the GPU and the box spool-up and you are treated to that noise for the 5+ minutes it takes to finish. My system is a Dell dual-Xeon machine with 96 gig of ram.
You can then save the file to a directory of your choosing and import the newly labeled file into Photoshop and continue on.

Used judiciously, this has great potential. Obviously I have a lot left to learn about them. And to see how it works with files from my D700, D800 or D850. Maybe even throw a D995 file at it. I just let it take the image and work it with it's default settings right out of the box.

I probably should give it a fairer test and see how it would handle this image if I went back to the original raw and started from there as I may have introduced some of these artifacts myself with my admittedly clumsy original post processing. You know?, "rookie mistakes."

Just added the final cropped image with the creases taken-out with the Spot Healing tool in Photoshop.

Side note - They also downloaded the program Topaz Photo AI. It would not install as my system does not support something called "AVX". So I just open the individual programs as I need them.

Interesting to know what you think.

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Jimmy T Loc: Virginia

Personally, I use Topaz Photo AI almost exclusively now as it does everything that the other still Topaz Products photo programs do and it has almost weekly free updates.
It is a real workhorse because it now has all of the functions of the rest of the Topaz Programs, except Topaz Video AI.

If I have a pic that I Really want to "Save" I use my other Topaz Products Programs. I Receive the best results if I use Topaz Products Recommended Workflow using the default settings first, then adjusting if needed: https://topazlabs.com/the-ultimate-workflow-for-topaz-labs-ai-software/?utm_source=Topaz+Updates&utm_campaign=8c480bdca3-

The learning center is a great and painless teaching tool: https://www.topazlabs.com/learn?mc_cid=9289005635&mc_eid=c9be7297b0
For Topaz Photo AI there is a wonderful "Topaz Photo AI Quick Start Guide" just click on the link below: "Getting Started for New Users" https://support.topazlabs.com/article/124-topaz-photo-ai-quick-start
Also for each Topaz Products, there is a very brief tutorial. For DeNoise AI it is at the bottom of the program's open page "New to DeNoise AI? Test With A Sample Image".
If you want to make Topaz Products run their fastest watch the following video starting at about 1:40 min. into the video.
Best Wishes,
JimmyT Sends
Edit: 1st paragraph added.
Also, I'm sorry that I didn't directly answer your question.
So, yes your pics show improvement.
Topaz Photo AI will also create/save as JPG, PNG, TIFF, and DNG formats.
As well as upscale, remove noise, sharpen, recover faces, etc.

ScottWardwell Loc: Maine

Yeah, it prompted me about the tutorials when I first launched the apps.

bkwaters

The recommended workflow is DeNoise at the very beginning and Sharpen at the very end of post-processing. Gigapixel usually obviates the need for the other two, but not always. All 3 programs are very effective when their use is matched with an image requiring the specific adjustments. Processing time is very video card dependent. There are numerous online reviews comparing Topaz, ON1, DXO and Adobe products.

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

All of this is Greek to me. But, really nice photo however you came by it!

yssirk123 Loc: New Jersey

ELNikkor

Since most of my early (mid-noughts) digital photos were done with Pentax Wipio and Nikon D40, Topaz products have been like a gift to bolster the quality of those images. Like being able to go back and fix the past. Excellent lightning photo, I'm sure you have many more that Topaz can improve as well!

ScottWardwell Loc: Maine

Probably Sharpening in the beginning would amply any noise present in the original file? Makes sense to use it last.

ScottWardwell Loc: Maine

Yeah, it shows great promise. It may become my default post process from now on. "Happier than a puppy with two peters."

adedeluca Loc: holbrook ny

Excellent
I could print it if you like for you ?

ScottWardwell Loc: Maine

Thank you for the offer. I also have printing capability and boxes of 13 inch Red River paper at the ready. Maybe too many. I'm pleased you thought that highly of it.
I sell my images as wall-mounted pieces in art shows and could possibly see this as a 40x25 glossy aluminum panel print, ready to hang. It just needs more tweaking to pass the smell-test as you get that large and you stand in front of it and pixel-peep it right there in the comfort of your home.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Other than the second and third images having a brighter foreground, I don't see much of a difference.

I'd be satisfied with the first.

ScottWardwell Loc: Maine

Yeah, in a way it looks like I came full-circle back to the original. For a web-application, it looks close.

But when you process it with the intention of printing large-format, the little things that do not make much difference at the jpeg-level of 2500pxl on the long-side; get amplified significantly when considering that my long-panoramics of 72" x 24", now run to 455 megs as a tiff that are uploaded to the lab.

Here is a 6ft. stitched acrylic panoramic of a sunrise from the top of Cadillac Mtn in Acadia as the center-piece of my art show display taken with a D800. The lab told me of a couple artifacts that had crept-in and they suggested I rework it to eliminate them. Best advice I could receive.

The needles and leaves on bushes and trees in the foreground can be individually counted. That much detail is present. Plus you can discern the clothing on the people standing over to the right. At an art show where I showed this piece the first time, a man came up to it and looked closely at the harbor mooring area just off Bar Harbor and pointed-out his lobster boat to his daughter.

That being said, I am not convinced that an AI program could or should be applied to this image. I went old-school on this one. At least as what "old-school" was in 2018.

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Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

The Cadillac Mountain shot is beautiful!

I suppose it depends on how much explicit detail one wants in an image.

ScottWardwell Loc: Maine

Thank you.