When using photoshop, I first enter CTRL j to make a copy of my image on a new layer. Then I turn the original copy off by clicking the eye on the left side of the background layer (original image). Now the pixels in that layer are protected and will not contribute to your edits on the copy.
I assume with a 1350 PSU, you are leaving yourself room to grow. That is way over what is needed for your components. Unless of course, you have plans of adding a 4090 in the near future!!!!!!!!!!!! If you have any overclocking plans, consider an AIO liquid cooling system for the CPU.
I talked with Topaz about this issue and they said sending an unprocessed NEF, DNG, etc. file from Lightroom to Topaz Denoise is the same as using Topaz first on the raw file and then exporting as a DNG to Lightroom. I found this not to be true and got very different results with using Denoise as a stand-alone as the better option.
My problem with this is that I cull many images in Lightroom, process them, and then only send the keepers to Topaz. Does anyone have a suggestion on a workflow for culling the images in LR first and then using Denoise or Sharpen as a stand-alone on the RAW file that isn't so convoluted (ie. cull the images in LR, process in LR and decide which are to be sent to Topaz, import those directly into Topaz as unprocessed raw files, send to LR as a DNG, and reprocess. There must be a better way.
Fascinating post. I am just trying to figure out how I can get that V16 into my car!!!
Nice image. My eye is immediately drawn to the rocks, running water, and the nest-like thing by the frame created by the two branches. But then my eye kept sneaking over to the out-of-focus branch in the lower left. I might consider removing that in post to see how the image looks. I also prefer a faster shutter speed for moving water. I take both but usually prefer the stop-action look.
Big difference in the downloaded photos. Topaz products do a great job!