Well of course I had to play with this new program!

I have this picture I took a few days ago at Red Rock Canyon in Nevada. The sun was behind the mountain and as you can see by the SOOC (straight out of the camera) shot, the picture was not very impressive but I did have a little flare going on. Luckily I took it in RAW so I immediately was able to add some highlights and increase the exposure to show some detail. Then I took the photo into Photoshop and did the following tweaks with Topaz.

1. Topaz adjust 5>HDR> Dynamic Brightness
2. Topaz adjust 5>Vignette (to taste)
3. Topaz Star Effects>Sun Flare. In this step I also played around with the sliders until I though it looked interesting.

I hope you like my result. Please feel free to comment below.

Buy or try Topaz Star Effects here.

Click to see larger:

For this formula you need the following ingredients: Topaz Adjust, TRA 1 Actions, TRA 2 Actions.

Photoshop Formula:

• Open the photo you want to work on in Photoshop
• Run the Topaz Adjust filter – Dramatic
• Run the TRA 1 - Daily Grind Action “Boutwell’s Magic Glasses”.
• Run the TRA 2 Action “Lux (hard)” – turn off the “tone curve” layer.

That’s it. I hope you enjoy this Photoshop Formula. Please comment below.

Today is the last day for the Topaz Labs Sale using the code NEWADJUST. So don’t forget to get it today if you want it.

The new release of Topaz 4  is a free upgrade so if you already have Topaz Adjust be sure to download it and start using it.

If you don’t have Topaz Adjust, the coupon code NEWADJUST will not only save $10 off a new purchase of Topaz Adjust, but will also save 20% off of any bundle purchase or Adjust->Bundle upgrade.

This is an old Formula that used to be on the Topaz Labs site that I love. I especially like what it does to eyes and hair (the dog hair looks amazing). I’m lucky I found an old link to the formula that still works so I’m sharing it with you:

We first apply Topaz Denoise/EQ to remove grains on the skin to give it a perfect skin look. Here are the parameters changed from default value:

• Noise Suppression = 1.0: maximum removal of grain
• Noise threshold = 3.05: it is a balance between removing noise and preserving details
• (Advanced)Sharpness adjustment at Radius=0.8: sharpen details a little bit

Then we use Topaz Sharpen to accentuate line features. Here is the setting:

• Sharpness = 1.1: Sharpen a little bit
• Edge Crispness = 2.0: enhance edge a little bit
• Radius = 0.87: we want to only enhance thin lines
• Noise threshold = 4.02: do not enhance noise
• (Advanced) Line Accent = 1: accentuate line features
• (Advanced) Iteration = 6: many iterations for best results

Samples:

Photoshop Formula:

1. Touch up your photo as usual in color so that it looks good.
2. Open your  image in Photoshop and run Topaz Adust 4′s “Sketch – Pencil” filter.
3. Drag a texture or 2 into your photo. I used 2 textures, one was rough and one was more smooth. (You can get free textures all over the internet by doing a Google search)
4. Change your texture’s blending mode to overlay, see layer screen shot below. (or choose another blending mode that you like)

That’s it!

This new release is a free upgrade so if you already have Topaz Adjust be sure to download it and start using it.

If you don’t have Topaz Adjust, the coupon code NEWADJUST will not only save $10 off a new purchase of Topaz Adjust, but will also save 20% off of any bundle purchase or Adjust->Bundle upgrade.

This coupon code will expire on March 15, 2010.

Click “FS” below to see photos larger:

This new release is a free upgrade so if you already have Topaz Adjust be sure to download it and start using it.

If you don’t have Topaz Adjust, the coupon code NEWADJUST will not only save $10 off a new purchase of Topaz Adjust, but will also save 20% off of any bundle purchase or Adjust->Bundle upgrade.

This coupon code will expire on March 15, 2010.

I hope you enjoy this upgrade as much as I have!

Photoshop Formula 1:

1. Run Noiseware (This step will depend on how much noise your original photo has}
2. Run Topaz Adjust “HDR – Sketch”
3. That’s it!

Photoshop Formula 2:

1. Run Topaz Adjust “HDR – Sketch”
2. That’s it!

I started with the Racer’s Magazine and then I couldn’t resist switching out the photo with a Sports Magazine. Once again I got carried away playing in Photoshop. Does that ever happen to you?

1. Open your image in Photoshop or create a blank document the size you want your magazine, for example 8×10 inches, then drag your photo into the document and align and size as needed.
2. (Optional) Use Topaz Adjust’s Dramatic filter to make your image look dirty & gritty. Here is a tutorial that goes over Topaz Adjust.
3. Use the Grunge Font to create your magazine title. Use this tutorial if you need help with that.
4. Watch this tutorial if you want the person’s head on top of the magazine title.
5. Use common fonts for the rest of the magazine cover.
   • “MAGAZINE” – Futura font
   • “2010″ – Impact font
   • “get dirty with” – Myriad Pro font
   • “JAKE PERSON”  – Impact font
6. Add a new layer between the text and the main photo. On the new layer, use one of the Grunge Brushes to create some dirt in a brown color.

That’s it! All done. Have fun and leave comments.

Here is your 10% discount code for these products:

Iron Grunge Font: edgrungetype
Iron Grunge Brushes: edgrungebrushes

Sometimes when I run the Dramatic filter it shows too much detail and noise. Especially in women it can be unflattering because it shows imperfections in the face. To counter that I like to run a noiseware program before or after I use the adjust. OR I like to run the Topaz Adjust Smooth or Simplify filter first to take away the small imperfections then run something like Dramatic to enhance the big details. It’s really fun to play around with.

The following is the Topaz Adjust Photoshop Formula for this photo:

Tip: Before running each new adjustment, duplicate the layer and run it on the new layer so that you can lower the opacity of each layer to have more playing options.

1. Run smooth
2. Run simplify
3. Run dramatic
4. Run dramatic again

Topaz adjust is a very cool program and it’s also pretty reasonably priced.

Related Product page:
Topaz Adjust

Topaz Adjust Samples: