Hi Guys!
Just a bit of a ramble today regarding software.
Photo editing software can be such an expensive investment especially when you like to tinker around a bit with different effects on your photos. Buying the right one can also be a huge headache as well! As I have recently found out. Apart from Photoshop which will do most of what is necessary, on the odd occasion I find the need and desire to do something a little different to my photos. Be it adding the odd grungy border, texture or just adding a little "oomph" to sometimes standard pictures. Having bought "Topaz" a while ago now, I have been reasonably happy with a few of it's bundled features. I find the ND filter, UV filter and vignette effects a few of the ones I tend to use the most. Sometimes you have a sky that is slightly lacking in detail and using the ND filter saves so much time
than going into Photoshop. It is also rather effective at doing so as you can specify to which side of the photo frame and the intensity and width you wish to add to the effect and it does a rather good job at it. Many of the features in it are best used in moderation...as the saying goes " less is more" can be quite right in these editing software packages. Probably the most disappointing feature I have found with most of these editing effects software bundles that you can buy is that they tend to emphasise the grain quite a bit on the photo once you add the desired effect. On a small photo it may not be too noticeable but when enlarged the grain can be quite visible and annoying. The B/W filter was also rather disappointing in the Topaz bundle as it produced the most unpleasant noise of all. Which is one of the reasons I had purchased the "Nik" Complete Collection bundle after reading some good reviews from previous users. The "Silver Effex" plug in is a great addition to the collection, I have been very happy with the quality of the B/W effects available on this suite, it offers the best B/W toning and detail without gaining unwanted grain in the process. It gives me better B/W than what I have been getting with just using Photoshop on it's own. One thing that I wasn't too impressed was the HDR plug in on the Nik suite, thought the effects were rather over the top and way too grainy once again! Did download the trail version of "Photomatix" HDR and in many case I thought this did a much better job at handling the shadows than Nik, Photoshop or Topaz in that matter. Unfortunately when using the noise reduction with Photomatix the end result can be a significantly "softer" photo. Not using the noise reduction results in a very grainy photo. Nik produced the sharpest but tended to look a little too contrasty and darker in the shadows. Photomatix was more balanced tonally and well exposed but at the expense of losing sharpness. It was a bit of a catch 22 with both these companies. Each had some good benefits but neither delivered the complete package in quality what I was hoping for.
Will test a few more photos out and see what happens.
Cheers, Grace.