#Topaz studio vs topaz studio 2 pro
#Topaz studio vs topaz studio 2 software

Quick Toolset вЂ“ In the upper right hand corner there are a set of Quick Tools for basic functions like brightness, contrast, burn, dodge, color filters undo, re-do, etc.

Significantly more pre-sets for Color Toning ranges.

Easier to compare different looks at a glance.

GRID Preset Mode вЂ“ One pre-set view mode is called GRID which gives you all the pre-sets side by side.

There were quite a few features in Topaz that I really liked: Figure out which works best for your taste and workflow and which gets you there the fastest and go with that. More often than not itвЂ™s best to keep it simple. Overall IвЂ™d have to give a slight edge to Silver Efex for hitting on my personal taste in the shortest amount of time.ДЄ key thing to keep in mind with any of these programs is that you can spend hours creating hundreds of variations.

#Topaz studio vs topaz studio 2 pro

HereвЂ™s the same shot in Silver Efex Pro 2: HereвЂ™s my grandmother on her wedding day in raw scan form, already looking pretty good but I wanted a bit more contrast and a bit less sepia: I wanted to find an example of a shot that was fairly pristine but needed a little tweaking and see how each program handled it with an absolute minimum of fine tuning. Topaz B&W Effects: Photo ExamplesД«ack to my box of photos. You get all the standards for brightness, contrast, filters, film grain, highlight and shadow control, toning, vignettes, borders etc.Д®ach has their own unique processing algorithms that in a more detailed review may show technical strengths or weaknesses but weвЂ™re going to stay more вЂњoverview-ishвЂќ for now. You can decide for yourself if thatвЂ™s a good thing or just overkill.Д®ven though theyвЂ™re labeled differently both have a similar toolset for most functions. Both have a wide range of presets although Topaz B&W Effects has a significantly larger collection than Silver Efex Pro 2. Pre-sets to the left, Image preview center and adjustment tools to the right. In terms of the programs themselves, the basic work space is almost identical in both programs. Topaz B&W Effects: Layout and Similarities When working with color originals (as I suppose most of you will be) there are various tools each plug-in uses that sample the original color information to make subtle tonal changes to the B&W processed image. For instance, color filters and color sensitivity draw information from the original color channels so will have minimal or no effect if youвЂ™re starting with B&W. Keep in mind that certain tools will have limited to no effect if youвЂ™re starting with B&W images. Going to the Photoshop IMAGE pull down menu.If you already have grayscale scans and are using Photoshop as your front end you can cheat and convert them on the fly:

#Topaz studio vs topaz studio 2 software

If you scan them as black and white grey scale the software wonвЂ™t recognize them. Most of the popular b&w plug-ins, require the images to be done in RGB color. Scan them in color even though theyвЂ™re black and white. Working with B&W Originals in Silver Efex Pro 2 and Topaz B&W EffectsДЄ couple things to keep in mind when youвЂ™re starting with black and white originals.

These are arguably the two top B & W programs out there and wanted to decide which would be best to spend my time with. Having just reviewed Silver EFEX Pro 2 and being pretty impressed with it, I decided to do a side by side with Topaz B&W Effects 2. Wanting to concentrate more on the creative part of the process rather than the organization (I always have dessert first!), I decided to just jump in and try to identify the best program out there to make every image look as good as possible. And since mom says itвЂ™s my job, well then, I guess itвЂ™s my job. Besides prints there were also hundreds of negatives, some of which have probably been obsolete since the 1920вЂ™s.Д«ut there were also some incredible historical images, many dating back to near the turn of the 20 th century that were certainly worth some time and effort to preserve. Some were beautiful, pristine prints and some looked like theyвЂ™d been run through the washing machine. There were hundreds if not thousands of images in all shapes, sizes and formats. In short, a project thatВ shouldnвЂ™tВ take me more than 20 or 30 years to complete. IвЂ™m now in charge of making sure that the family history (at least the generations before me) were photographically documented in digital form and could be shared and treasured within the family for generations to come. My mom recently dumped a large box of black and white photos and negatives in my lap and suggested that I was now the official family archivist.