Fun with Topaz Glow
- Topaz Studio's filters work well individually, but the true magic happens when they're combined together. Topaz Studio 2 includes over 200 'Looks' (pre-built groups of filters) that help you explore different beautiful effects for your images with a single click.
- For Mac: Go to Applications - Topaz Labs - Topaz Labs Plug-ins - and copy and paste the Topazsimplify4.plugin file to your Photo-shop Plug-Ins folder. This is usually located in Applications - Adobe Photoshop - Plug-Ins. Delete the Simplify 4 shortcut already in.
- 64bit Host Editors - C:Program Files (x86)Topaz LabsTopaz Adjust 5PSPluginsx64 Copy the preset file located in this folder, for each plugin you would like to install into Photoshop. In this example, we are using the 64bit plugin, so we will copy tladjust5psx64.8bf.
- Topaz Glow 2 has built-in Spot, Color, Luminosity, and Brush Masks for masking areas of your photos for adding the effects or removing effects from specific areas. 22 All-New Blend Modes Glow 2 now comes with 22 new blend modes, including Dissolve, Darken, Color Burn, Linear Burn, Hard Mix.
Topaz has a new product called Topaz Glow. Ibooks 2 for mac. I downloaded my copy of Topaz Glow the first day it was available so I have had a few days to play with it, and I must say the people at Topaz Labs once again surprised me. Glow creates a fractal effect that gives your images a sense of movement. Glow finds the textures in your photo and injects them with a luminescent glow.
I thought that this software would have a few filters and effects and that is about it. I was wrong it is much more. Topaz Glow is Fun, a lot of Fun, Fun with a capital F. The more I played with it the more I enjoyed it. You might not use Glow on every photo but when you do you will get a very fun, unique and interesting image every time. I include lots of examples at the bottom of this post.
There are over 70 presets with almost infinite control. I also discovered a powerful attribute that makes this software very impressive. You can add a little Glow to make images stand out in a subtle way. I will cover this in detail, with a before and after photo, near the bottom.
Download Topaz Photoshop Plugins Bundle For Mac Free download free setup for Mac OS. It is Offline dmg File with Direct Download Link with the standalone Compressed file. 11 Topaz Impression. 13 Topaz DeNoise. 14 Topaz InFocus. 15 Topaz DeJPEG. 16 Topaz photoFXlab.
Standalone or Plugin
Glow can be used as a stand alone application or can be used as a plugin. It is compatibility with Photoshop CS4+, Photoshop CC, Photoshop
Elements 6+, Paintshop Pro X, Serif PhotoPlus X5+, and Lightroom. It can be used on both Mac OSX 10.8+ and Windows 7/8 x 64bit + OpenGL 2.1. (32bit is not supported)
Workspace
Glow is super easy to use, even if you haven't used any of the Topaz products, Lightroom or Photoshop you will quickly be able to pick up how to get the effects you want.
Topaz Glow For Macular Degeneration
Once you open the interface you will find the magnification, previews, and the see 'original' button on the top left hand side.
Running down along the right hand side you will see the currently selected presets. On the top right there is a drop down menu where you will find all of the presets, organized into categories such as:
- Fantasy
- Neon
- Graphic
- Liquid Designs
- Fur and Feathers
- Afterglow
Each of these categories has a number of different pre-sets within in them. I would suggest you pick an image you like and start experimenting to find out what each preset does.
Attribute Panel
Once you click on a pre-set that you want to use, click on it a second time and the attribute panel will open up. Be warned the sliders are powerful, a little movement can create a large effect in the image.
Primary Glow is the first set of sliders. It includes things like:
- Glow Type light /dark (very different effect for each one and you can switch between them at any time during your editing)
- Glow Strength
- Effect Sharpness
- Electrify
- Edge Color
- Detail Strength and Size
Secondary Glow contains many of the items as the first but it controls a different part of the effect.
Color is great it can be used to control an individual colors properties:
- Hue
- Saturation
- Lightness/Darkness
Finishing Touches controls everything you want to finish off an image.
- Effect Coverage
- Smudge
- Sharpness
- Vignette
Blending Modes
As you can see in the above image there is also a strength slider (opacity) and blend mode drop down menu at the bottom on the left hand side. The blend modes include:
- Multiply
- Screen
- Overlay
- Hard Light
- Soft Light
And this is where Topaz Glow surprises. With these blend modes you can add subtle effects to your images. A little 'glow', a little/lot of sharpness, or a little detail strength, in fact all of the effects can be blended in to enhance your image without the strong fractal effect.
In this photo of Saint Nicolas Church in Barranquilla, Colombia I used the Glow Type - Dark, the attribute sliders and blend mode Soft Light to recover the color and look of the church on a very bright day with harsh light. The new image is sharper and cleaner than the original.
As I said I had a lot of fun playing with my images in Topaz Glow. I have included several examples of the different effects below.
Topaz Glow For Macbook
Have you used Glow? What are your thoughts? Leave a comment below.
Discount
If you decide to give Topaz Glow a shot please use discount code bestphotohdr for a 15% discount.
**This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links
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Get Topaz Glow for $20 off through December 31st with Coupon Code : introglow
Topaz Glow is the latest and greatest from Topaz Labs. At its most basic level, Glow is a fractal art generator. It makes your highlights and shadows turn into wispy curls of light. Here is a brief description from Topaz Labs:
After having some time to work with Glow, here are some of my thoughts.
The User Interface
The Benefits:
- Clean, Simple, and easy to use interface. It is almost an exact replica of Topaz Impression in simplicity, style and layout.
- The effect adjustments are self-explanatory. The effects are not hidden behind fancy words, what you read is what it does. This makes the learning curve for the program rather low so you will be on your way with the effects in no time.
- A wide variety of useful Presets. The presets in Glow are effective and if not good for one click use, they are well on their way! I use many of them as a jumping off point and only have to skew the adjustments slightly to obtain the desired effect.
- The possibilities. While the fractal effect is niche in many cases to a select group of artistic individuals, Glow can be used in subtle ways to enhance the overall look and feel of an image without the fractal effect.
- It is a stand alone program. Those who do not own Photoshop will be pleased that this also installs as a stand alone program that does not require Photoshop to use.
The Limiting Factors:
- Glow is not for everyone. This is a program that will pique the interest of the individuals who want to “Electrify” their photos or designs.
- It will be easy to spot. If it is not used as a subtle element in a photo, it will be easy to spot as a filter. I will venture to say we will see quite a few “one click wonders” until the masses figure out a way to incorporate it in their workflow. This is not necessarily a bad thing, just part of the learning curve with a new piece of software.
The Bottom Line:
While Glow is predominately meant for fractal art, I have found several uses for it outside the fractal realm. I have used it for subtle boosts in the radiance of my images as well as effective dreamlike elements in animal portraits. If you are an artist by nature and enjoy “tinkering” with your images to see where they can go, Glow is great to have in your arsenal of tools. Mac app store for pc. However, if you are a purist and don’t really explore the artistic nature of your work, you may find limited capability with it. I would highly recommend it to anyone with the artistic brain as it can be very useful in a mixed workflow using masks and blending options.
Get Topaz Glow for $20 off through December 31st with Coupon Code : introglow
Some Examples:
The Tutorial:
For Blake, it is less about the art and more about the process. He dives deep into difficult topics and makes them easy to understand through his outside the box thinking.