Topaz Clarity only $29.95! – Topaz Labs Newest Plug-in!

Topaz Labs released a new plug-in called Clarity which is designed to give your flat images more punch! Here’s more info in their own words:

Topaz Clarity is the ultimate tool to create compelling and powerful images by intelligently enhancing contrast and clarity with absolutely no artifacts or halos.  With just a few clicks you can easily manipulate your micro, mid-tone and overall contrast, trans- forming your image from ordinary to extraordinary, while maintaining the natural feeling and tonality you are after.   Using a proprietary technology, Topaz Clarity effectively improves local contrast without halos or noise, giving you remarkable results with minimal effort.

Here are some of the unique features introduced in Topaz Clarity:

1. Selective Contrast Control. With Clarity, we have developed a cutting-edge process of selecting specific contrast variations in your original image, allowing you to quickly target and then increase or decrease the contrast and clarity in that specific variation.
2. Breakthrough Halo-Free Algorithm.  Boost contrast and clarity without emphasizing transitions between light and dark areas, eliminating the common problem of halos, noise and artifacts.
3. Advanced Hue/Saturation/Luminance Technology.  Using IntelliColor technology, you can easily enhance your image with the HSL filter, getting stronger, yet more natural HSL adjustments.
4. Re-Imagined Masking Workflow.  The masking module, now attached to each adjustment tab contains a comprehensive set of tools including an edge-aware brush, gradient mask, smart feather tool, color aware tool and more.
5. User Interface Design.  With Clarity, we have continued to develop a cleaner, more modern and efficient interface to improve usability, workflow and overall aesthetics. Here’s a peek at the new UI:

Here’s a look at the new masking technology:

Special Introductory Offer

Click here and use the coupon code "claritynew" until May 31st to get Clarity at a special reduced price of $29.99, that $20 off the regular price of $49.99. See my discount coupon code page for my discount for use with ALL Topaz products - including the best deal for the bundle.

My Test

Topaz Clarity is like using the Lightroom Clarity slider on steriods. You can take images much further and have more control over your results. I often backet my exposures to use in HDR processing in order to extract the kind of localized contrast and fine detail the tone-mapping process can bring out in an image.  Clarity seems to be able to do this without the need to bracket and process in HDR.  I going to start using this program more and HDR less because it is quiker, simplier and provides more realitic results.  After all, I would rather be out shooting images than sittting at the computer processing them.

Pro-Tip #5: Focus Stacking

On last month’s Big Sur Photo Workshop Tour I wondered upon a scene that required this technique. It’s not difficult to do and anyone with a manual focus capable camera/lens can take advantage of it, thanks to Photoshop. The scene was a small patch of Periwinkle under a group of cypress trees with an old dilapidated picket fence in the background. I took a shot at f/22 and was able to get the entire scene in sharp focus, as seen in this image,

Periwinkle Patch, Soberanes Canyon, © Greg Clure

although I like the image as a good representation of the entire flower patch and fence, I did not like the fact that the flowers appeared so small. I wanted to show the detail in the flowers which meant I needed to get closer to them as they are only about an inch across. I tried another shot, vertical this time; again at f/22 and I repositioned myself about a foot from a grouping of the flowers, and got this shot,

Single Focus Point, © Greg Clure

the foreground flowers look great but the middle ground flowers and background fence are thrown out-of-focus. Not that there is anything wrong with that as it is a perfectly pleasing image. The problem is when you get this close to your foreground even at your smallest aperture you cannot render the entire scene from near to far in sharp focus. I wanted the fence in sharp focus because it has some interesting detail I feel adds to the overall image. But, the closer you get to your foreground subject the shallower your depth of field becomes with any lens. Your simple solution is to take several images of the scene at different focus points and blend them together with software. In my final image, I used three focus points, one for the foreground flowers, one for the middle ground plants and flowers and one for the background fence and cypress trees. I used Photoshop to blend the sharpest areas of each image into a single image with sharp focus from foreground flowers to background fence, as seen here.

Periwinkle Potpourri, Soberanes Canyon, © Greg Clure

It is all automated and accomplished in a few simple steps. I use Lightroom for most of my editing work so we will start with selecting the three images there:

1. Select all images to be blended in Lightroom, in my case, I had three images but you can have any number of images with different focus points.
2. With your mouse pointer over one of the selected images, right click your mouse and select >Open as Layers in Photoshop. This will launch Photoshop and open each image in a separate layer.
3. Next, highlight all layers in the Layers Pallet
4. Next, choose >Edit>Auto- Align Layer, this will make sure each image is aligned at the pixel level. In the dialogue box, use the Auto setting for Projection and uncheck the two Lens Correction settings.
5. Next, choose >Edit>Auto-Blend Layer, you will want to select the Stacked Images option in the dialogue box as well as the Seamless Tones and Curves option. Here's where Photoshop goes to work and creates the black and white masks for each image, white areas are the sharp areas that you will see and black areas will be hidden.
6. Finally, combine all your layers into a single image by going to >Layers>Merge Layers

You can continue to edit your final image in Photoshop or save the image and return to Lightroom for further editing. That's it! Simple! Give it a try! For a larger more detailed verion for these images go to my web gallery, www.gregclurephotography.com/california.

Nik Collection by Google NOW $126.65 with my Coupon Code, gclure

Click on this graphic to go to NikSoftware.com to make your purchase!

We have all been waiting to see what Google was going to do with its newly acquired purchase of Nik Software. Well it appears they want to dominate the plug-in market and have made the entire Nik Collocetion of all six plug-ins available to all at $149 ($126.65 with my discount code, gclure). That is less than $25 a plug-in or $21.11 if you use my discount code and recieve an additional 15% off.  What use to cost $600 last month is now $149. Power to the people, I mean photographers! Take me to Nik's Website!

Spring Sale Up to 40% off onOne Software

UPDATE - Extended to March 31st. Now Is The Best Time To Buy onOne Software.For 3 days only, you can get your favorite onOne product at a huge discount, but only if you purchase from the above webpage (click on the above graphic) by March 29th.You'll have peace of mind knowing that you get free video training, free webinars, weekly inspiration video episodes, world-class technical support and a 30-day money back guarantee. Get a new product or upgrade your favorite product today!

onOne Perfect B&W + Perfect Effect 4 $100 Off

Sales goes live March 6th, 10 AM PST and ends Midnight March 8, 2013 PST.

Get Perfect Effects 4 Premium and Perfect B&W Premium for only $99.95 ($100.00 savings) For 2 days only, you can get the best photographic effects software - Perfect Effects 4 Premium Edition and the all-new Perfect B&W Premium Edition for stunning black and white effects.

Create your masterpiece in minutes with a huge library of effects and creative tools in both of these powerful new products. Achieve classic black and white looks with full control of shadow, hightling, and selective color, and create a unique look of your own with professionally-created photographic effects, glows, textures, and borders. With the ability to stack, combine and blend effects, and paint in effects to specific areas, your creative options are endless.

Order now for only $99.95 - that's 50% off! As with all onOne products, you'll get a 30-day moneyback guarantee, world class technical support, and free online training including Live webinars and videos to get you up and running fast!

Pro-Tip #3: Wildflower Photography

Flower Power, © Greg Clure

 Here are some tips to help you as you venture out this spring in hope of capturing some wildflowers:

1. Know your species, research what you are shooting, some species close up at night and don’t open till the sunshine warms their petals, the California Poppy would be a good example. While most blooms are best shot during the golden hour some will need to be shot at mid-day. Also follow the internet blogs in your area to help you time your travels to peak bloom.
2. Research the weather; you are looking for super calm days. Wind is the bane of wildflower shooters so go out on a calm day, you’ll get more keepers. Overcast days also make great days for shooting wildflowers as they tend to be less windy and less contrasty as nature provides the softbox. Also, the wind tends to die down at the beginning and end of the day. If you do find yourself stuck in the wind, don’t try to beat it, rather; accentuate it by using long shutter speeds and make some dreamy abstracts.
3. Pay attention to the direction of your light. Most species will look great backlit which gives flower petals a translucent quality and adds a nice rim light emphasizing their form and helps separate them from the background as well as each other.
4. Pay attention to your background. Nature can be chaotic and messy so look for a clean uncomplicated background; this will help direct the viewer’s eye to your subject flower. Can’t find an uncluttered background, get down low next to the ground and use the blue sky as your background.
5. Look for complementary colors. Complementary colored flowers work to enhance each other by making each appear more vibrant than they would alone. Think cool blue lupine in a field of warm orange poppies or yellows flower fields against purple mountains.
6. Get down on their level. If flowers were people you would shot them at eye level, when was the last time you shot someone from directly overhead?
7. What setting should you use? You need to use fast shutters to freeze motion and wide-open apertures to blur your backgrounds for those specimen shots. Try 1/250 or faster and f/2.8 – f/4. Of course, you’ll need to use a small aperture for those grand scenic fields’ of wildflowers, try f/16 or f/22.

Use these tips to help make your next flower shooting session this spring a success!

Limited Time Discounts from Adobe

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