Pixiq

Topaz Labs Adjust has reached the 5th version and has some tricks to show and more options to fix your photos or give them a special look.

One of the first changes regular users will find in the new version of Topaz Labs Adjust is within the Presets area, now arranged in Collections, as in the Topaz Labs BW Effects. The second, as soon as one starts to use the program, is the presence of the selective brush, for easy dodging, burning smoothing and removing adjustments. That's really a bold step as it makes it possible, now, to work precisely on the areas you want, in a Lightroom manner, even if the brush is not as user-friendly as the one present in LR. But it surely does its job.

The logic of the interface, in fact, is very much based on the Topaz Labs BW Effects recently launched, showing that Topaz Labs tried there some of the tools that now make their way into the most popular of the products the company makes. Topaz Labs Adjust 5 does not just show the presets in a new fashion, it also has some 100 presets more for us to play with. I just received the presskit so this is a first note, after arriving home, installing, and trying some of the features. I must say that although I am not a fan of HDR, I became hooked for a while on the results of the HDR options present in Topaz Labs Adjust 5, that I applied to some of the images I brought home from today's shooting. The deer image is a good example of a result that works fine for me. It's obvious it's a tad more colorful - in the sky - than the original scene, but I like it.

Still, there's more to test before I can write about Topaz Labs Adjust 5. I need to spend some time trying out the new features, because there's more to play with. Things like the automatic creation of layers with all the adjusts we make, a "apply button" that let's you stack multiple effects during the same workflow, a "My Collection" where you can save presets you created and an histogram/curve tool that shows the tonal range of your image and makes it easy to adjust image tonality to help emphasize tones, contrast and brightness. And off course there is the "Finishing Touches Tab", which features options for diffusion, grain, borders, vignettes, tone adjustments and overall transparency adjustment.

Resetting parameters is also faster now, with a reset for each tab, while a split screen option let's you quickly see the changes. All in all it seems a logic step for a program that does a lot and can be an extension of Photoshop for some photographers workflow. The program will be available mid November if all goes well, and Topaz Labs says there will be a special discounted price for those that are new to Topaz and want to purchase it or for those who already are Topaz users and want to upgrade to the bundle or any bundle upgrade.

So now, you know. Let me go out and shoot some more and then play with the images on this beta version.

Go to Topaz to find more aobut Topaz Labs Adjust.