The latest image-processing tool you discovered and love it

[olafphoto]

It doesn't have to be new. Let's learn from each other.

 

[FloatingLens]

For me that's ImageMagick. Perfect companion for scripting image resizing or creation of a white frame (like I am using in my posted images).

 

[olafphoto]

For me that's ImageMagick. Perfect companion for scripting image resizing or creation of a white frame (like I am using in my posted images).

Thanks for sharing. I will check it out

 

[Manoli]

Not the latest but one of the first. Best described ss a ‘capture sharpening’ tool - the link below describes it better than I can. Judicious use recommended.

Focus Magic - Sharpen Your Blurry Images and Photos

Focus Magic is software that uses advanced forensic strength deconvolution technology to literally “undo” blur, recovering lost detail from images/photos.

www.focusmagic.com

 

[Paul Spinnler]

Magnific AI

The most advanced AI upscaler & enhancer. Magnific can hallucinate and reimagine as many details as you wish guided by your own prompt and parameters!

magnific.ai

Best generative upscaler - beats Gigapixel ... but expensive.

Can be useful if you need to crop and want to print large.

 

[Ben730]

Magnific AI

The most advanced AI upscaler & enhancer. Magnific can hallucinate and reimagine as many details as you wish guided by your own prompt and parameters!

magnific.ai

Best generative upscaler - beats Gigapixel ... but expensive.

Can be useful if you need to crop and want to print large.

Is that true, you have to enter the email to get the prices?
If this is the case, I don't take the software seriously.
Whoever wants to know the prices will be bombarded with spam every week in future?

The before and after examples are interesting, but in most cases the image is not positively influenced in my opinion.
Sharpness and resolution are often (not always) overestimated.

 

[pegelli]

The "add on" software I use a lot is Topaz Photo AI, but also the older Topaz Clarity and Topaz detail. I find Topaz AI works well on scanned negatives and slides, not only digital captures.

In general I find all these tools all too "bold" so I apply them on a layer in Photoshop and then blend to taste to achieve a more subtle effect that is more to my liking.

 

[MGrayson]

In my recent experience, the most useful tool has been the Delete key.

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

Magnific AI

The most advanced AI upscaler & enhancer. Magnific can hallucinate and reimagine as many details as you wish guided by your own prompt and parameters!

magnific.ai

Best generative upscaler - beats Gigapixel ... but expensive.

Can be useful if you need to crop and want to print large.

Creates the photo that you wish you'd taken but didn't

Could be useful for some of the work I do, and price ($390 per year) isn't that scary. However, information on their website is lacklustre to say the least. I assume that the processing is done not at my computer but at theirs. If that is the case, it should be mentioned, since that opens a big can of privacy and copyright issues, particularly when working on client material.

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

Three tools I cannot live without:

- DxO PureRAW, particularly for Microfourthirds files, which tend to be somewhat noisy at high ISO.
- Topaz Gigapixel AI, both for large prints and for fixing old, low resolution photos (Can you print this photo that we took at a conference back in 1974 really, really big please?).
- Topaz AI Sharpener. One of their old tools, and I don't think it's getting updates anymore, but I find the user interface much better than that of Topaz Photo AI.

For those with Canon printers:
Canon Professional Print & Layout. Makes the printing process very simple and nearly failsafe.

 

[Godfrey]

I haven't used much other than Photos, Lightroom, and SnapSeed—and very very occasionally Affinity Photo on the iPad for when some raw file is not openable by SnapSeed—in many years. I don't use any plug-ins or other automated tools; my automated tools are presets in LR that I created, and mostly frames in SnapSeed when I want framing other than a white border. I do have RAW Power as well and Nitro as well, but I've barely used them at all.

I "found" Lightroom in 2004-2006: it worked the way I wanted, and I've been there ever since.

G

 

[MartinN]

I always do a first selection using FastRawViewer, because of my aged computers. That program is performance for little money.

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

I "found" Lightroom in 2004-2006: it worked the way I wanted, and I've been there ever since.

G

What?!? I Lightroom that old? I still think about it as that new software that I should look into as a supplement to Photoshop
Probably won't happen. After nearly 35 years as a Photoshop user (Version 2 I believe), I've become a bit too old for these modern experiments.

 

[diggles]

Here's a technique I've recently incorporated into my ACR/Lightroom workflow that leverages the Luminosity Curves tool panel to help achieve better tonal control and dynamic range.

Image with no corrections…



Open the shadows by raising the blacks to 100% and then drop the exposure so the brightness is roughly the same as it was before raising the blacks.



Use the Luminosity curve to fine-tune the lights, darks, and shadows. Lights generally end up between +50 and +100. Depending on the image and the look you are going for, adjust the darks and shadows (e.g., raise darks and lower shadows or vice versa).



More often than not, I do not have to make any other global adjustments in the Light panel. However, some images require a bit more fiddling with other sliders like Highlights and Shadows, but not much. I'll use masks to do any additional dodging/burning local adjustments.


For example:
If the sky becomes too bright after raising the lights, create a mask to select the sky and lower the exposure. Since reducing exposure increases contrast, also reduce the contrast slightly to balance the adjustment.



To focus attention on a certain area of the photo I'll often create a radial mask that is bright in the center– the settings are missing from the screenshot in this example, but I raised the whites by +67. If brightness is maxed then another way to achieve the same effect would be to invert the gradient and lower the exposure of the edges.

 

[dchew]

I’ve been using clarity less and dehaze more.
Dave

 

[algrove]

Topaz Gigapixel and Topaz Sharpen.

Question-Does anybody use Silverchrome for Monochrom or Achromatic PP?

 

[tobiasash]

Here's a technique I've recently incorporated into my ACR/Lightroom workflow that leverages the Luminosity Curves tool panel to help achieve better tonal control and dynamic range.

Image with no corrections…
View attachment 219078


Open the shadows by raising the blacks to 100% and then drop the exposure so the brightness is roughly the same as it was before raising the blacks.
View attachment 219079


Use the Luminosity curve to fine-tune the lights, darks, and shadows. Lights generally end up between +50 and +100. Depending on the image and the look you are going for, adjust the darks and shadows (e.g., raise darks and lower shadows or vice versa).
View attachment 219080


More often than not, I do not have to make any other global adjustments in the Light panel. However, some images require a bit more fiddling with other sliders like Highlights and Shadows, but not much. I'll use masks to do any additional dodging/burning local adjustments.


For example:
If the sky becomes too bright after raising the lights, create a mask to select the sky and lower the exposure. Since reducing exposure increases contrast, also reduce the contrast slightly to balance the adjustment.
View attachment 219081


To focus attention on a certain area of the photo I'll often create a radial mask that is bright in the center– the settings are missing from the screenshot in this example, but I raised the whites by +67. If brightness is maxed then another way to achieve the same effect would be to invert the gradient and lower the exposure of the edges.
View attachment 219082

Thanks for this. I tinker so much in LR I find it hard to emulate the process so its a nice reminder that using some simple adjustments will get a great result.

 

[tobiasash]

Personally, as I have been trying to archive all of the thousands and thousands of negatives I have, Negative Lab Pro has been super useful. I did play around with it some years ago but the new version is able to analyze a roll and the results are super consistent.
I was using Silverfast and it was painfully slow.

 

[tsjanik]

Here's a technique I've recently incorporated into my ACR/Lightroom workflow that leverages the Luminosity Curves tool panel to help achieve better tonal control and dynamic range.

Image with no corrections…
View attachment 219078


Open the shadows by raising the blacks to 100% and then drop the exposure so the brightness is roughly the same as it was before raising the blacks.
View attachment 219079


Use the Luminosity curve to fine-tune the lights, darks, and shadows. Lights generally end up between +50 and +100. Depending on the image and the look you are going for, adjust the darks and shadows (e.g., raise darks and lower shadows or vice versa).
View attachment 219080


More often than not, I do not have to make any other global adjustments in the Light panel. However, some images require a bit more fiddling with other sliders like Highlights and Shadows, but not much. I'll use masks to do any additional dodging/burning local adjustments.


For example:
If the sky becomes too bright after raising the lights, create a mask to select the sky and lower the exposure. Since reducing exposure increases contrast, also reduce the contrast slightly to balance the adjustment.
View attachment 219081


To focus attention on a certain area of the photo I'll often create a radial mask that is bright in the center– the settings are missing from the screenshot in this example, but I raised the whites by +67. If brightness is maxed then another way to achieve the same effect would be to invert the gradient and lower the exposure of the edges.
View attachment 219082

Thanks for the post. I sometimes use vignette, or exposure adjustment with a mask to darken distracting, bright corners.
I took a print workshop with Charlie Cramer years ago. A tip that stuck with me: bright in the center, dark in the corners.