Topaz Adjust is the Photoshop plugin that I always recommend to people who don’t own any plugins yet because it has the most variation in styles and the most versatility.
You can use it to add all sorts of effects to your photos. Everything from colour toning, creating dramatic contrast and clarity, making your photo look like an HDR image, or even a painting!
There are some toned settings so you can make your photo look like it has sepia or selenium toning. Or, if you want to be a bit more subtle, there are settings that allow you to add just a little bit of contrast and detail with just one click. One of my favourite aspects of the plugin is how it lets you add crisp detail to your images.
It comes with over 100 presets in 6 categories:
• Classic Collection
• Vibrant Collection
• HDR Collection
• Film Collection
• Toned Collection
• Stylized Collection
Topaz Adjust is super easy to use with an intuitive user interface. In the screenshot below you can see all the categories and presets on the left. You can simply click one of them and then click save and be done! Or, you can further customize the settings using the sliders on the right. You can even save the customizations as your own presets.
To help you get started and choose a preset, you can view the options in grid mode.
I have created some before & after comparison photos for you so you can see how I’ve used the plugin on my own photos. These effects were all achieved just by choosing a preset!
Topaz Adjust creates dramatic contrast, incredible detail and vivid colours in your images and it’s easy to use with all of the built in presets.
This is a Photoshop plugin and it will not run on its own. But you can use a variety of photo editors including Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Lightroom, Aperture, iPhoto, photoFXlab, Paint Shop Pro, Photo Impact and Irfanview.
If you like what you see, you can give it a try for free. Download the free trial version of Topaz Adjust.
If you decide you like it, you can get 40% off until July 31, 2015 using the coupon code JULYADJUST. That brings the price down to only $29.99!
That’s a great deal for over 100 presets that will help you make the most of your images with just one click.
Hi Anne,
Will all of the Collection plug-ins work with photoFXlab? If so I don’t need another processing program like Photoshop, correct?
I see how I can get the 40% discount on Collection,. How do I get the free photoFXlab and the other free Topaz processing program which you mentioned?
Thanks, Robert
Hi Robert, Yes, I believe all of the Topaz plugins work with PhotoFXlab. You could double check that with Topaz Labs support, but the user guide says it works with any of the plugins. PhotoFXlab isn’t free (sorry, I made a mistake on that, I could have sworn it used to be free), but you can get the new Beta release of Topaz Studio for free here:
https://web.topazlabs.com/downloads
Ms. McKinnell,
I enjoy your posts and wish you well on your “Travels with Anne.” I have recently started to photograph in Infrared and wondered if that is something you would consider? I know the market is limited and may stay that way but it might be an interesting diversion.
Hi Richard, yes, for sure, infrared would be cool to try. I think back in the old days I used to use some kind of filter with my black and white film, but I don’t quite remember how that worked. Recently I’ve noticed people are changing the cameras themselves to do infrared. How are you going about doing your infrared?