The thing I love about Topaz Plugins is that they cover everything you would want to do with your images from subtle adjustments that make your photos pop to some not-so-subtle impressionist, HDR and texture effects.
The Complete Collection includes 17 different plugins that you can use in conjunction with Lightroom, Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, or PhotoFXlab.
But if you’re not ready to go all in with the Complete Collection, you might be wondering which plugins you should get. There’s so much to choose from! Here are my recommendations:
If you like subtle adjustments
Topaz Clarity – gives subtle adjustments to colour, contrast and clarity that make your photos pop
Read my review on Topaz Clarity
Topaz DeNoise – if you’ve been looking for the best way to remove noise in your photos this is it. Topaz DeNoise will remove noise from the less detailed parts of your image while leaving the detailed areas sharp.
Read my review on Topaz DeNoise
If you like more dramatic adjustments
Topaz ReStyle – offers dramatic colour adjustments that give your image an entirely new look and feel
Read my review on Topaz ReStyle
Topaz Texture Effects – the easiest way to create beautiful images with texture overlays
Read my review on Topaz Texture Effects
Topaz Impression – if you like painterly effects, you’ll be impressed with this one.
Read my review on Topaz Impression
Topaz B&W Effects – you’ll get a lot more than black and white too!
Read my review on Topaz B&W Effects
If you’re only going to buy one
Topaz Adjust – this is where I started and the plugin I still recommend for anyone just getting started with Topaz. The reason that I like it is because it has a little of everything. There are a few presets for subtle changes, some for more dramatic effects, some painterly effects, and even some Black and White effects.
Read my review on Topaz Adjust
Remember, you can pick up a free trial of the Topaz Collection, or any of the individual plugins, and give them a try before you buy.
Question: The convenience of the Topaz Plug Ins cannot be disputed but do they do anything that cannot be done in Lightroom?
Hi Brian, Yes! Pretty much everything that is in the Topaz plugins are things that you cannot do in Lightroom. There is a clarity slider in Lightroom, but that doesn’t compare at all to Topaz Clarity, which has 100 presets and you can further customize each of them. Similarly, there is a denoise slider in Lightroom, but is no where near as good as Topaz DeNoise. In Lightroom, the denoise effect is applied globally, whereas with Topaz DeNoise, it is applied only to the areas of the photo without detail. Many of the other plugins have nothing comparable in Lightroom at all. In Lightroom, you cannot add painting effects, add texture effects, and you don’t have all the presets that are easily available to you for converting to black and white etc. It’s nothing like Lightroom. I left a bunch of links in this post to reviews I have done on each of the recommended plugins, so you can see more about what each of them do and there are lots of before and after example images. I hope this helps!
Thank you Anne,
I am on a limited budget so every penny counts even if I have not seen one in a while. 😉
Now I am wondering if the changes they make are non-destructive? I already have the Nik plug ins but Google has not done anything with them.
Hi Brian, No, the changes are not non-destructive – unlike when you are editing in Lightroom. For that reason, you’ll make a copy of your original image to apply the topaz effects so you’ll always have the original (which is hopefully a raw file) to back to. So you’ll have the Raw in Lightroom and then a tif or a psd version that has the topaz effect applied to it. It works in a similar manner to when you are using Nik and you open a copy to apply the Nik filters. I like Nik too, but Google hasn’t updated the software for a long time and apparently has no plans to, so it’s only a matter of time before it doesn’t work anymore.
Hi Anna,
Can jou use Topaz Alabs in lightroom?
Is iT easy to work with,i never dit it befor.?
What price for this program?
Jacobus
Hi Jacobus, Yes, you can use it with Lightroom. I personally use mine with Photoshop Elements, but it works with Lightroom too. Yes, plugins are easy to use with an intuitive interface. Please click some of the links I left to my reviews of the plugins and you can see what the interface looks like and there are even some videos showing how I use them. Right now the Complete Collection is $299 with the discount. But you can also get individual plugins – they are all different prices. Use this link below to go to the topaz store and see all the prices:
http://annemckinnell.com/topazlabs
Also, you can get a free trial of any of the plugins and try them out first and see if they work for you. Thanks for your comments!
Anne,
I share Brian Palmer’s concern. I guess the answer is self evident: you wouldn’t be using it if it didn’t do something that you can’t do in LR and PS. Is Topaz a replacement for PS? Any chance you could provide a very quick rundown on how you use Topaz in your normal work flow.
Appreciate your information. Many thanks.
AB
Hi Allan, that’s right, if I could do it in Lightroom, I probably would because I love Lightroom. But these are all things that you either cannot do in Lightroom at all, or you can do it a lot better and more efficiently with the Topaz plugins. I wouldn’t say that Topaz is a replacement for Photoshop, but you can do things more easily in Topaz because of all the built in presets. I actually hardly ever use Photoshop unless I’m using it for the purpose of the topaz plugins! I am just in the habit of using photoshop elements with plugins because I like how the layering works in PSE. What I usually do is all the processing I can in Lightroom, then I open the photo in Photoshop Elements, make a copy of the background layer, and then use one of the Topaz plugins on that layer. Sometimes I will then make a copy of that layer and apply a second Topaz plugin to that layer. You can do this without using layers though. I just like to do it that way.
Topaz also has a new product that is in Beta right now called Topaz Studio. In that product, you’ll be able to use all of the plugins within one interface. But a lot of people simply go from Lightroom and open a photo with one of the plugins. When you’re finished, the altered image will be in Lightroom for you. I recommend you get a free trial of one of the plugins and try it out to see how it works. Thanks for your questions.
I switched from a HP laptop with Windows 10 program and now have an Apple MacBook Pro. On the HP I had Lightroom with Topaz Adjust 5 and Corel PaintShop Pro which also had Topaz Adjust 5 on it. I switched because Apple products seem to have a better life span than laptops with Windows. The only problem is my Windows compatible programs cannot be loaded on the Apple MacBook pro. Any suggestions? I love Topaz Adjust. Is there any Apple photo program I can load Topaz Adjust to without having to purchase Lightroom all over again. Also, Apparently one cannot purchase Corel PaintShop Pro for an Apple laptop. Had I known this I would not have purchased the Apple laptop. UGH!!!
Hi Dorothy, most software packages come in a windows version and a mac version. Usually when you purchase you get access to both. I suggest going to the websites where you purchased your programs to see if the mac version is available to you. With Adobe Lightroom, when you purchase you get a serial number and you can download either version and use that serial number, so you don’t have to buy Lightroom again. Also Topaz Adjust is the same. Just go to topazlabs.com, login, go to the page with your products and you’ll see you can download the mac version. Paintshop Pro is only compatible with windows so you are out of luck there, but you should be able to get Lightroom and Topaz.
I’ve been looking at Topaz for a while now. Generally I have been using Corel Paintshop for editing, but need some more diversity in application. Can you recommend whether the Utility Bundle or Creator Bundle would be a better complement to Paintshop. My shots are usually Nature/Wildlife and Dog Sport performance events, and so generally include a lot of fast speed exposure wit the ususal risks involved there. Thanks for any suggestions.
Hi John, Definitely the creator bundle because it has topaz studio 2 which contains topaz impression. That’s where you’ll get all your painterly effects. That bundle also has topaz adjust which has stuff you’ll like as well. And Mask AI is outstanding if you like to remove backgrounds. Even better … if you use this link here:
https://annemckinnell.com/topazbundle
.. and enter the coupon code MCKINNELL, you’ll get another 15% off.
I love the impression effects in Topaz so I think you’ll enjoy that if you’ve been using Corel Paintshop.