<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/capturelifeinaction/4047960339/"></a> Reworked from earlier this year with Topaz. Click image or large size, exif, etc.
that is by far the absolute best shot of the fire dancer at fotlk that i have ever seen, anywhere, flicker, smugmug, my own, you name it, i thought i had a decent shot of his art, but that just puts me in the corner with my head hung in shame
I love what Topaz does to that - looks great! ; Topaz can be awfully fun and breathe new life into older shots.
Topaz is a software company that makes many different types of post processing plug-ins that work with Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro. ; They cover just about all functions, though the one used for the above tweaking is Topaz Adjust. ; This is a color/contrast/detail enhancer, that can simulate HDR, manipulate shadow and highlight through tone-mapping, and adjust sharpness and color from mild to wild. ; Very cool plugin! They also have two other plugins I like - Details and Denoise3. ; The Details plugin enhances lines, details, and sharpness in a tone-mapping like style, allowing very fine-tuned enhancement of detail and sharpness on specific color or contrast bands. ; Denoise3 is one of the most effective noise reduction plugins I've seen - with very good manual controls over various functions...it's slower in processing, but in my experience MUCH more effective on heavy noise from very high ISO work - in preserving detail. I purchased one of their software bundles, which they offer from time to time, with all of their plugins together. ; I mainly use the three above, though the package included 3 other plugins that are cool, but just not as useful for me. ; It was cheaper buying the whole bundle than buying the three individual plugins I wanted! ; And, they do offer lifetime upgrades, so as they update the products, you get the upgrade.
I keep staring at this picture and love it. The fire trail, the detail of the flames and then look at the face...just a calmness....I would be freakin' out!
