photo editing program bundles

[Anne12343]

Hi, I am trying to decide whether to buy Topaz Labs bundle or the Alien Skin bundle. Also, if you go to Paint the Moon Photography and Photographer's Tools, this wonderful lady has "actions" she has developed to go along with Photoshop. Does anyone know about all/some of these editing programs and whether they are user friendly and do a great job? I really like the bokeh programs. Thanks. You all are wonderful!

[Anne12343]

I forgot to mention that I am a semi-newbie when it comes to editing, so can you tell me which are the most user-friendly (Topaz vs Alien Skin vs Paint the Moon Photography and Photographer's Tools bundles.)

[Nicole]

I'll throw another two into the mix for you too, which you may or may not have considered. My favourite editing bundle is the Nik Software bundle. I love it. I don't post any photo without running it through at least one of their filters. My fav part is how easy it is to selectively apply the filters. Then there are the onOne PhotoTools. Those have some nice effects and have several programs that are very similar to the Topaz Labs bundle, but onOne has been around longer.

I haven't used Topaz for quite a while. I tried their stuff when they first came on the market, but that was about it. And more often than not, I find that the plugin programs are better than action sets because of the versatility, but your mileage may vary.

If you can I would really recommend downloading at least one or two demos from each of the companies so you can see how they work. I'm pretty sure all the big ones have demos. But I would definitely recommend Nik from my personal preference.

[ArmySoldier777]

Personally, I absolutely Love Topaz. The Topaz Adjust plugin is amazing. I have my own preset saved that I use with almost every photo I take. The presets that come with it are amazing as well. Sometimes I'll think an image looks good, and then Ill run it through one of the presets and wonder what I was thinking in the first place lol. Topaz has come a long way since they started. That being said, the other two ones mentioned by Nicole are good as well. I have a couple plugins by onOne as well as Nik, and use them both regularly. I think if I had to make a choice about which of the three I would keep though, it would be my Topaz plugins.

[Nicole]

David, can I ask you a question? (I'm going to anyway ) Which of the Topaz plugins are your favs? I really haven't used them since they came out with their first one so I'm genuinely curious if there's one that I should really try.

[gazsus]

I am also a big fan of the Topaz plug-ins but I use a couple of Nik's too. Topaz Adjust is probably the one that gets more usage though it depends very much on the image. InFocus, Clean, Details and B&W are all used regularly too.

BTW there's a free Adjust upgrade coming around the 15th, I watched a preview webinar the other night and for once a company has listened to it's customers. Anyone familiar with Topaz B&W will know how much more control and features you have compared to the present Adjust, well the new version adds all that functionality. It's something that the users over at Topaz Forums have been asking for for a while.

[ArmySoldier777]

Originally Posted by Nicole

David, can I ask you a question? (I'm going to anyway ) Which of the Topaz plugins are your favs? I really haven't used them since they came out with their first one so I'm genuinely curious if there's one that I should really try.

Lol, well yes you can, even though you already just did . I'd say my favorites are Denoise "for picking up any noise that the Camera Raw editor misses". Then Topaz Lens Effects is a great plugin "I use it mostly for the add sharpening preset because I find it works better than an unsharp mask. but it's other presets are great too". And then there's Topaz Adjust as was already mentioned. I absolutely love that plugin! But one that shouldn't be forgotten would be Topaz B&W, as mentioned by gazsus. It has so many great B&W, sepia, low saturated conversions!

Nik has it's place in my collection to though. I LOVE their HDR plugin

[Nicole]

Thanks The only one I'd probably wind up checking out from that list is Topaz Adjust since I have Nik equivalents of all of those that I'm quite happy with.

I think I'm equally divided in terms of which of the Nik plugins are my favs, but it's split between Color Efex and Viveza 2. One I learned how to use Viveza it was a total godsend for targeted adjustments.

[Anne12343]

Thanks, everyone, for the info" I already have Topaz Adjust. Is Lens Effects good, and is it user friendly? I like the bokeh effects.

[Anne12343]

How about Bokeh 2? Is it user friendly? Thanks.