Nik and Pure RAW software on sale

Tom and I use the Nik plugin filters for creative editing. About half of our images are SOOC (straight out of camera) but the other half we enjoy creative editing. 

Nik is on sale for Black Friday. 

Order here https://tidd.ly/32okP1W

Tom and I also use the DxO PureRAW for noise reduction. I have done side by side comparisons with many noise reduction software (Topax AI clear replaced Topaz Denoise, but not PureRAW is superior to all other products. 

Purchase PureRAW here https://tidd.ly/32okP1W

FYI, Tom and I do not use the DxO Photolab as we like the control that Adobe ACR and Nik offers

You can compare the default ACR settings (sharpening = 40) in Adobe Camera RAW going into Photoshop (same as the lightroom develop module) here to the next version, where the noise was processed with DxO PureRAW. Images can actually look noisier in Adobe software than in the native software so we have changed the RAW defaults to sharpening = 0 for ORF RAW files)

PureRAW from DxO is a game-changer for high ISO images, like this one, and also for low ISO images where the image was underexposed (typically you want to expose to the right)

Topaz Black Friday Sale

Topaz Black Friday Promo Dates. Now through Monday, Nov 29th. Everything is on sale. Use our link https://web.topazlabs.com/ref/130 and enter promo code breaphotos for an additional 15% off

We just love, love, love their products. Our favorites? Topaz Glow, Topaz AI Clear, Topaz AI sharpen, Topaz Impression

• Image Quality Bundle. Includes: DeNoise AI, Sharpen AI, and Gigapixel AI
  On sale for $99.99, more than 60% OFF the retail value of $259.97 
• Everything Bundle. Includes: Image Quality Bundle + Video Enhance AI
• On sale for $199.98, $359.98 OFF the retail value of $559.96 
• Everything is on sale!. Get 25% off any individual app, as well as 25% off upgrades 

We just love, love, love their products. Our favorites? Topaz Glow, Topaz AI Clear, Topaz AI sharpen, Topaz Impression

Enter the discount use code breaphotos for 15% off Topaz products. https://web.topazlabs.com/ref/130

Lisa Wins KelbyOne's Photoshop World Guru Creative Category Award

This week I received two emails from KelbyOne with wonderful news:

"It with great pleasure to let you know that you are one of the nominees for our Photoshop World Guru Awards!!

Congratulations"

Both nominations were in the creative category

Then last night the winners were announced and I won the Creative Category with Car Face!

Seascapes, Birds, Long Exposure, and More for PPA's Photography Workshops, September 11, 2021

I'm excited to be teaching a program on Seascapes, Birds, Long Exposure, and More for PPA's Photography Workshops, September 11, 2021 at 6:30am - 1:30pm!

Join me (Tom) for this great workshop.

Register by Sept 5th and save! Registration is open and $99 rate through September 5, 2021 ($120 after).

Register at (non-PPA members are welcome, note you will need to create a free PPA login).

https://www.ppa.com/events/seascapes-birds-long-exposure-and-more-9-11-2021?fbclid=IwAR1B6L8taOYIcuDNDho7uPUMYff3dc5UD45dPt-65t5zpqDlRnwCEqfFN7g

Come learn how to compose better seascapes, landscapes, and closeups. Seascapes can be wonderful and relaxing to create and popular to sell and compete. We will start at sunrise and get silhouettes and sunrise images, then progress to closeups, sand, seascapes, etc. Bring your ND filter and learn how to create silky ocean scenes. Bring your telephoto lens and I will also show you techniques to get better and sharper bird photographs. This area has a variety of birds like Osprey, Egrets, Clapper Rails, Great Blue Herons, Oyster Catchers, Willets, Terns, and other shorebirds. Come and learn about bird behavior and camera settings to get sharper and more dynamic bird images.

Best Of’ Olympus Passion Photography Magazine includes our article about night photography

The article on live composite that Tom and I wrote made it into this issue of the BEST of for Olympus Passion magazine

Best Of’ Olympus Passion Photography Magazine –  Summer 2021 https://shop.olympuspassion.com/product/best-of-olympus-passion-photography-magazine-summer-2021/

Composed by 391 pages with a selection of our most popular articles, all condensed into a single volume and ready to go with you on your smartphone, tablet, laptop, computer, notebook, iPAD, etc.

From interviews to tutorials, we present you a fine set of exclusive contents.

• Just another occasional photographer Santtu Per Kiö
• My adventure with Olympus Sylwia Ratajczyk
• Capturing Star Trails using Live Composite Lisa & Tom Cuchara
• Beautiful locked world Lívia Czank
• The right tool for the job Ingo Urbig
• User friendly Zachary Matenchuk
• Time for a stable world Fernando Gainzarain
• Fine Art Photography using Olympus Hatta Patria
• Dog’s life through a lens Nina Kalkkinen
• You can’t go wrong with Olympus Adam Dybowski
• City landscape work using Olympus Toby Lehner
• Olympus experience in Yangshuo, China John Salvino
• Moments in time Drew Whitley
• I usually do not photograph what I see, but instead, what I would really like to see Konstantinos Sahlos
• It’s the little things Chris McGinnis
• Lives captured in parts of a second Cliff Harvey
• My ‘Olympus-feeling’ Szilveszter Nemeth
• No one will see the world the way you see it Andreas Tornberg
• Still life photography an obsession Ron Mayhen
• Altering course John Pryke\

Super Resolution is in LR now (ACR since March)

Super resolution has been in ACR in Photoshop for many months (since March) now, but it is finally directly in LR

Have you tried the Abobe ACR Super Resolution yet? It is awesome! It increases the pixel count 400%. Enhance allows you to increase image quality for making large prints or increasing the resolution of a cropped image. It is coming to Lightroom "soon" (soon is Adobe's timeframe, stated in March), but for now, right click, edit in, open smart object in Photoshop which will open the file in ACR).

Bottom line: Work well and it is Better, Faster, and Easier (workflow wise) than Topaz Gigapixel. 

Why/When use Abobe ACR Super Resolution? 

-- for older cameras with less megapixels 

-- to crop an image to get bigger birds/subjects  

"Super Resolution, introduced in Camera Raw 13.2, helps create an enhanced image with similar results as Raw Details but with 2x the linear resolution. This means that the enhanced image will have 2x the width and 2x the height of the original image, or 4x the total pixel count. This feature supports the same file types as Raw Details, plus additional file types such as JPEG and TIFF. Super Resolution is especially useful to increase the resolution of a cropped image." https://helpx.adobe.com/camera-raw/using/enhance.html

Tip -- If you want to go make your image 4x the size of your original size, open the file in ACR, save the dng (2x) and then re-open it in Adobe Camera Raw and run the enhance feature again on this saved copy (you can’t just run it again in Camera Raw without opening it and saving it again).

I compared Abobe ACR Super Resolution to Topaz Gigapixel, which I have used in the past and it works, but it is clunky and slow. Workflow wise Topaz Gigapixel does not interpret RAW files well, so I have to open the file in ACR and save it as a TIFF and then open it in Topaz Gigapixel, takes a while to process. See our comparisons below. 

From Julianna Kost https://jkost.com/blog/2021/06/lightroom-classic-10-3-support-for-apple-silicon-premium-presets-super-resolution-and-more.html

• In the Develop module, choose Photo > Enhance or, right-click in the image (Control -click on Mac) and choose Enhance to display the Enhance Preview dialog. 

• Applying Super Resolution automatically enables the Raw Details feature to create the highest quality image possible when working with raw files.  

• Any adjustments made to the source photo will automatically be carried over to the newly created, enhanced DNG.

• While you can’t apply Super Resolution multiple times to the same original, you can apply Super Resolution and then enlarge the image further when exporting or, within another application such as Photoshop (using the Image Size command).

To learn more about how Super Resolution works, check out this post by Eric Chan https://blog.adobe.com/en/publish/2021/03/10/from-the-acr-team-super-resolution.html#gs.4grl9h

DPreview Interview: Olympus Educators Lisa and Tom Cuchara on how Olympus has transformed their outdoor photography

Check this out! DP review interviewed Tom and I, publishing a story and several of our images.

"In this interview, they explain their background, the various kinds of photography that keep them creatively inspired, and why they chose to make the switch to Olympus's Micro Four Thirds system for their bird and nature work."

 https://www.dpreview.com/interviews/5058762659/interview-olympus-educators-lisa-and-tom-cuchara-on-how-olympus-has-transformed-their-photography