HarveyG

The friendly people over at Topaz Labs have just released the new Topaz Adjust 5.
I’ve used the Beta for a week and it is simply remarkable and considerably easier to use.

If you are a Topaz Adjust 4 registered user, pop over and get v5. It’s free for you.
New users get a 30% discount with the Coupon Code “ADJUSTME”. Click here to check it out!

Simplified 1-click workflow with 107 new presets split into 7 convenient effect categories.
Intuitive 4-in-1 selective brush used to dodge, burn, smooth, and brush out adjustments.
Plus advanced edge-aware technology!
Integration of the Apply button – so you can stack multiple effects and presets during the same workflow.
Finishing Touches tab with options for warmth, grain, transparency, etc

Whilst I am no fan of comic book like Post Processing, and the web seems to be full of that, if used subtly the results are astounding:

The yellow what-sit with stripy eye. Excuse the quality!

Actually any wildlife tog should have a mental code of practice…

I’m the first to admit that I am not the world’s biggest twitcher. I battle to identify many of the obscure lesser seen species, especially those darned LBJ’s (how many do we have?!) and Eagles perched in a tree 400m away or soaring in the sky… I don’t race around the countryside looking for that elusive species. I don’t make use of playback vocalisations to call them in. I go. I see what I see. I’m happy to be out there, no just so that I can tick it. I carry a few bibles with me and I always ask someone who knows better than I especially the bloke with the monster prime lens Mind you, I’ve spoken to some who couldn’t tell the difference between a Heron and a Hadeda but they had all the latest gear and best glass, bodies…and bank manager!

My friend David from Seokama can identify LBJ’s and others from their calls without even setting eye on them. The yellow what-sit pictured (L) was hastily photographed there out the car window before it took off.  Terribly handy to have Dave on my workshops with me

I do try to be as unobtrusive and non-invasive as possible. I often miss shots because of this. Or I’ll let someone else push his way into the hide before me to race off and grab the best seat…even though he and his entire family arrived after me…I know that, by them being the impatient kind & pushing me out of the way, if they don’t at least see 14 elephants at the hide followed by a Leopard and her cub with a kill in a tree, they’ll be outta there before I even set up my gear…aaah peace

The last time this happened to my wife and I (Lake Panic, KNP), she spotted 2x and I spotted 1x Bushbuck right next to the hide alley. We stood silently and let the noisy Homo Sapiens pass us, and then resumed watching the buck feeding… The previous time it was at a hide near Satara, and 2x Klipspringer were so close to the viewing window we could touch them, but half a dozen holiday makers came and went in 5 minutes without even spotting them. The rest of us were going to mention it to them but they never gave us a chance

/end Rant

Once in the hide, I did get some great shots of a croc eye abstract and a terrapin taking a piggy back ride on a hippo and the Klipspringers. The birds were a bit shy but we did see a few. A bad day in a hide beats a good day at the studio.

Here’s a few tips (saves me typing them) from BirdGuide.com and most of this is common sense, but even that’s not so common any more

Be patient and be thoughtful of nature first and others second. Your photo album will love you for it! So will the critters. So will I when we share a hide in Africa somewhere Take a plastic bag for your own rubbish. I’ve often cleaned up others rubbish and tossed it at the camp or the next stopover.

PS: So what bird IS that above? PPS: What tree IS it sitting in? I know, do you?

Topaz Adjust just got better! The developers have been working hard on this update.

Here are some of the exciting new features & tools in Topaz Adjust 5:

1. Selective Brush. For easy dodging, burning smoothing & removing adjustments.
2. Finishing touches. Features options for borders, transparency, grain, warmth, vignettes & more.
3. Preset collections.  Presets are organized into unique collections.
4. Apply button. Stack multiple effects & presets during the same workflow.
5. Auto create layer. Automatically creates a new layer where your adjustments will be saved to.
6. Effect enable/disable. Clickable preview options that allow you to hide or view a set of adjustments for easy comparison.
7. Histogram. Built into the Preview Navigator window.
8. Ordered interface workflow. The interface is set up in numbered stages for a quick & easy workflow.
9. Individual tab reset buttons. Quickly reset the parameters in a specific adjustment tab without affecting your other settings.
10. Split Screen. Use the 2-screen split view for easy before & after comparison

New Presets. Over 100 presets available in the new Adjust 5.

Auto-create layer. Automatically creates a new layer where your adjustments will be saved to.
Apply button. Stack multiple effects and presets during the same workflow.
My Collection. Users can now save their presets under My Collection.
Preset Collections. Presets are organized into 5 unique collections.
Local Adjustments. Intuitive selective adjustment brush for burning, dodging, smoothing, and brushing out (erasing) added adjustments – plus edge-aware options.
Histogram + Curve tool. Shows the tonal range of your image. Easily adjust image tonality to help emphasize tones, contrast and brightness.
Finishing Touches Tab. Features options for diffusion, grain, borders, vignettes, tone adjustments and overall transparency adjustment.

At this time it is planned to be a free upgrade to existing users. There will also be a special discounted price for those that are new to Topaz and want to purchase it or for those who already are Topaz users and want to upgrade to the bundle or any bundle upgrade.

Current release date is set for  November 15th 2011. Get your copy here and if you have V4 get the upgrade when it is released.

Gear I use: Bodies: Nikon D-SLR’s / Lenses: Nikon, Sigma, Tokina, Vivitar /
Filters: Hoya UV & Polarizing / Flash: Nikon Speed-lights / Bag: Lowe Pro /
Tripods & Heads: Manfrotto / Grips, Triggers, Timers, Batteries: Phottix /
Editing Plug-in: Topaz Labs for Noise Reduction, HDR.

Some casual shots Photographed on Saturday 01 October 2011. Very grey day. Battle to get any blues in the sky. Images shot with Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM and Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 II EX DG APO Macro HSM AF

Gear I use: Bodies: Nikon D-SLR’s / Lenses: Nikon, Sigma, Tokina, Vivitar /
Filters: Hoya UV & Polarizing / Flash: Nikon Speed-lights / Bag: Lowe Pro /
Tripods & Heads: Manfrotto / Grips, Triggers, Timers, Batteries: Phottix /
Editing Plug-in: Topaz Labs for Noise Reduction, HDR.

Credit: Defiant Development

A game about photo journalism in a warzone. This may not be up your alley but for me, a former FPS Gamer (I played Counter Strike competitively) I found the concept to be very unique in a sea of copy-cat games and stagnating ideas in this genre. I haven’t played an FPS in 5 odd years but this has rekindled my interest. This time with a camera and not an MP5. It’s still in development but I’ll keep an eye and wait for the demo with an itchy shutter release finger.  It seems though that the “cameramanperson” is running around with a proper HD Vid Cam rather than an HD capable DSLR! Oh well can’t have everything

Your thoughts?

By Defiant Development, an Australian Brisbane based game development studio.
See more images here.