Topaz Photo AI-Introduction
As a professional software developer, one of the first things I did after getting a digital camera that could shoot in RAW was to write some automatic (batch) processing software for it. My reasoning was simple—I was taking hundreds of photos with this new toy, but getting the best from each photo needs work and work takes time, and I’m naturally impatient.
But I soon realised that a ‘one size fits all’ approach won’t fit every picture. However, the software I used for RAW processing soon offered pre-sets, enabling me to create settings for each type of photo and apply that to batches of images.
The problem was that, however careful I was with my pre-sets, they still didn’t perfectly fit every image in the batch. I concluded that some things just require manual intervention, but that slowed me down.
But I always imagined having a piece of software that could automate, to my satisfaction, at least some of the steps of my workflow. I was using Topaz DeNoise AI, Sharpen AI and Gigapixel AI for finishing my photos-removing any remaining noise, upscaling if needed, and the final sharpening. But that’s still several steps per image.
And then Topaz told me that they’d released Photo AI-a software tool that combined these three tools into one. As I already owned the three components, they let me use Photo AI for free for a whole year. I could have left it at that-the license would not expire, but I opted to pay for the license extension to receive updates, which come thick and fast.
But I’m thinking past the sale… Topaz AI automates the final stage of my workflow intelligently. Imagine having someone willing to examine each image for you and then apply the optimum settings to produce the best possible result. That’s Topaz Photo AI in a nutshell. You tell it what you’re looking for, present it a set of images, and it does the rest. It is that simple.
It has a pleasing and straightforward user interface. It also has a command line interface. As a software developer, I just love this. I can launch AI from my Digital Asset Management interface and tell it what options I want it to perform. Perfect!
The Topaz Photo AI workflow
My workflow is:
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View RAW photos in my Digital Asset Management (DAM) software and select the keepers
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Import the keepers onto my hard disk, into the right place in my folder structure, using the DAM software
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Process the RAW images using DXO Photo Lab and save the results as TIF files
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Optionally, further process them, often using Luminar NEO
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Batch process the resulting images using Topaz Photo AI, having set its AutoPilot settings appropriately
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Drink tea/eat/watch a movie while Photo AI does its stuff
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Job done
Topaz Photo AI takes the pain out of the final steps. And because it assesses each image and picks the optimal settings, I am confident that the results will be great. For example, it detects whether an image has noise in it, and removes it only if necessary. Its assessment is better than mine—when I have used it manually, it detects noise that I hadn’t spotted, often in shadows and dark areas. Of course, I could have viewed the images at 200% and painstakingly checked them. But why do that when Photo AI will do it for me, whilst I’m enjoying Mission impossible 5? The amount I save from processing one batch of images is worth the cost of the software. It’s like employing an assistant for less than $200 a year!
Photo AI Auto Pilot Settings
The Edit->Preferences menu opens the settings for AutoPilot. Here’s what’s on offer:
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Subject Detection: Choices are Default (let Photo AI do all the work), Landscape (only detect landscape elements), Portrait (Photo AI detects faces), None (no detection).
It is worth leaving this at Default or, if the images in the batch fit just one type, set to Landscape or Portrait. Once Photo AI detects the subject, it limits the enhancements to it. With Landscapes, you don’t want to sharpen clouds, and with portraits, you don’t want to sharpen the bokeh. This option saves hours.
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Upscale and resize: AI model – Default: let Photo AI determine which AI is best for the image, otherwise pick the one you want to use; Resize type: Enhance Small Images-Photo AI will upscale small images only, Set Output Size-Photo AI will upscale every image to the dimensions you set, None-No upscaling
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Noise removal (Non-RAW)-Level of noise required to trigger noise removal, Noise removal AI model, Strength;
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Noise removal (RAW)-Level of noise required to trigger noise removal, Noise removal AI model, Strength;
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Sharpen-Amount of blur needed to trigger sharpening, AI Model (Auto, Standard, Strong, Lens Blur, Motion Blur), Strength;
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High-Quality Images-Sharpen, Denoise, or auto-detect;
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Face recovery-Level of detail needed to trigger face recovery: Low quality, Subject only, All or None
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Face recovery strength
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Include the hair and neck in face recovery
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Adjust lighting strength
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Balance colour-temperature and opacity
This is a huge range of settings. For a batch of photos, I select the settings that are appropriate. I often leave them at Auto or the default value.
Sample
Here are some samples that show what Topaz Photo AI is capable of, with comparisons to the original image.
Recommendation
Topaz Photo AI is not the only tool that offers sharpening, noise removal, and upscaling. However, my tests show that the quality of its processing is brilliant and class leading, and its ability to do intelligent batch processing is priceless. Even if other tools catch up quality wise, I would still prefer Topaz Photo AI for its ability to act as a photo editing assistant and batch process my images.
Download link
Topaz Photo AI is available from Topaz. A free trial is available-try it for yourself to experience the workflow you always wanted.
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