The Saturation and Saturation Boost sliders made this image a little more colorful than the original preset results (this is a common result with the Oil Painting preset) – these sliders were already in Simplify 3. It now contains not only my favorite Topaz slider, Dynamics for localized contrast similar to Topaz Adjust effects, but also Structure and Structure Boost sliders to get more detail like Topaz Detail uses. The image in the plug-in is shown at 1:1 (this is the recommended view by Topaz so you can actually see what the effect is doing) and has the Oil Painting preset applied with some slider changes in the Adjust Panel. The Preset Thumbnail View is closed at upper left to show all the new Painting Effects presets. Here is a snapshot of a the new Simplify 4 interface. I have not completely explored all the categories but I am loving the Painting Effects. So what is new? Over 100 new presets that are organized into 7 Effect Categories: BuzSim, Detail Removal and Enhancement, Line and Ink, Painting, Sketch, Simplify 3 Preset List and My Collection which is where I save most of the presets I create (I put my old ones from Simplify 3 here also). In Photoshop ShadowHouse Creations Blurred Smoke texture was added (a layer mask was added and the center painted out with black brush to reveal the image) and my B&W Border Frame layer style was added. The Detail brush was set to Strength 0.79 and used to paint over the buildings and the Burn brush Strength set to -0.33 and used to make the center building less bright. The Desaturation Brush was set to Strength -0.21 to brush out the bluish pavement and turn it back to a gray tone. A +From Stack stamped layer was created and the Adjust Tab’s sliders were set to: Temp 15, Saturation 14, Exposure 15, Contrast -12 and Dynamics 92. ![]() If you do not like the result, just delete your layer, duplicate again and go back into Simplify. The Painting Effect category’s Impressions Color preset was selected – all detail is lost but the color is great! Back in photoFXlab, the layer was set to Color blend mode and the colors just popped as you see above. Lots of choices here – hard to make a decision which effect looks best. Next Topaz photoFXlab was opened and the layer duplicated – then from the Plugins Tab, Simplify 4 was opened. How did I get this sharp look? First I used DeNoise set to RAW Moderate (be sure you have sharpening turned off in ACR or Lightroom – I did not on the first pass and it really messed up the noise removal). This shot was taken from a moving train using an ISO of 2000 – pretty high for my camera and it created a pretty soft look. The image above is an example of just that kind of problem. What I really love about Simplify is that it can save a “soft” image – that one shot you really want to save but the image is just not that good. Very beautiful result and very easily created. A little clean up was done to emphasize the eyes and blend some over bright colors. In Photoshop the canvas looking border was applied using ShadowHouse Creations Assorted Mask Overlay Mask04 on top and set to Linear Dodge at 100% opacity. (This could easily be changed later in just Photoshop using ACR or a Color Balance Adjustment Layer.) Using the photoFXlab Mask Tab, the orange color was painted back in the butterfly – I really like the blue-orange color palette. ![]() Since I have photoFXlab (the new Topaz interface) that contains a great Adjust Tab – the Temperature slider was set to -100 and all of the sudden instead of a green and yellow image, which was really nice, it became a much bluer image. ![]() The image above used the Sketch Effect category Pastel II preset. But the real strength is in the addition of all the new presets – Topaz can make a basic photo look fabulous with just a few clicks. Simplify 4 adds more of the little extras that Topaz’s newer plug-in updates offer. Simplify 3 was a great product and I used it a lot. This latest version has opened up a whole bunch of new options and I am totally excited about trying them all out. You do not have to be an artist to give a beautiful artistic feel to an image. This beautiful Monarch butterfly image really expresses what Topaz Simplify 4 can do. This is not the go-to plug-in to get that major realistic look or HDR feel to an image – stick to Topaz Adjust for that, although the lighthouse image below has a pretty realistic look to it. If you like to create “photo art” (which I do), then many of their products are outstanding for this and Simplify leads the group. Digital Lady Syd Reviews Topaz Simplify 4Īs everybody probably knows by now, I am a big fan of Topaz plug-ins (see my Tidbits Blog sidebar for website link).
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