Thanks so much for the support and encouragement! So glad you enjoy the videos. Hope you had a great time in the Kgalagadi!!!

And they are getting better all the time too. Thanks for watching Jacob.

Thanks for watching all the way through Jennifer:) and for the kind comments. Happy shooting in the goldfields.

Glad you liked it Lee! Thanks

@@WillGoodlet 📸👍🏽

Good choice! I bought the original version a while back and then decided to try the upgrade about three weeks ago. It really blew me away. It's made a whole lot of images viable.

Great to hear Paul! Thanks again :)

So glad to hear that, thanks for watching :)

Thanks Sean. It's made a big difference to me too, as much as something physical like a lens.

Hope you are getting good results Catherine!

Thanks Mark hope you enjoy it!

Yeah it's really been a game changer and so much cheaper than upgrading the camera :)

Thanks so much:)

Thanks so much Bernd! I like making them, so I'm just grateful you found it useful. Hope all's good over there!

@@WillGoodlet i bought your wildlife-toolkit. Very helpful again. Have some Wildlife Pics from wolves with very high ISO. Now they looking very good. topaz denoise works very well. Thank you.

Thanks for the positive endorsement JP. Wishing you all the best with it!

Will Goodlet it’s really good bud! I’ve run a few of my pics through it following the tutorials best 35 dollars I’ve spent for a while lol.... did you get my email regarding the Kingfisher tutorial on there?

JP Lamoureux great to hear. Yes I got the email. Will reply.

Will Goodlet 👍👌

Thanks for watching Chas. Hope I can get up there sometime soon (I was an university in Edinburgh) but sadly spent far too much time in the pub and not enough in the Highlands.

Yes, very good point Ivor. Thanks for sharing it here. I see Denoise is evolving all the time too and there is now a slider, presumably for this purpose. I need to check it out.

Thanks Terry, I went and had a look at the website, it seems good. Is it easy to pick up and learn? My situation is complicated by the use of premiere pro, after effects and the publishing packages. But it is very painful in the wallet. I do really like photoshop though.

@@WillGoodlet Hi Will: I've reached the point that I am reluctant to switch software because it is ever a battle to learn all over again what I know so well by heart on the old software. It took a while but I no longer miss PS at all for terrestrial photography. It can honestly be said that Affinity does some things BETTER than PS! And some things, not as well. Long exposure astro imaging through large telescopes is another matter though and I still have an old copy of PS for the Plug-Ins I need for that. Plug-Ins written for PS are hit and miss with Affinity . . . mostly miss in my experience. :( Affinity was not "hard" to learn but, yes, it still took an effort initially to change my ways. Very happy with it now. If there's anything that can be done in PS that cannot be done in Affinity, I do not know about it. It's downside is that they can be glacially slow to add to their library of RAW formats. Much slower than Adobe! Example: Must have been a full year before I was able to use its converter for my CR3 files from the EOS R. And, when I finally am able actually get an R5, I likely will have to go back to Canon's own DPP for who know how many months before Affinity will process RAW files from it. As for LR, I was never a user. I use FastRawViewer to browse RAW files and send selected files directly to Affinity for conversion and processing with a right click. It works well and I took to that immediately. No pain on that score at all! I will say that Affinity's RAW processor seems very good but it has no "batch" mode. I occasionally miss that utility and, again, revert to Canon's DPP when I need to batch process. It's a personal decision for sure but Adobe just got too voracious for my liking. But, yes, it take an initial effort to get going. The Serif people who are responsible for Affinity also have a "Premiere Equivalent." They call it "Publisher." In fact, they have a full suite really but I can't say anything about it as I have never used Premiere or any other publishing package. J. Cristina did a series of videos on his journey switching away from Adobe software. "Cutting The Cord." Link . . . kzfaq.info/love/4DRUh4X4lNz22WBbmkdiQQ He did manage to wean himself entirely off Adobe's $$$$ products. I am just a duffer, unconcerned with time or production deadlines, but he runs a small business and "time is money!" Still, he found there is "Life After Adobe!" LOL!

Hi Terry, thanks for the thoughts and experiences. I've watched a few of J Crisinta's videos (what's with the tea drinking...!?) I saw the publisher product, I thought it related to print media - I must look at it again. I have produced app-like eguides with adobe indesign, use premiere, audtion, illustrator and aftereffects all the time also Lightroom for catalogues and PS for editing. I also have developed and sell a structured workflow for Lightroom and photoshop - so I am very entangled in the web. One frustration is the inability of LR to manage other file types. When working on video projects, I store scripts, audio files, premiere project files, video clips and stills and LR can't manage all that. So I use iMatch to manage the project catalogues which is working pretty well. I can search for any project related file in that and they take it into the appropriate application. I like the Adobe products because they work well together and cover all of my needs but I don't like the price. Sometimes, its best to just have the right tool for the job and not waste time (which is often more precious!) One thing I wanted to ask - I read that Affinity did NOT support luminosity masks - is this true? That's an important feature for me. Will.

@@WillGoodlet Hi Will: I feel you are definitely my "better" here and don't want to pontificate on the matter. I am not sufficiently knowledgeable about Serif's Publishing suite to have any clue at all as to how much work it would take for you to eliminate those punishing monthly fees from Adobe. Or whether you would ever be totally happy about the switch. I did not find it overly daunting to ditch PS in favour of Affinity Photo. But, yes, it did require a little determination. To do a wholesale switch from the entire Adobe suite is a much more ambitious undertaking! Depends just how much you are getting irked by those subscription fees! As for luminosity masking in Affinity . . . there are workrounds. See: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/mpaii66ImsidoYE.html Seems complex to me! :( Also some macros . . . link . . . forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/62101-affinity-photo-luminosity-masks-macro/ KZfaq tutorials were what got me sufficiently comfortable with Affinity to rather quickly leave PS entirely behind. I presume similar are available for other components of the Serif suite? I know the easy thing is to keep paying Adobe . . . forever! But it just didn't sit well with me. Corporate users will be with Adobe forever! Of course, they write S/W costs off against their taxes. Adobe will forever be the ipso facto "Standard" for that reason alone. But we "little guys" each must decide "Adobe/No Adobe" for ourselves. I decided "No Adobe!" Almost certainly much easier for me than you! Good luck on whatever course you pursue.

Yes I’m finding a lot of use from it as well! No we are still locked down. Some people are able to go in to work if necessary and our exercise hours are extended. But no crossing of provincial lines (Gauteng is small so we need to cross to get into nature) and no reserves open as yet. We expect our peak in Sept with somewhere around 11m infections on the pessimistic side.

@@WillGoodlet Well stay safe and make sure you and your wife are not among those 11m!

Yeah, something else. My older photos are all getting the treatment :)

Thanks Martin, glad you liked it :)

Thanks William! Appreciated

Thanks Ricki :)

They seem to be really good about issuing improvements - I expect at some point they will start to charge subscriptions (sadly!). Good to know it works with ACDSee

@@WillGoodlet “optional Upgrade License gives you access to every upgrade for one whole year. Purchase an Upgrade License whenever you want - every year, or every few years. No commitment or subscription required.” So there will be a charge for upgrades after the initial year 🤔

@@RogerJones-mountfield Thats a better model for me. Thanks for explaining - I'm going to figure out how to leave adobe one day too!

Also works as a Plugin with Affinity Photo!

Haha!! Good to hear from you Dimitris, hope everything is OK over there :)

Thanks Andrew. Let me know your thoughts please, I'd be interested to hear!

Thank you too!

Thanks Dean. I have sharpen and am still testing it out. When it works it can be spectacular. I tried Gigapixel but don't have a lot of need for it at the moment. I was interested in spinning the idea a little and instead of prints, upscaling and then downscaling images to see if I could improve them. It's a technique that works sometimes even with other software. I do actually have a blog post on Gigapixel if you are interested, written some time ago. willgoodlet.com/blog/ai-processing-and-telephoto-lenses

MODELSTOCK I’m not sure that is normal? I don’t get this?

@@WillGoodlet I sent you a PM on Facebook.

Hi thanks! I use a Dell ultra sharp for photo editing

Hi Dennis, thanks for taking a look and leaving a comment! Greatly appreciated. There is already a video on the Gimbal and it will almost certainly work on your cruiser. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/Y8hiZZemuZPYhp8.html

Yes I think you are right. Back when I made this video sharpen wasn’t as good as it is now. So denoise was my default. Now I mostly use denoise unless I’m really trying to fix up an image.

Glad you liked it!

Topaz now has raw functionality and it is an absolute game changer.

Love your office setup😁

Yes I guess a lot of people are revisiting their processing and looking through old images. It's really brought some back to life for me!

Mieczyslaw, Howzit as we say down here :) Good to hear from you and hope all's well? Yes, denoise and sharpen have really been great for me. I use sharpen less because denoise usually does a fantastic job. I have used Gigapixel but as a trial. I already have On1 rezize which works very well and although Gigapixel is a little better I didn't feel it justified the expense. I have used most of the Topaz products, even video denoise and adjust. I haven't tried studio yet. The three that I have bought are denoise, sharpen and remask. I don't use remask for composites but it is great for selections in photoshop so that I can treat subject and background separately with curves.

@@WillGoodlet thanks Will. Remask, I still don't know, maybe have to look at this tool.

Thanks David. I have only played around briefly with the Affinity free trial so I don't know it well at all. I would have thought a denoise first workflow would work better, but there are no rules to say you can't use it in different places. I've even used it more than once on the same image. So I guess if it ain't broke don't fix it?

@@WillGoodlet I love Affinity. A one off reasonable fee and it’s yours for life no monthly fee! I find it can do everything that photoshop can do and you can save your image in many different file types. I used to use the Adobe suite but now - cost issue aside - I wouldn’t go back.

I looked at it, but I wasn't sure if it supported luminosity masks? I am paying a fortune to Adobe but because of KZfaq, I am using premier, after effects and audition as well as lightroom and photoshop. It is nice to have all the software from one supplier but also very painful on the wallet. Always looking for a better solution!

@@WillGoodlet Will, luminosity masking is no problem with Affinity, I find that I have not missed the Adobe package at all. There are also a huge number of tutorials available on KZfaq. I just felt that I could be spending my hard earned cash on equipment rather than software.

I like Capture one too, for Canon it's a little pricey though especially if one wants to also keep Photoshop.

@@WillGoodlet I'm trying to get rid of Adobe, but C1 doesn't do some of the things I need Ps. for.

I like to assist for free if and where I can rather than do consults. Plz drop me an email you can contact me at willgoodlet.com (don’t want my email scraped from the comment) and let’s see what we can do together.

Yes it's pretty good isn't it!

I tend to only use denoise. But this video probably deserves an update as things have changed in the software. I find sharpen also works well but tend to use it myself more to rescue images than as a general tool for everything. Prefer denoise and it’s less aggressive impact

Thanks for watching. No reason not to reduce colour to zero as well (it will often depend on whether its a problem in the underlying file). Also, denoise has got some new updates that weren't available at the time that deal with colour and low light.

Hi Catherine, I do have one (an old one) and most of the time I edit in lightroom with the mouse but in photoshop I often use the wacom for finer work and selections. I am pretty lazy about editing and have thousands of shots I've never touched :(

Hi sorry I never got around to making the PS tutorial. The profile should be applied first when you open the image in camera raw. Then Topaz now has a RAW filter / processing type which you will see in the app. The reason I suggest using the profile first is that is normally when camera raw opens on taking the image into photoshop for the first time. If you do NOT run topaz as a plug-in you may want to experiment taking the file into topaz first, and only then into PS - you should then see if it is possible to change the profile. Sorry not to have better info the video is older and topaz changes things often!

@@WillGoodlet Thanks for your reply - your point on the changes overtime in Topaz and the fact this video is an older one are well taken and fully understood. BR Anthony

Hi Fluffy, feels a little wrong writing that, but I like the name! The only reason to set sharpening to zero is that I feel it would likely sharpen the noise before attempting to Denoise the noise - if that makes sense? So, it stems from using similar sharpening techniques between Lightroom and Photoshop (and could be an unconfirmed bias as I haven't exhaustively tested it).

@@WillGoodlet This name comes from Hooverphonic’s (Belgian Trip-Hop band) Pink Fluffy Dinosaurs... Your method has become for 99% my standard for sharpening & denoise. But, I do this after all the edits in Lightroom. PS. Your channel is the best! So much well-chosen / thoughtful info with a pro-level background.

@@FluffyDinosaur1 I'm going to have to go and find some music now! Glad the videos hit the mark :)

Yes it seems there haven’t been any new profiles released - the best way is to select files for work and take them into canon DPP and save the file as a Tif with the profile applied there. No other way around it. Alternatively we can create our own custom profiles too with a colour check passport

@@WillGoodlet Wow Will, are you burning the midnight oil ? I have the colour checker passport. But truthfully I don't have a clue how to create a profile from scratch. Essentially I want to replicate the Canon colour but if you can use DPP (which I am told is rather 'clunky') I Guess you put the image Checker passport image after DPP into LR, then take another copy of the checker image into lightroom, display them side by side and then adjust the non profiled image, until it matches the DPP image. Is that the way to do it? Cheers R.

That’s a possibility but you can use the colour checker software to create a matched profile and save it to Lightroom. It’s not quite the same as the canon camera styles but it’s better than LR. Using dpp to create a tif is not too bad - but I only bother for ones I want to take tile on.

@@WillGoodlet OK. Thanks for that.

Quality of the TiF should be just as good but it is a less flexible file because it loses some of the links to camera information (eg profiles) that are available to RAW. You should not convert your original, merely a copy of it. Alternatively use a smart object workflow in photoshop instead

@@WillGoodlet Thank you, Will. I`m C1 user, so I will just try your technique with basic exposure edits and after denoise, will work with the tiff copy of file and hope there is no quality loss. thank you

You're most welcome

Hi, that workflow makes a lot of sense to me. They improve the software all the time, and until recently I saw no benefit to sharpen because DeNoise also sharpens to some extent. But the new upgrade to Sharpen really can make a big difference to some shots - so your sequence sounds right to me. Note you can batch process images before you load them into lightroom. As Denoise is often the very first adjustment (besides camera profiles) you may find it more efficient to let Denoise run through your downloaded images before you import them to LR - worth a try maybe?

Thanks Timothy. Interesting thoughts and I am certainly not one to know the answer. You will be one of the few photographers exploring it though, and there is always a value to uniqueness! Good luck :)

And I didn't even know it.. :) I think the software has an enormous part to play now and into the future.

@@WillGoodlet Makes using RAW editors super important, non destructive edits allow us to revisit captures from years ago with new capabilities. Even low cost image editors are getting RAW conversion capabikities, AI tool sets and for under $100 U.S..

Yes, I agree. It's put a whole lot of marginal photos back on the table.

Good question! I have used denoise on nightscapes and it does work. I haven't compared the two techniques head to head. I have tried a workflow where I took the images through denoise and then stacked them and got a pretty nice result. I can't, with confidence, say one is better than the other because I haven't tested them but I believe its worth exploring. I would worry that aggressive application of denoise might lose me some stars, but make the landscape much better. With that in mind, an option could be to composite a denoise landscape with a stacked landscape & sky?

Hi Kim, in Lightroom you can't download them. It should automatically detect the camera and offer you a selection matched to the camera to choose from. What camera are you shooting?

Hi Euge, yes it can be used on its own. It just needs a TIF as a source file (I think - will double check to see if it can take in PSD and RAW). Yes it can definitely save photos. Very useful when we catch a moment but maybe it’s too dark or too far away

@@WillGoodlet Thanks Will Look forward to the other Topaz vlogs to learn more about what you have to say about it. However, I feel you may have convinced me to get it already. Treat life as an adventure and see you out there!

German Shepherd Mom that’s on purpose excessive noise reduction on the bird will reduce feather details. So if we were editing the bird normally in photoshop we would apply a selection mask and treat noise in the bird and the background differently. You should be able to use the settings to achieve a reasonable result in Topaz?

There’s no rules to say you can’t use successive layers of topaz denoise (in photoshop) and blend them in at different opacities - not something I have tried but no reason why it wouldn’t be worth a go to treat areas of the bird differently eg dark areas under the wing would warrant more aggressive treatment. Am I making sense? Hope so.

Will Goodlet you are, but I really need to spend more time educating myself in more advanced editing techniques. Thank you for your response, I have more to learn😂

Sorry to hear that John! I'm not using a state of the art system or GPU but I did build it myself to optimise it purely for photo-editing using Lightroom and Photoshop - it's a couple of years old - the GPU is NVIDIA GTX 1050 Ti 4GB (I have a full guide on how I optimise LR and spec my PC - willgoodlet.com/blog/the-best-value-photo-editing-pc)

Hi Warren, thanks for watching and the question. It's part of a customisation in my Wildlife Toolkit Structured Presets - willgoodlet.com/wildlife-toolkit-home You can add grain via the Lightroom interface as well.

@@WillGoodlet thanks Will and keep up the excellent videos

Noel Chignell Is it a CR2 file? Definitely 7d2? The profile will only become available if Lightroom detects the camera. Does LR recognize the camera in the lens profile section or is that missing too?

@@WillGoodlet , I got it sorted out now, really appreciate you taking the time to reply and help me . Topaz really gives my old Macbook a good work but amazing difference to the end result Thanks Noel

Hi Susan, make sure your camera is supported on the Topaz. Also check your graphic card is supported - then maybe contact the support team at Topaz?

Hi Victor, sorry for the late response - it's just a custom preset that I've made to 'nomalise' exposure. I think ti does a better job when tightly cropped because Lightroom is clever enough to recognise the crop in the computations. It's part of a structured workflow that I have built and included in the Wildlife Toolkit.

They offer a 30Day free trial on all their software - you can process a lot for free! It's linked in the description if you want to take a look.

As luck has it, I just got an email - they just announced a sale 30% off plus an additional 15% (45%) with this coupon 'holiday15' and link - bit.ly/WildlifeToolkit

Thanks Will

I’ll check again, I thought I remembered being able to use raw (but maybe that was the sequator video!) maybe not cr3 as it’s newer.?

I’m pretty sure I just bought it once - but there are upgrades now and then

@@WillGoodlet thank you. So by buying once no watermark for lifetime?

@@drkumarharaprasadmisra5562 Here's their upgrade policy help.topazlabs.com/hc/en-us/articles/360039801471-Product-Upgrade-Policy-Information

I have a work around - bit tiresome if you are interested? You need to use Canon DPP. Process the file with a canon profile then save it to Tif. Open the Tif in Photoshop/Lightroom or just use the adobe converter to convert to DNG. Open the DNG in Denoise (or the Tif for that matter). The only reason for this workflow is to make sure the canon profile is applied (not available in Lightroom and Lightroom makes the CR3 file look horrible).

I like the Sekonic 758DR. It's a great tool. I'm still so angry that it was stolen along with all my other gear - and uninsured. I can't afford to buy another one.

@@WillGoodlet excuse my crap sence of humour Will , iv been on that path , iv got a d7200 i could do really cheap legit and reciepts . if your stuck with nikon grip 4 batteries . oh and a round d850 eyepiece on it my daughters idea of an expensive joke ..she calls it my d500 7200 850 , seems shes got a sicker sense of humour than i have 😕

Not sure if this is a good or a bad comment :) ?

@@WillGoodlet there is no good and bad, only real and unreal. And fortunately life is automatic. Noone has controle. We put one foot in front of the other.

Or Affinity cheap? I don’t know. It’s 79 USD so that should mean about 60GBP - have you tried using a VPN to ‘pretend’ you are in the US? Perhaps some of the cost is VAT? 20% in the UK v 8% in US? I bought topaz years ago so my copy of denoise was a free upgrade.

I am not a topaz rep - but I know a lot of people will upgrade their entire camera system to achieve lower noise images. From that perspective topaz is a steal in my workflow. It means I can keep shooting old cameras and still get good looking results. My 7Dii is not as clean as a 1D mark iii but costs 6 times less. Add denoise and the image looks a lot better.

@@WillGoodlet Thanks for the the reply :) Unfortunately, being retired means money is at a premium...it means not being able to justify Topaz and getting by with old gear ie 1Dmark2n and 100-400 series 1 :D Topaz looks bloody awesome though! btw, you have a new subscriber :)

Itchy Feet cheers thanks, I understand! I used to shoot the 1D Mark ii n - my favourite camera of all time! topaz has regular sales so keep an eye out. Sign up to their newsletter or something. Have you tried the free trial? You can process a lot of photos in 30 days!

@@WillGoodlet Love the 1n...just wish I could BBF :(