Topaz Glow Review
Get Topaz Glow for $20 off through December 31st with Coupon Code : introglow
Topaz Glow is the latest and greatest from Topaz Labs. At its most basic level, Glow is a fractal art generator. It makes your highlights and shadows turn into wispy curls of light. Here is a brief description from Topaz Labs:
Glow is a technology that we have been working on for a while. There have been requests for us to expand upon Topaz Clean’s “curly” effects. Since Clean’s technology is very different than the technology needed to create fractal images, we decided to start developing Glow.This technology further broadens the scope of possibilities and solves the need for Mac users. We’ve crafted many beautiful and interesting effects such as:• Neon looks• Fractal effects• Line designs• Subtle glow effects
After having some time to work with Glow, here are some of my thoughts.
The User Interface
The Benefits:
- Clean, Simple, and easy to use interface. It is almost an exact replica of Topaz Impression in simplicity, style and layout.
- The effect adjustments are self-explanatory. The effects are not hidden behind fancy words, what you read is what it does. This makes the learning curve for the program rather low so you will be on your way with the effects in no time.
- A wide variety of useful Presets. The presets in Glow are effective and if not good for one click use, they are well on their way! I use many of them as a jumping off point and only have to skew the adjustments slightly to obtain the desired effect.
- The possibilities. While the fractal effect is niche in many cases to a select group of artistic individuals, Glow can be used in subtle ways to enhance the overall look and feel of an image without the fractal effect.
- It is a stand alone program. Those who do not own Photoshop will be pleased that this also installs as a stand alone program that does not require Photoshop to use.
The Limiting Factors:
- Glow is not for everyone. This is a program that will pique the interest of the individuals who want to “Electrify” their photos or designs.
- It will be easy to spot. If it is not used as a subtle element in a photo, it will be easy to spot as a filter. I will venture to say we will see quite a few “one click wonders” until the masses figure out a way to incorporate it in their workflow. This is not necessarily a bad thing, just part of the learning curve with a new piece of software.
The Bottom Line:
While Glow is predominately meant for fractal art, I have found several uses for it outside the fractal realm. I have used it for subtle boosts in the radiance of my images as well as effective dreamlike elements in animal portraits. If you are an artist by nature and enjoy “tinkering” with your images to see where they can go, Glow is great to have in your arsenal of tools. However, if you are a purist and don’t really explore the artistic nature of your work, you may find limited capability with it. I would highly recommend it to anyone with the artistic brain as it can be very useful in a mixed workflow using masks and blending options.
Get Topaz Glow for $20 off through December 31st with Coupon Code : introglow
Some Examples:
The Tutorial:
For Blake, it's all about the art and process synergy. He dives deep into complex topics and makes them easy to understand through his outside-the-box thinking so that you can use these tricks in your workflow today!
Thanks Blake.
You always create simple, easy-to-understand tutorials.
Keep up the good work.
Robert Meyerson
Thanks, Robert! I sure will. I love what I do!
thank you so much for your hard work
Not a problem! Thanks for checking it out!
it is hard to capture the subtleties of a new software program in such a short video but u have done an excellent job as usual- i like that it is also available as a plug-in from photoshop, etc- and that used in conjunction w other topazlabs products such as simplify first or impression and/or restyle after it can be a welcome addition to anybody’s arsenal of effects whether traditional or non-traditional ( i had the opportunity to watch nicole from topazlabs present a lengthy webinar on glow this week and there are so many effects beyond what u had the opportunity to cover in such a short piece- some of them are not obvious and are in fact realistic = especially when taken back into photoshop and blended w the original- many of the effects are not electrifying at all actually- i highly recommend that everyone tune into topazlabs utube channel in the coming weeks for more examples of how it can be tailored to many different workflows and styles- she even showed a portrait she had worked on using glow 🙂 thanks again for your review- i always learn alot (technical and artistic) from you no matter what the subject matter at hand 🙂
Thanks for the additions! I have been experimenting a lot with it and building some actions to give away for the webinar. I use it subtly, I find the more subtle the better and it actually does give some results that you couldn’t get in other ways.
Blake, thanks again for your very helpful explanation, easy to understand, appreciate your working through the different photos!
I have not bought it. It seemed too much from what I saw in the reviews. You opened up some new possibilities to think about, while keeping it simple. I understand it has more possibilities, but keeping it simple, and not overwhelming is very helpful for me!
THANKS BLAKE!!
Glad it opened some doors for you. I have been experimenting with it even more this weekend in preparation for the Webinar on the 22nd. It has some serious potential for both the creatives and for the photographers who want to add that little something! I will show more during the webinar.
I just bought Impression and Glow. I got the itch after watching your videos. One thing anyone can do is make Graffiti using the Brick (or Wood) textures in Impression after simplifying with Glow and Impressions. Brick Wall under Architecture in Clarify enhances the texture illusion. Detail3 might help too. I just past this on as something you could mention in a video; not that I expect you will run out of material soon!!!
Awesome thanks for the tip and creative ideas. Ill look into this and try it out.