Friday, January 27, 2012

Review of Star Effects Plug In by Topaz!!!


Topaz Star Effects was launched January 26th. I received an email and immediately downloaded the free 30 day trail.

I thought I'd give it a spin.
I'm not a professional photographer, but I do enjoy playing around with photos I've taken.

First lets look at a photo pre-Star Effect.
[ I took this the day before Topaz came out with the plug in...I actually was trying to get a 'starred' effect and lens flare when I originally took this.]
I dropped into Topaz's new plug in and this is what I got.
Well that was pretty fun! But seriously, it was nothing I was going to write home about. The photo wasn't that great to begin with.


So I searched around and found a sunset that could use some extra help.
First I used Topaz Adjust 5 to give the photo a bit of pizazz.
Then I dropped it into Star Effects...
Here is a 'screenshot' of how it looks.






Now for a bit of fantasy fun.

I edited this photo in Topaz 5 to get an HDR look, I wanted to get this to look as though it would be a place that you could find Forest Faeries ...so this would be my base image.
...okay well just a bit more fun...
Pre - Topaz Star Effects:
After Star Effects:
You should realize that I am playing around and having fun.

If I wanted to add a Wood Faerie to the scene, it would fit nicely.

I could do this in Photoshop or in Elements with brushes, but the time would take me much longer than this did.


For the creative person, this powerful little plug in could be a great time saver.
For the serious photographer who 'never' edits his or her photos...well then, this wouldn't necessarily be for them.

But creativity abounds.

How about a Mandelbulb3D Fractal?
Pre-Starred Effects:

Afterwards...
Who says that Topaz plugins can only be used on photos?

Get creative.
Check it out.

I think I may add this to my collection of Topaz Plug ins.

2 comments:

  1. Leland Saunders7:26 PM

    I used Topaz Star Effects for the first time today and I am sooo frustrated. The application would not place the "star" in the center of the light source AND it would not respond correctly when I tried to place it where it should be. Right now I give this application a big fat "D."

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  2. I agree that some of it won't work the way you think it should. There are work arounds to 'placing' light sources.

    Take a tour of the Topaz Forums and see what others are saying. This has mixed reviews.

    Thank you.

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