Click to embiggen and see all the lovely textural details
I was alerted to the fact that Topaz have a range of filter programs that allow you to do all sorts of cool effects with your images. Better yet they offer a free 30 day trial period with them so I downloaded four to try
Glow
Restyle
Impression
Simplify (currently 30% off)
So far I have liked Impression and Glow the most, Restyle was a quick easy way of creatively recolouring images, but thats not really my thing. Simplify seems to give you options for making it look more like a drawing.
Glow is my definate favourite, and I edited this image of Taz sniffing wisteria on my fence I took a few years ago. It has LOTS of sliders you can adjust and two types of glow and two levels of glow. The preset if have used here is Fur and Feathers and I really like it.
I have gone a little extreme on this because I like the dark tips it added to his fur and how that reflects the dark colour in his face.
Has anyone else played with Topaz Filters? Did you like them? Got some other recommendations for me to try?
A slideshow with the Before and After images for comparison
Learning to See Light 
I like the way you have used the textures from Topaz and don’t think it is too far at all. I haven’t used Topaz as I have the Nik Collection and haven’t started getting a handle on all that contains yet, one thing at a time for me 🙂
Thanks Lee, yes there is a lot in the Nik collection, I really only use Silver and Color Efex tho I have used Viveza a couple of times.
I think it’s very pretty; it reminds me of stained glass.
Several people at work have commented the same thing, thankyou 🙂
This is so beautiful. The effects make the image really stand out. I do a lot of editing on my iPad and now have Lightroom installed and hopefully will be able to sync my edits onto my laptop. Hope you are keeping warm in Christchurch. We are just wet and miserable here in Hastings.
Thanks Raewyn, I really liked the effect esp on the tips of his fur and the squigglyness of the wisteria blooms. Its really tweakable with LOTS Of sliders to really make it an individual effect. I think I might have to buy this one 🙂
It got really cold yesterday afternoon but I had done all the gardening i needed to so lit the fire and got cosy. Was pretty chilly in the bathroom this morning tho!
I love this photo of your cat. I agree about your liking the dark ends of his fur! Beautiful! I might check out Topaz too, but likely not buy it. I use Picassa and have recently been having fun with a large group of cloud photos I have. Great fun and some turned out amazingly well! Keep up the good work!
Yes its a bit different and I like the effect a lot