Wednesday, 13 April, 2022

[dewarp]

Morning Folks.

I quite often use a programme called Dynamic Auto Painter (DAP) by Oscar of MediaChance. This attempts to turn photographs into digital paintings using artistic brush strokes, etc. In fact, DAP is based on another of his programmes called Photo Reactor, which is quite fun to play with. I recall that I also posted something I did using his RoboBrush inside Photoshop back in our WC days.

Oscar recently came up with a new programme called “AI Photo and Art Enhancer” (AIPAE), which can be used to up-size images (amongst other things). I don’t often need anything special to up-size images. Generally, my smallest raw files are 6 MPx, although most are 24 MPx, and Photoshop normally does a reasonable job of increasing the size of the smaller ones.

See https://www.mmbforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=7796&start=10 for more on AIPAE.

Anyway, yesterday I was trying to up-res an old jpg file taken back in 2001 with a 4 MPx point and shoot Sony digital. Normal Photoshop methods were not working well. So, I downloaded demo copies of both Topaz Gigapixel and AIPAE to see what they could do. Being a Topaz fan, I was surprised how well AIPAE worked! For this particular image, it was the winner.

Noteworthy Comments:

For AIPAE it is first necessary to address the noise situation. (In those days digital images were extremely noisy.) If this isn't done, AIPAE just multiplies the size of the noise, which ruins the output. On the other hand, Gigapixel does address noise during its process, and I found it best not to do an initial DeNoise.

I normally export my images from Lightroom and edit them in Photoshop as TIFF files in the 16-bit ProPhoto RGB colour space. It appears that AIPAE assumes that images are in 8-bit sRGB colour space, and the up-sized images are reported as having no imbedded colour space tag. This wasn't a major problem with the particular image I was working on. But, in future, I will ensure that I export 8-bit files in sRGB for re-sizing in AIPAE (as I always do with DAP in any case).

So, if you need to up-size images, I suggest you give AIPAE a try.
 
regards - Peter

P.S. I see that Oscar mentions getting rid of noise as being one of the attributes of AIPAE. Perhaps I should learn more about it before I comment !

[Don]

Good morning Peter. Thanks for the info on the software that you use. I have the Topaz suite with includes a module for denoise and also gigapixel, among others so I use that when needed. But it's good to know that there are alternatives out there. I also edit primarily in LR and have just recently started trying to learn more about PS. Very complicated piece of software. I did install a plug-in called TK8 which is a panel that groups a lot of the PS functions and really helps a lot to use it. If you use PS a lot you might check that out. There are also a lot of YouTube videos about it. A guy called Dave Kelly has been posting instructional videos every Friday that he calls TK Friday. He also shows a discount code of 15% although the plug-in isn't very expensive anyway.

We had a light crowd yesterday - hope we get more activity today. I just checked the weather and should be another nice day. Might have to take another little bike ride this afternoon.

[dewarp]

Hi Don - thanks for the comments. I'm carrying on with trying out AIPAE. The de-noised version does a bit of a heavy job - but that's OK - it's easy enough to rectify I guess. Still working at it, even though this will never be part of my main-stream toolbox.

My versions of LR and PS are ancient, so cannot run the TK8 panel. However, I have used Tony Kuyper's stuff since 2010. The last plug-in that works in CS6 was the TK6 panel, which I do have installed. I also regularly use some of his earlier PS actions - particularly the ones called "Triple Play (Curves)", which are brilliant IMHO. But TK6 is nothing like TK8 of course. Blake Rudis (F64 Academy) produces a similar panel, but that too does not run in my old version of PS. However, I must say that, once one has gone to all the trouble of getting to know how to do the various things manually in PS, using these panel shortcuts might be a retrograde step.

regards - Peter

[damar]

Greetings all!
Thanks Peter, for the software information and for starting the daily today.
Hi Don!

I snapped this yesterday with my cell phone (while out walking) and resized to post here.


   

[Luv2shoot]

Good afternoon all.  It has finally warmed up around here.  So all of the windows are open in our house now.  I enjoy the fresh air and besides, we needed to air house our house after my husband cooked some scallops.  OMG, the smell just won't go away. I wish we had a whole house fan that would suck out the air from this house.

Enough about fish smells. 

Hey Peter, Thanks for the info on the software.  I think I will check out the Dynamic Auto Painter software, I am a sucker for that kind of stuff.  I also want to thank you for Monday's detailed explanation on using clouds to enhance our photos.  I might attempt to demonstrate that with our camera club when I create a good example.  The PDF file that you create was as good as anything that I have seen in a photo HOW TO book.  It is so nice of you to share with us and it is much appreciated.

Patty,  When I left the house this morning to walk Ella, I noticed that my iris plants are just starting to emerge.  They are probably 4 inches high.  I only have the one bunch that my neighbor planted in my front yard without me knowing!  Your purple iris is beautiful.  Looks like you had the right lighting that brought out the deep purple and detailed veins in the petals. Nice job, Patty.

Good morning Don.  I use LR as my primary editing software.  Everything goes through LR first.  My software is old but I plan on using it until it dies. I don't want to pay $10+/month to edit my photos.  I understand that the new LR is awesome and my friends in my photo club tell me that I should get it because it is so good.  I don't need another monthly fee of any kind though it will probably become necessary down the road. 

Here is a quick shot I grabbed in Florida.  This young man was so into fishing.  He walked up and down the pier looking for a good place to fish.  Looks like I wasn't the only one watching him.  Check out the dog in the background.

[Luv2shoot]

Peter, I downloaded the trial version.  Wow, it takes a long time to process.  I want to try it on several more photos that I have.  It appears to be a pretty cool program.  Here is something that I did to photo I posted just the other day of the barn with some cotton fields in the foreground.

---

And then I did another using the same PRESET.  
Oh boy, I am really liking this.
Okay, time to put the computer away and get to a sewing job that I have been putting off for several weeks. It is pouring rain now outside and it is a good afternoon to do this job that will take possibly a couple of hours to finish. 

LORELL

[Michael]

This morning with the Leica CL

[Adamphotoman]

Here are some screen shots of candid portraits.
Excuse the small files.
   

   

   

[Luv2shoot]

Hello, Michael. Long time no see.
I swear, every time I walk into a resale thrift store, I venture over to the glass cases to see if they have any LEICA cameras for sale like the one you happened to find. That is a nice little combination of greens and reds. At least you have dandelions. We the warm temps this week and all the rain we are having today, I may be able to join you soon with some dandelions of my own.

Grant,
Those are some nice shots. The sweet capture of the wedding couple, the expression and character of the man in his chair and what appears to be a capture from a stage play are all good, interesting, and enjoyable to look at.
LORELL

[Dave]

Good and helpful information Peter and Don. Thanks.

Hi damar. Great color in that flower. It begs to be painted.

Lorell, a nice photo and two interesting stylized images - I especially like #2 (a snowy egret?)

Michael. good to "see" you here again. Faultless composition in your photo, and great colors - the red vs the complementary greens is nice, and the yellow (dandelions?) is a nice addition.

Grant, those are three engaging photos. each in a different way. Well done, sir.

I saw (and photographed) a bit of surprising bird behavior this afternoon that I had never seen before. It lasted over 30 minutes and thanks to burst mode I took more than 600 photos. (Of course most of those were either out of focus, poorly composed, or near duplicates, but I ended up with a few worth sharing.) I'll post some tomorrow.