Post Processing For BIF Photos

[Richard A]

Hi Everyone. I have some BIF photos that I took recently that need pretty heavy cropping. I was just wondering what everyone's workflow was when/if this is the case. I have an A7RV so I have a lot of pixels but these soon start to disappear. I am a beta tester for Topaz Gigapixel which I have been playing with but I'm wondering if I should crop the pics before using it? I also have Topaz Photo AI but I would ideally like to use RAW files for this. Any suggestions gratefully received.

 

[Slug]

Hi Everyone. I have some BIF photos that I took recently that need pretty heavy cropping. I was just wondering what everyone's workflow was when/if this is the case. I have an A7RV so I have a lot of pixels but these soon start to disappear. I am a beta tester for Topaz Gigapixel which I have been playing with but I'm wondering if I should crop the pics before using it? I also have Topaz Photo AI but I would ideally like to use RAW files for this. Any suggestions gratefully received.

Topaz AI should handle the RAW files ok. With it you can crop first, sharpen and de-noise then resize should you want to.
However my workflow is Sharpen and de-noise the RAW file with Topaz, then go to lightroom for Crop, Shadows and highlight adjustments. I rarely resize up.

 

[Sdawes]

If you crop in Photoshop in the drop down menu use Front Image option which keeps the file in its original file size , once cropped you can then process and resize the image to your desired dimensions

 

[TomV1]

I would contact Topaz and get their suggestions for your work flow questions.

 

[Jeffrey]

Richard, I do some of this as well. Cropping is your most powerful compositional tool. Of course, long lenses and closer camera to subject distance is always nice. What is your intended goal for the images? Internet? Large prints? Two different approaches. I am a printmaker so sharpness and file size are important to me. I also use Topaz products, mostly Photo AI tho I do have GaP. If you determine (in LR or Bridge @100%) that you need to denoise or sharpen, then doing that to the RAW is your best approach, but not really necessary. I've got great results using TPAI right in my Photoshop workflow. If you're concerned with unacceptable diminished resolution after a tight crop, consider a wider crop and give the bird more space around it. Often it's nice to make a 'critterscape' that is an image of an animal or bird with more of its environment. I find that viewers like that. Good processing technique can make a lower rez image still look good.

 

[Richard A]

Thanks for your reply. Ideally I want to print my photos. I bought a Canon Pro 1100 a few months ago. Size of print will depend on the individual photo really. I have settled on a workflow now, although that could still change or be tweaked. I don't use Lightroom. What I have been doing is using DxO PhotoLab to denoise and apply lens/distortion corrections and maybe some other tweaks. I then export as a .dng file and use Adobe Camera Raw for most of my RAW processing. Cropping is typically the first thing I will do. Then I open in Photoshop to do any retouching etc, maybe apply a vignette. Then I am saving a copy and flattening the image before doing any upscaling, if needed, in Gigapixel AI. I feel that, at the moment, Gigapixel AI is doing a better job of this than Photo AI. Not all images need to be upscaled though of course.