Review – Topaz Sharpen AI

Ever been in a situation where you have quickly captured a shot but have not selected the correct shutter speed or you have slightly missed the focus? As professional travel photographers, we find ourselves in these situations occasionally, even with all the bells and whistles of high-end cameras sometimes you just can’t react quickly enough. We have at times missed focus or haven’t selected the right shutter speed. This is especially the case when taking panning shots. This can be frustrating situations especially when you have nailed the composition.

So does using Topaz Sharpen AI give you better results than those found in most editing applications like Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop, CaptureOne, etc? If the image was captured with perfect focus, then these applications mentioned will do a great job. Where Topaz Sharpen AI really excels is in processing images with –

• Too Soft  – General sharpening when it has not been applied in another application. This mode replaces the Sharpen mode in V3.0
• Motion Blur  – Softness due to camera shake/movement while taking the shot. This is usually due to handheld shots at low shutter speeds. This mode replaces the Stabilize mode in V3.0
• Out of Focus – Fine-tuning of focus. Where your focus is slightly off with static subjects. This mode replaces the Focus mode in V3.0

Applying sharpness to a RAW image is necessary as it has not had any processing done in-camera as opposed to JPEG images (straight out of camera). We find that third-party plug-ins (such as Topaz Sharpen AI) seem to provide better results as the plug-in is dedicated to perfecting the results that it’s been designed for. They are always far more intuitive than the features that are built into the major editing suites available and give you far more control. Several companies are now including AI (Artificial Intelligence) algorithms in their apps.

The Topaz Sharpen AI application should not be something you need for every image unless you are using it for your basic sharpening of RAW images. Topaz Sharpen AI does give you some hope for images you would normally have flagged as unacceptable due to lack of sharpness or slightly blurred due to movement.

“There’s nothing worse than the feeling of taking the perfect photo, rushing home, opening it up on your computer… and realizing that it’s blurry at 100%. When this happens, it’s usually caused by one of three problems: camera shake, focus issues, or general softness. Sharpen AI includes a separate module to handle each one.” Topaz Labs

Below is a panning shot we took in Macau, China on a Full-Frame Sony A7Rii camera. The image was processed in Lightroom then taken to Topaz Sharpen AI. We used the Stabilize Mode )now called Motion Blur Mode) and applied Sharpness to 70, and Suppress Noise to 70. This gave us an acceptable result for the main subject, however, produced a distracting result on the bikes in the background. To fix this we used the very handy masking brush to paint/mask the main subject.

The panning shot above was taken in Fiji and has had masking applied so the effect is only applied to the bus. Both Sharpness &  Suppress Noise are set to around 70 and are only applied to the bus. You can best see the effect on the writing on the bus.

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Above is another example – this image was taken in Shanghai, China. Due to a slow shutter speed and slight movement by the musician, the focus is slightly inaccurate. You can see the improvement the application provides overall but most noticeably around the face, predominantly the eyes and glasses.

The example below probably best shows the power of this software. The image was shot at 1/200sec, f5.6, ISO 1000 at 105mm (on a Sony A7riii and Sony 24-105 f4 lens). This shot was taken very quickly and unfortunately, the shutter speed was too slow . Basic editing was done in Lightroom, then sent to Topaz Sharpen AI where the Stabilize mode ( now Motion Blur mode) for sharpening was applied. We usually process the image at the default settings first to see the results. Sometimes this may be sufficient. If the image needs further improvement we adjust these settings. For the image below we found that settings around 70% for sharpness and 100% on suppress noise sliders gave us the best result.

Naturally, it is always best to get the correct focus and shutter speed settings in-camera to achieve the optimum sharpness in an image. However, as is the case in travel, street, or sports photography getting the correct focus and shutter speeds can be unpredictable in many cases. Topaz Sharpen AI gives you the ability to correct images that you would normally discard. But please note, this software will improve images that are slightly out of focus due to inaccurate focusing or incorrect shutter speed, however, it will not fix all images. If an image is totally out of focus or the shutter speed is way off then nothing will save it.

We generally use Topaz Sharpen AI to correct our panning shots using the Stabilize Mode (now Motion Blur mode)  where we have selected an incorrect shutter speed or the Focus Mode (now Out of Focus mode) for images where we have not nailed the focusing.

We STRONGLY RECOMMEND Topaz Sharpen AI to all photographers that want the security of knowing they can improve their images should they fail in camera.

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