Apps for creative photography – Topaz Studio

Camera Club - Leaves Still Life, Topaz Finger Painting Filter, photo: Julie Hartwig

Leaves Still Life, Topaz Finger Painting Filter, photo: Julie Hartwig

By Julie Hartwig, Tin Can Bay Camera Club

In the digital photography age, creative photography apps are widely available. Like many apps, some are better than others; some are free and others require purchase.

I have a preference for two creative photography apps: Topaz Studio (purchase) for my desktop computer and Snapseed (free download from app stores) for my mobile devices. Both apps work on the premise of applying special effects filters to photographs, in addition to basic editing of original images. Both are simple to use.

This month we’ll look at Topaz Studio. This app contains hundreds of special effects filters from the barely noticeable to the “over the top” abstract – application is very much down to the type of creative imagery the maker wants to create.

Some of my favourites are the artistic filters which allow you to create images which look like paintings, and the Glow filters, which can transform flat, lifeless images into something that “glows”.

The filter effects are all editable, so if you like the effect but not the intensity, you have the option to “dial it down”. Like most things with photo editing, remember that less is more. Overdoing special effects can ruin an image.

Also remember that when using photo editing apps of any kind, always work on a copy of your original image – if you do stuff it up, you haven’t ruined the original!

The Tin Can Bay Camera Club’s next meeting: all club meetings suspended for the rest of 2020. 

Visit the Club website at: tincanbaycameraclub.wix.com/tcb-camera-club

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