Review: Topaz Labs photography plug-ins

Many of my readers have noticed an improvement in the quality of my recent blog photographs. (This Ring-billed Gull was taken on Wednesday near Northfield.) This advance is due to software by Topaz Labs that comes in the form of plug-ins that work with popular photo editors (including Photoshop, Lightroom, and iPhoto).

Topaz Labs offers a suite of 14 plug-ins for $379.99, half of the cost of buying the plug-ins individually. If this price is a bit high for your budget, you can purchase only the most essential plug-ins for your needs. The individual plug-ins, which run independently, are occasionally on sale for half-price (around $20 to $40). All the plug-ins are offered with a 30-day free trial, and satisfaction is guaranteed. Topaz promises a full refund, no questions asked, if you are in anyway dissatisfied. Rather uniquely, Topaz Labs gives you free upgrades on their products for life! I did not have to wait 30 days to figure out that these are great programs.

The plug-ins do many of the same things that you can already do with your photo-editing software, but they are specifically designed to perform better. The plug-ins often attack the problems they fix more holistically than non-dedicated programs. The plug-ins effortlessly download and install and come in both Mac and PC versions.

Here is my normal work-flow, using the four Topaz plug-ins that I own to date. (First I do an automatic levels fix in Photoshop, followed by tinkering with color saturation).

Topaz DeNoise rids a file of noise. Noise occurs in almost all photographs, especially those taken at an ASA setting of 400 (like I do). Photos taken in dim light and low speeds are also prone to noise. With sliding buttons in the plug-in, noise can be removed while detail is maintained. Basically the photograph is made less grainy. The result is like having a very expensive lens that allows you to get shots you might otherwise miss. My recent Sora photo was taken on a drizzly, dark day at an 80th of a second. Thanks to DeNoise, you might think the day had been sunny!

Topaz InFocus, as its name suggests, sharpens photos. The plug-in offers several ways to restore focus—fixing camera shake and reversing blur or fuzziness due to your subject’s forward motion (very helpful with many photos of birds on the wing). At the same time, InFocus refines and sharpens image detail. Other programs sharpen photos by sharpening only the edges within an image. InFocus, on the other hand, has algorithms that detect and fix what made the original photo out of focus. The result is that lost image detail may be recovered. A good photo will become superb. A mediocre photo will become good. Sadly, a completely out of focus photo may be beyond repair. My recent photo of flying Black-necked Stilts was blurry before I applied InFocus.

Topaz Detail is the best of the plug-ins that I have used. If you buy just one, get Detail. This plug-in achieves exquisite image detail and allows you to manipulate the intensity of your photograph. The results are seen in my recent Sora photos. Photos manipulated with Detail can be made to be vivid and almost three-dimensional. There is a learning curve to all these Topaz products. Topaz comes with instructions, has video clip help, and, perhaps more useful, preset settings that you can use to compare the results on the photograph you are currently developing.

Finally, Topaz DeJPEG gives you the ability to improve the quality of JPEG images. JPEG format is commonly used on the Internet and is often required in blogging programs. The problem is that JPEG images often contain artifacts caused by compression during saving. Outlines in the images are often disrupted. These flaws are not always too noticeable until DeJPEG fixes them. Sharpness is enhanced, noise reduced, and color maintained. The result is a clear, clean, photograph. Pictures appear as though they are taken with a lower ASA setting instead of my normal 400.

If you take digital photos, I urge you to take advantage of Topaz Lab’s 30-day trial.  If you are like I am, you will be hooked!

Sora

Yesterday, 30 April 2014, John Holden and I drove up Eaton Ave just south of Northfield. I glimpsed a small rail run into a roadside cattail patch. We stopped, backed up, and squeaked at the marsh. To our delight, two Sora rails nonchalantly strolled out of the marsh and fed along its edge. I was able to take these photos, my best to date of this abundant and widespread, but otherwise somewhat elusive rail. In the first two photos, note the breast feathers being blown by the wind. In the last photo you can see the Sora's long, unwebbed toes.

This species breeds in freshwater marshes across much of North America. They are more often heard than seen. Their abundance can be appreciated once you learn the Sora's whinnying call. I have a link to that call in a previous post. If you think that playing tapes at birds is ethical, Sora's often approach playbacks of their calls.

Soras eat seeds and invertebrates. These birds appeared to be feeding on tiny invertebrates, despite this week's being cold and rainy. Soras are considered to be game birds in many parts of the United States and Canada. Nevertheless, little is known about Sora population trends. The practice of draining and developing wetlands can not be doing Soras any good.

Familiar Bluet 2

We came up empty-listed in our Hook-billed Kite search in the Mission Nature and Bike Park. We did find, however, a couple of dragonflies. We found a lovely, female Red Saddlebags, I photo I will share with you in an upcoming post. Meanwhile we came upon this Familiar Bluet.

You may recall that I posted about this species from South Padre Island. This photo shows a couple of field marks fairly well.  The terminal appendages are almost as long as the last abdominal segment. The abdomen is also predominantly blue, with all but the last couple of black areas being small and similarly sized. Finally, the first black abdominal spot nearest the thorax touches the rear of segment two.

Cactus Wren

Erika and I spent three days in the vicinity of Mission, and exploring south Texas. The Rio Grande Valley is a birder’s paradise. Even the common birds can be new for us northerners and quite rare species are often encountered.

We devoted our first day, 21 February 2014, to visiting good friends who live on a ranch north of Edinburg. First, however, we stopped at the Mission Nature Park and Bike Trail. I was aware, after consulting eBird and watching the Texas Bird Listserv, that Hook-billed Kites had been seen at this park, only a mile from our hotel. We did not see the kite, but we were greeted by this raucous Cactus Wren.

As I wrote in 2011, Cactus Wrens are adapted for desert life. Water is not critical for this species—it can obtain the water it requires from food like cactus fruit. In the summer it reduces adreno-corticosterioids, and is thereby able to better withstand heat stress. Cold may be a critical factor for these wrens—below average temperatures can cause breeding failure (Hamilton et al. 2011). The species is found across the American southwest into central Mexico.

Familiar Bluet 1

As we the South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center on 20 February 2014, Erika suddenly let out a whoop: “Odonate Alert!” Our first dragonflies of 2014, or, in this case, damselflies, flew about in good numbers below our marshland boardwalk. I knew that few odonates inhabit brackish habitats—brackish being a mixture of fresh and sea water. I took out my iPad and, in my copy of the Paulson dragonfly guide, searched for the word brackish. Since most odonates inhabit freshwater areas, I had limited choices for those in brackish areas.

One species that fits the habitat is the Familiar Bluet. The largely blue middle abdomen segments distinguish the male from other bluets. The females are similar to other bluets and are best identified by whom they are attached. The species is abundant across much of the United States

I have previously written about the fascinating world of dragonfly sex, wherein males and females form wheels, with the male guarding the female from competing males while she takes semen from his thorax. Familiar bluets often remain attached as they fly about, sometimes for over 30 minutes. He lets go when the female oviposts, after which she often rejects second couplings by him or one of the other males. Other times, however, the first pair again flies in tandem.

Waterfowl

On 20 February 2014, the South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center hosted numerous waterfowl. In this photo, a White Ibis stands next to a Green-winged Teal. Two hen American Wigeon preen with a Blue-winged Teal between them. Three Redheads swim in the right foreground.

The White Ibis seldom ventures out of the Deep South. I will write more on this species in a subsequent post. The ducks, however, will migrate north and likely breed in the prairie pothole region of the upper Midwest and the Canadian provinces. Only with aggressive management are their numbers maintained in the face of wetland draining, tiling, and destruction.

American Coot

American Coots are abundant across most of North America and are found into northern South America. I have previously blogged on the species. Note the individually webbed toes in the coot in the second photo. Because these toes are not webbed together allies the coots to rails rather than to ducks. Ornithologists hypothesize that coots originated from gallinules and are specialized for diving.

Although I have never tasted a coot, the species is considered to be a game species. I saw a recipe for coot with strawberries and cream—the joke ends by suggesting anything tastes good with this sauce. In any case, an average of 888,000 coots have been harvested in Canada and the United States in the past 40 years. Coot populations, despite hunting and loss of wetland habitat, have increased since the 1950s. Coots readily take advantage of wetland restoration projects. In some urban areas in the winter, coots are considered to be pests, much like feral Canada Geese (Handbook of the Birds of the World—Alive).

These photos are both from our February 2014 Texas travels. The first is near Dallas, the second from South Padre Island.

Black-necked Stilt

A small flock of Black-necked Stilts flew out of the marsh on 20 February 2014 at the South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center. Stilts prefer wetlands with more vegetation than do avocets, though the two species are often found in man-made ponds. When breeding, stilts are less gregarious than avocets and often show more territorial behavior (Robinson et al. 1999). Silt numbers must fluctuate, since we saw far more stilts during our last visit to south Texas a few years ago. I suspect the availability of ponds must be a determining factor. This year was the fourth of relatively severe drought.

Shorebirds

Last winter my dragonfly-guru, Scott King, read The Shorebirds of North America. In exchange for my showing him a yellowlegs, he promised me several odonates lacking on my list. I assured him that my part of this bargain this spring would not be challenging. On Tuesday, Scott and I easily found both species of yellowlegs, Greater and Lesser—the photograph above is of the Lesser. Note the short, needlelike, black bill.

Other shorebirds at the Randolph Industrial Park in Dakota County, Minnesota, proved a bit trickier to identify. I was not expecting these Dunlin to be in such drab basic plumage. Our first clue in the bird above was its relatively long, down-curved bill. In the subsequent two photos, note the black belly speckles and occasional reddish back feathers.

Dunlin winter on the coasts of North America, from Alaska and Maine south to central Mexico. They breed in the high Arctic. Other Dunlin breed across Arctic shores of the Old World and winter in more southern latitudes of that hemisphere.

The Dunlin were outnumbered by Pectoral Sandpipers (in the foreground of the third photo and landing in the last one). Note the dark, sharply defined breast streaking and the dark line through the tail feathers. These shorebirds breed in the high Arctic, both in northwest North America and northeast Siberia. North American and most Siberian birds winter from Peru to southern-most Argentina. A few Pectoral Sandpipers winter across the Old World, across the Pacific Ocean, Asia and Australia, Europe, and Africa. The hypothesis is that this sandpiper originated in the New World, and spread into the Old. Most Asian birds return to their ancestral wintering range in South America (Farmer et al 2013).

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Another spring arrival at our water feature was this male Yellow-rumped Warbler. I previously wrote about how western (Audubon’s) and eastern (Myrtle) populations differ. Spring males are easy—the Audubon’s Warbler’s throat is bright yellow. Myrtle’s, like this one, have white throats.

Females and fall birds can be much trickier. The middle photograph is of a fall Myrtle Warbler that I banded in September 2010, and which I used in my previous post. Note the distinct eye-line and the distinct ear (auricular) patch.  The bottom photo shows an Audubon’s Warbler. Note its more hooded appearance, with an indistinct eye-stripe and its uniformly colored sides to the head.

I handed this Audubon’s Warbler on 8 November 2004 in Aberdeen, South Dakota. Not only is this date fairly late for the species, Audubon’s Warblers are also very rare in the eastern half of the state.