Let’s get right down to business.
In today’s world, we as wildlife photographers have one thing in common. We might disagree on the best brand, our favourite lenses, and so on. But, there’s one thing we all can come to an agreement on.
We love MEGAPIXELS!
Some flagship cameras released in 2024 have fewer megapixels than what we would have liked. This has been met with mixed emotions. Some people are happy enough to go ahead with the upgrade in camera, and others refuse and instead, look at camera options with more megapixels.
Does it really matter all that much today? I mean, let’s be honest – the vast majority of us share images to social media where it literally does not matter what the pixel count is, the images are so small and nobody will know any better. But still, to us, it does matter.
How do we solve this? A camera like the Sony A9iii, a camera I’ve come to love for many of the new ridiculously awesome features, does have lower megapixels than what I would have liked. But, as mentioned, the features of the camera and the way in which I shoot, makes me happy to use the camera regardless.
- I have always tried to get the composition right in camera, and don’t like to crop much anyway in post-processing. I use the right lenses, and always have teleconverters with me in the event that I need to get a little closer.
- I share mostly to social media, so even with a lower pixel count, I am still happy.
- At 24mp, the Sony A9iii has plenty of resolution for books, magazines and a good-sized print.
- The camera’s features are incredible, and for me, is worth while even when considering less pixels.
- I always travel with my Sony A1 which has more megapixels for when I really need it in the field.
But, what if you had to crop more than what you had bargained on? Or, what if you wanted to do a really large print for an advert, or something in a house? What if you just need a few more pixels to get the job done?
Welcome. to TOPAZ Gigapixel!
Now I know, many of you have used this app, or in the very least have heard of it. I am here to tell you about how I have used it during the past few months, to great success! See, for me it is not as simple as just chucking any image into Gigapixel, and simply hitting export. There’s a few steps leading up to this point that are important to me. I will share and discuss those in more detail below.
First though, an example with some explanations to follow…
The 3 images above will be explained in a little more detail, so that what is to follow will make more sense.
Image 1 at the original ratio, with no zoom applied, was processed as follows…
- Adjustments were done in Adobe Lightroom.
- I then exporter the image to DXO Pure RAW for denoise purposes. I toggle some of the sliders within DXO Pure RAW to ensure the image is not over-processed, still retaining a natural sharpness, look, and feel.
- The image then re-opens in Lightroom (DNG file), as DXO is a plug-in. Very handy.
- I may do some slight additional changes, but most of my edits take place prior to DXO.
- At this point, I will export the image to TOPAZ Gigapixel for enlargement. Why? Because I want to ensure the image has been edited and most importantly, denoised.
- I then once again play with the sliders and parameters in TOPAZ Gigapixel.I feel the 2x upscale gives me the best results.
- Once done, the image will go back to Lightroom as a large TIF file.
Why not process right away in Gigapixel? In my experience, images that are poorly processed, and images that are grainy, noisy, and shot at higher ISO’s with no corrections don’t do well in Gigapixel. I find that it tends to amplify the noise and grain, and delivers sub-par results.
My favourite images processed through Gigapixel, went in as low-noise super sharp images. The result will then be a larger file that looks crisp and clean!
Images 2 and 3 above show the following.
Image 2 – This is the original image in Lightroom, at 100% resolution. Not bad at all, especially after running through DXO Pure Raw.
Image 3 – This is the result after processing the file through TOPAZ Gigapixel. This is at 100% resolution. I think that if we use it at 85% – 90% of resolution, it looks even better and sharper.
Let’s take a look at another example.
I think for bird photography, an app powered by incredible AI tech such as TOPAZ Gigapixel, really works wonders! How often have you had to crop an image of a bird, because the bird appears too small in your frame? I bet pretty often! Those days could be something of the past! If you have a well-edited image of a bird, running through the steps I mentioned above, I think that with the help of Gigapixel you’ll be pleasantly surprised at just how much detail you can extract from the image.
This image of a Keel-billed Toucan was shot an an ISO value of 2500. There was some noise that I first had to get rid of. But, once I did, the rest was easy. Make some adjustments in Gigapixel and BAM! What a great shot and result!
The last image featured here is of a stunning male lion in South Africa. The light, was simply incredible! I honestly did not have to crop all that much, so there’s no real issue with the resolution at all. This is just an example of how well Gigapixel works for images that are clean, and shot at good ISO values.
I hope that this helped you out a little. I find it really helpoful for those who…
- Are thinking of upgrading to a newer camera like the Sony A9iii, but have been weary due to the lower megapixels.
- If you have some images that you may have cropped a little more than what you would have wanted to.
- You have an opportunity to go back to older images shot at lower megapixels, with the new ability to upscale them to better resolutions.
Thank you for reading along, hope I was able to shed some light on a common issue.
