Adobe Photoshop plug ins

Hi, Bit of an open question as like the questions "What camera or what lens should I buy"
Better to no what your aim is for a final result to your images and what kind of images you take "Landscape,still life etc etc"
The other thing you need to look at is "do I need a plug-in or would an action give me the same end result"?
In saying that I do use NIK and also OnOne plug-ins.
Russ
 
Some of the more popular ones are
Nik Silver effex for black and white (they also do a hdr effx, colour effx, vivenza and define noise reducer and a sharpener).
Imagenomic noiseware (the best noise reduction IMHO) the also make a portraitureskin softener and grain plug-in.
Topaz make a big range of good plug-ins, detail and ajust being probably the most popular.
Alien skin bokeh is handy for adding out of focus effects.
Portrait professional one of the best skin softening softwares, once you get the setting sorted (the default tends to be a bit over the top)
Lucis arts for some sort of hdr type effects, (does a lot more different effects though)effects really
Redfield fractulius for some very odd effects frankly.
These are the ones that spring to mind.
 
The only one I use regularly and have for years is Redynamix as it brings out the detailed from the shadows and good with getting a more gritty look to - for example brickwork. You need to be sure you don't overdo it or you can get horrendous (IMO) HDR stuff.

I have tried many others such as those Wayne mentions but I have this attitude that I get more of a kick doing it the long/harder way. Perhaps me being stubborn. A click of a 'pre set' doesn't seem like much fun. But if I were a pro trying to get through a mountain of images I'd be taking note of Wayne's suggestions.
 
DayDreamer said:
The only one I use regularly and have for years is Redynamix as it brings out the detailed from the shadows and good with getting a more gritty look to - for example brickwork. You need to be sure you don't overdo it or you can get horrendous (IMO) HDR stuff.

I have tried many others such as those Wayne mentions but I have this attitude that I get more of a kick doing it the long/harder way. Perhaps me being stubborn. A click of a 'pre set' doesn't seem like much fun. But if I were a pro trying to get through a mountain of images I'd be taking note of Wayne's suggestions.
Click to expand...

Forgot that one John, it's another I use too.
 
Ok I'll kick this one off.
Very little done, just added a Lucis art effect to this one.
8478825110_1756c46ac0_c.jpg



On this I did some ajustments in camera raw to lift the shadows and boos the colour slightly, then duplicated the layer and added a gradient map effect, then blended the two layers.

8478825578_f0e314512c_c.jpg
 
Wayne off to an excellent start - but - is it in the wrong thread ;)
 
I use the following lug-ins in CS6

Nik Color efex
Nik Silver Efex
Nik HDR efex - (for when you have to or want to)
Imagenomic Noiseware

Reasons for using them -

Nik color efex gives a nice array of filters. I find the presets of many of them work very well with certain images, especially glamour glow and cross processing.

Nik silver efex is one of the best mono converters out there IMO. It lets you take a great deal of control over the image.

Imagenomic noiseware - as Wayne said its a good one and does alot of other features than just remove noise.

To kind of put things into perspective, I used to eat, sleep and breath the Topaz filter collection.
Since changing to the above 4, Topaz has since been removed from the PC. I'm not saying Topaz is rubbish, I just find the above more intuitive and balanced i nthe results.
 
Thanks for the constructive replies chaps, I had not realised it was such an open ended question!

I like the sound of the noiseware and silver effex so my last question is, for CS6 are these individual plug ins or do I have to purchase the full suits? I have searched and there is an awful lot of differing suggestions depending on where one looks!

Andy
 
It's well worth checking out the entire Topaz range of plugins except, perhaps, photoFXlab which is a standalone host program for using the other plugins without the need for Photoshop.

Adjust is a general-purpose plugin for editing the 'look' of a photo. Detail is for adding small, medium, and large local contrast and so is good for sharpening and adding or removing clarity and structure. Simplify and Clean do the opposite and are great for getting the 'painterly' look. Remask is great for masking hair, trees, bride's veils, etc. B&W Effects is similar to Nik's Silver Efex, ie creating monochrome photos. Lens Effects is good for changing the focus of a picture to some degree by using depth maps, and can mimic the look of a fair number of lenses; it's also great for adding mist and fog to your photo, adding filters, and other effects. DeNoise does what it says in the name. Infocus goes some way toward rescuing out-of-focus photos. Star Effects is for adding stars, lens flares, and other lighting effects. Finally, DeJPEG can be used for removing JPEG compression artefacts of various kinds.

I also use OnOne Software's Perfect Effects which is great for doing global and local adjustments in a similar way to Topaz Adjust and also comes with a big stack of presets. It can be used as a plugin to PS, Elements, Lightroom, Aperture, and as a standalone program. OnOne have other plugins that rival Topaz and Nik Software, such as Perfect Mask and FocalPoint. They also offer Perfect Portrait, Perfect Black and White, Perfect Layers, and Perfect Resize.

With Nik's Viveza you can get a photo ready for print or upload quicker than most other methods, using something called U-Points. Nik also offer Color Efex Pro which is like Perfect Effects but with fewer presets and less control (IMO). They also offer HDR Efex for producing HDR photos.
 
Keebsuk said:
Wayne, I'm not too keen on the effects in the 1st image but the 2nd is outstanding!

Andy
Click to expand...

It was a bit hit and miss Andy, I don't use the effect much myself but was struggling to find something that sort of worked with it.

I have reported my miss-placed post and asked the mods to move it to the PP thread but nothings happened, so sorry again guys.
 
Nik Dfine has the advantage that it can be applied selectively - as far as I know none of the others can do that (they all need masks).
 
Nik collection user here too. :)

U Point technology just makes everything that much easier, and quicker. I've tried all the Topaz plugins via downloadable demos, but they don't feel as user friendly to me.
 
Has to be the nik software collection has everything you need in one package
 
Kerioak said:
I am spending too much time learning all the ins-and-outs of Photoshop without adding plug-ins to the mix :)
Click to expand...

Ozei said:
I know the feeling. :lol:
Click to expand...


:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

OMG so much to learn & my brain is not at full working speed so everything I learn one day is mostly forgotten the next :gag:
 
I use Silver EFEX Pro; Photomatix; Perfect Effect 4 and Topaz

dave
 
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