Photoshop Plugins

[-Rob-]

I've been playing around with CS3 for over 6 months or so but I still only know the basics of it so I'm not really getting the top quality results I'd like from it.

In order to improve my results I'd like to have a crack at using some plugins that automate the techniques. Ideally I'd like them to be more suited to portrait type work but any kind of plugin recommendation would be great.

As plugin suites can be quite expensive to buy I don't want to invest in the wrong one then find out it doesn't do what i want it to do so any recommendations and links would be most appreciated. Samples of what the plugins can do would be great as well.

 

[boyfalldown]

the totally radical actions are really rather good, and well worth the money. You can download some samples before you buy

http://gettotallyrad.com/

 

[Hairyduck]

Most have limited timespan demos so you can try before you buy, I have these which I use from time to time:

Alien skin Bokeh
Alien Skin exposure 2
Color Efex Pro
Noise ninja

 

[swanseamale47]

Silver effects pro (for black and white)
Alien skin bokeh (for selective focus effetcs)
PK Sharpner ( for sharpening) or TLR sharpner pretty much the same thing for free.

 

[Hacker]

OnOne Phototools is a great plug-in which I use all the time and it has specific 'actions' for portrait work.

 

[zeugma]

As Hacker, Phototools.
Also look at:
Alien Skin (mentioned.)
Flaming Pear
Pluginsite / Photowiz.
Digital Film Tools.
Nik Software.
Fred Miranda.
Imagenomic.
Redfield.
Richard Rosenman.

So many to look at.....