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Top 10 Photoshop Plugins and Filters for a Digital Photographer

Ranked #520 in Arts & Design, #6,215 overall

Too many Photoshop filters and plugins simply perform neat tricks that soon get old.  Some, like the radial blur filter are so specialized that you might use them once a year.  However, a few of these are downright useful and sometimes indispensable.  These tools provide a service that is impossible to replicate manually or would either take hours of manual editing. 

This is a list of the top 10 filters and plugins that I cannot live without.

Top Ten Plugins

Nik Sharpener Pro 2.0
Simply the best Image Sharpening I have come across. This plugin does it all for you. you just tell it what type of printer and paper you are using and it performs a custom sharpening.

The most powerful feature of this program is its selective function. This function allows you to apply various levels of sharpening to different parts of the image. I find this feature particularly useful in images of detailed landscapes.
Nik Sunshine Filter
The Sunshine filter is one of the most advanced filters within the Nik Color Efex Pro 2.0 filter collection. The Sunshine filter was designed to add light to virtually any image, while adapting the light that is being added to correspond with colors that appear in the image. The end result of the Sunshine filter is an image that appears as though it was shot on a bright and sunny day.
Nik Skylight Filter
I use this filter on nearly every image I capture outdoors. It is part of my standard workflow.

The Skylight Filter in Nik Color Efex Pro 2.0 combines the effects of both a conventional Skylight Filter that removes ultraviolet radiation (which can introduce blue colors in the image), and the effect of conventional warming filters. When applied to an image, this filter can be used to either warm an image or to remove blue casts that commonly occur in outdoor images.
Black and White Studio
This is the best Black and White Conversion plugin that I have come across. It allows you to replicate many of the traditional darkroom processes.

Here are the benfits listed on their website:
A digital darkroom to convert color
Light sensitivity of professional films (Kodak Tri-X, T-MAX, etc.), define your own light sensitivity curves, color-filters (like camera-filters: yellow, orange, etc.), multigrade range 00 to 5 - with en extra step at each end, exposure equivalent to f-stops,
highlight and shadow control, zone adjustments - three zones available with eyedroppers and zone width option.
Power Retouche Saturation Plugin
this plugin allows you to raise saturation without fragmenting the image into primaries like red, green and blue. The saturation editor operates with a full 360° colorwheel. It offers two saturation methods: Photo and regular. Photomode correlates saturation of hue with the colors brightness-value and chroma. Regular mode saturates evenly.
DXO Optics Pro
This is the standalone program that corrects the subtle lens specific distortion. It has to be seen to be believed. Click on the link and look at the before and after shots. You'll be amazed at what this program can do to an image that already looks pretty good.
DCF Full Spectrun
This plugin restores the image to a color spectrum that matches what your eye is used to seeing. The camera sensors have a hard time distinguishing between different hues of purple, violet and sunlit green. This filter corrects the problem.
Vanishing Point
This filter is included with Photoshop CS2. While not as useful for traditional photography it is a powerful tool for the Graphic Designer. Here is a link to a PDF excerpt from Martin Evenings book, Adobe Photoshop CS2 for Photographers.
Liquify Filter
This filter is included with Photoshop CS2. It is an indispensable tool for portrait photographers. Once you master it you will be a virtual plastic surgeon.

The link is to a short video clip form Deke McClelland
Lens Corrector Pro - lens distortion correction
Best software for correction of lens distortions like panorama distortions, pincushion distortion and barreling.

Sample Color Workflow Using These Plugins

  1. Open Raw image In DXO Optics Pro. Adjust for lens distortion only. Save as a DNG file.
  2. Open DNG file in Photoshop through Adobe Camera Raw.
  3. Apply DCF Full Spectrum
  4. Use the Raw Pre-Sharpening finction of Nik Sharpener Pro.
  5. Use the Skylight filter.
  6. Adjust curves, brightness, etc.
  7. Run Nik Sharpener Pro right before printing to render printer specific sharpening.

Sample BW Workflow using These Plugins

  1. Open Raw image In DXO Optics Pro. Adjust for lens distortion only. Save as a DNG file.
  2. Open DNG file in Photoshop through Adobe Camera Raw.
  3. Use the Raw Pre-Sharpening finction of Nik Sharpener Pro.
  4. Apply DCF Full Spectrum
  5. Adjust Curves for maximum contrast and tonal separation. (I often find that overly exagerated colors render better black an white images)
  6. Black and white Studio Plugin
  7. Run Nik Sharpener Pro right before printing to render printer specific sharpening.

Excellent Plugins that Did Not Quite Make the Top 10

Noise Ninja
Excellent Noise Reduction Program
Genuine Fractals 4.1
Not exactly a plugin, but the best tool that I know of to do serious enlagements.

Books to help you with Photoshop filters and Plugins

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DrewHendricks

I am an entrepreneurial marketing executive who is on a constant crusade to rid the world from creative mediocrity.  I stoke the fire by capturing... more »

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