Anyone have any P.S. plugins or additional software they couldn't live without for retouching?

What kinds of retouch work are you doing? Glamour, restoration, etc.

mostly glamour I'd say

neat image comes in handy, also genuine fractals helps with blowing up files.

i also like the eye candy, kpt, alien skin stuff for illustration work.

but i never liked any 3rd party masking stuff, i always found masking with channels and stuff alot better. Easier to manipulate then tying to hit a perfect mask with 1 shot. Even ps's extract does the same thing as 3rd party stuff.

While I don't find it essential, it is a nice addition to an arsenal. I too prefer calculations and apply image to masking, but EZ Mask or power Mask by Digital Film Tools are very good at what they do.

Chris

Noise Ninja is a cool plug-in to have and works quite well to clean up digital noise and unwanted "film grain." Check it out

steve

There really isn't a single plug-in that's a "must have". Anything plug-ins are able to do, it can be done better in Photoshop. The only time that I find them useful is when quantity before quality. I did use Fluid Mask to knock out hundreds of product images in a fairly short time. Although all the masks still needed refinement, but they were acceptable for that particular project.

For color correction I first turn to iCorrect Edit Lab Pro (http://www.plugsandpixels.com/icorrecteditlabpro.html), which usually does a great job in one click on a neutral area. For noise reduction, Imagenomic Noiseware (http://www.plugsandpixels.com/noiseware.html). For masking, EZ Mask (http://www.plugsandpixels.com/ezmask.html) or Power Mask (http://www.plugsandpixels.com/powermask.html). For wild stuff, Alien Skin apps (http://www.plugsandpixels.com/developers.html) (as mentioned by KR1156).

The bottom line is, do you have both the chops and the time to do this work manually using native Photoshop tools? If no, that is why plug-ins exist ;-).

Try Filter Forge with additional filters (more than 3500) for free during one month

Just a couple for me http://www.neatimage.com and also the actions from http://www.1clickactions.com

i agree with pixel monkey .. nothing out there that you cant do with photoshop.

i agree with pixel monkey .. nothing out there that you cant do with photoshop.

that's like saying you can do everything with a manual saw and screwdriver :) doesn't mean it's going to help you get things done fast enough.

i agree with pixel monkey .. nothing out there that you cant do with photoshop.

Please realize not all of us use Photoshop.

Steve C.

Whether we like it or not, Photoshop is King of the Hill for digital imagers. The main negative thing we can say about it is it costs too much. If its price was on par with Paint Shop Pro (etc.), chances are more would use Photoshop instead. On the positive side, it's got much more support than Paint Shop Pro (user base, plug-ins, events, training, etc.).

Of course it depends on what type of work you do. Even some of the free/OSS apps will fit the bill for most people. Photoshop provides power and flexibility for those doing high-end professional work, including artistic endeavors (compositing, etc.).

Serge65 mentioned Filter Forge (http://plugsandpixels.com/filterforge.html). FF is very cool and unique, and totally different from Photoshop! It can stand on its own or run as a plug-in, creating a quality of textures and effects I haven't seen elsewhere. I'm a Mac user but run this Windows-only (for now) app in emulation. In issue 9 of my ezine (URL in sig) I show off some of its fire effects (from a filter contributed by a user).

Ya know guys. Just because it all can be done in Photoshop doesn't mean it HAS to be done in Photoshop. Heck, I write all my own convolutions for blurring and sharpening.
I agree, the majority of third party plugins are based on the insides of Photoshop, but there are times when I am just to tired to run through a 15 step sequence, or wonder why my action that I created to save me from doing that isn't working. A plugin comes in handy sometimes and does not make you any less a user of any program. Just means you know how to utilize your time and if you are on a project, your clients time.

Chris

Never heard of those two Digital Film Tools masking plugs before Chris, I'll look into them. I tried Fluid mask recently, and to be honest its just too slow to use. Most of the masking plugs Ive tried demos of are slower to me than using calculations or channel operations- so Ive always neglected them in the past.

for those that hate to cut masks for color corrections will enjoy using Coco...