what plug-ins do you use?

[Pacificpowered]

Hello,

My name is Donald Kelly. I have been using Photoshop to retouch and edit photos for awhile now, but I have no experience using plug-ins.

I was wondering if anyone who retouches and edits could offer a list of their personal favorite plug-ins that they find useful to help get me started.

Thanks!

[frankxsi]

Re: what plug-ins do you use?

Nik
TopAz

[Pari Retouch]

Re: what plug-ins do you use?

Honestly, I use No Plugins

I mainly do high end retouching so using plugins is like cheating my clients so I never use it. I have seen that most of the good retouchers in the industry don't use plugins at all except plugins like Capture one.

[frankxsi]

Re: what plug-ins do you use?

using plugins is like cheating my clients

cheating would be if you have a contract or agreement to only use Photoshop for retouching.

pluging like Capture one

is not a plugging actually is a RAW converter

[Pacificpowered]

Re: what plug-ins do you use?

Nik
TopAz

Are those plugins? I'm sorry.

[plugsnpixels]

Re: what plug-ins do you use?

Donald, the website below is dedicated to plug-ins and other digital imaging apps. Pretty much all the related info you need is there. nik and Topaz are both plug-in developers.

IMO the Topaz bundle is the best deal available for plug-ins, since you get so many (10) at a low cost and they can be used for both creative and corrective effects.

Those who don't use plug-ins are usually professionals with the Photoshop skills to do everything manually, but even then, some effects just can't be done without plug-ins (or the type of retouching they do doesn't require such). But most people don't have the chops or the time to do things the hard way, so for us there are plug-ins...!

[4personnen]

Re: what plug-ins do you use?

yes, sort of...

FFT plugin (is it a plug in?) for restorations.

Most of the instances in the Filters effect might be plug-ins for me (developped by third party companies and integrated to PS later on), so in that sense, yes, "liquify" ...

I tried some cut-out plugins but never found one that equal my manual skills, at least for the bulk I have (I'm testing Vertis at the moment) I think none of them worth the money they ask for. IMHO, of course.

HTH

[SEP Studios]

Re: what plug-ins do you use?

The only plug-in I've ever used professionally is Alien Skin Blow Up 2.0 for enlarging images. It's a fantastic plug-in, very expensive though. If you're doing large-format work like trade show booths it's invaluable.

It can't, unfortunately, take a low res image and magically make it high res. The starting image has to be of some decent quality.

Otherwise I'm old school, no plug-ins. I don't even like using layer effects because I can get more control building them manually.

Of course, if you're in a high volume production environment (catalogs, yearbook pictures, etc), you'll want to use anything that can improve your workflow.

Scott

SEP Studios Retouching
http://www.retoucher.net

[Flashtones]

Re: what plug-ins do you use?

For product retouching I like Topaz Detail and Topaz Denoise. I find they both work better than what I can get from PS alone.

I do similar retouching on-site without those products and feel my results are hampered.

[santoro80]

Re: what plug-ins do you use?

Whats the best plugin for noise reduction?

[frankxsi]

Re: what plug-ins do you use?

define 2
and topaz Denoise

[plugsnpixels]

Re: what plug-ins do you use?

onOne released their new Perfect Photo Suite 6 today. Discount available.

[Pacificpowered]

Re: what plug-ins do you use?

For product retouching I like Topaz Detail and Topaz Denoise. I find they both work better than what I can get from PS alone.

I do similar retouching on-site without those products and feel my results are hampered.

Thanks. I'll check them out

[plugsnpixels]

Re: what plug-ins do you use?

Don't miss the discount on Topaz products if you choose that route.

[andrewrodney]

Re: what plug-ins do you use?

Whats the best plugin for noise reduction?

I’m a fan of Noiseware but to be honest, since the NR in Lightroom or ACR 6, I’m not using it anymore. I vastly prefer to handle this in the raw processing pipeline.