Plugins?/Hair & Skin Charts?

[exorcist]

1. what plug ins are a must have to you people to use in photoshop

2. i recently downloaded Bruce Beard's Hair and Skin Color charts
and for the life of me, cannot load them into photoshop 7.0
thanking you all in advance
Exo

[d_kendal]

Hi Exo,

hopefully I can answer your questions:

1. So far, the built in filters have been enough for my needs, but if I can afford it, KPT 6 would be first on my list.

2. did you download the zip file with the .pal files? if so, those are only for Paint shop pro, so it won't be much use to you unless you have that. for Photoshop, save the jpegs:
( http://www.retouchpro.com/pages/skintones.jpg and
http://www.retouchpro.com/pages/haircolor.jpg )
and use the color picker tool to select any of those colors.

- David

[exorcist]

yes you have

thanks for the reply david
that would explain why i couldn't install the pallette
too much computer, not enough sleep

[Stephen M]

If memory serves correct, the skintone chart in question had helpful notes as part of the image on how to save a Photoshop colour swatch file from the pictures data...

Stephen Marsh.

[Andrew B.]

I don't think there are any must-have plugins. But there are plugins I'm fond of because they make things easier.

1. The DVP lite plugin from Adobe PhotoDeluxe, which I moved over to Photoshop. This contains a great jpeg cleanup filter, and a great noise reduction filter.

2. TestStrip is sometimes described as Photoshop Variations on steroids. I usually use it as a second opinion to my photo corrections. If I'm having some trouble, I run the picture through TestStrip's Metamorphosis feature and see what it comes up with. If it's better than what I've done with native tools, I look at what changes it made to guide me when I try again. I've also used it in actual corrections for some of the steps, mostly when Variations was just not hacking it. But it's expensive, and what I did was get on the mailing list and was eventually offered half off.

3. Color Mechanic Pro. This is for targeting narrow color ranges and pulling them to another color. I can't say I've used it often, but it's very good at what it does.

4. Polaroid Dust and Scratch remover. It is simply the best filter for dust and scratch removal.

5. Sharp Control. I have only briefly tried this, but I think it will be a good addition to my toolbox. It seems to be better than other sharpeners I've tried.