Plug-In: Photoshop plugins 2015

[Doug Nelson]

Are Photoshop plugins becoming redundant with Adobe's new policy of launching new features every couple of months?

The plugin companies seem to be shrinking and disappearing, so it seems there is less of a market for them. But perhaps that's the marketplace overall, and not specifically about plugins?

What are your goto plugins even taking into consideration Photoshop CC 2014 and all its new capabilities?

[plugsnpixels]

Re: Photoshop plugins 2015

Plug-ins forever! ;-)

My opinion is, even if Adobe added more and more of this type of functionality, not everybody has Photoshop... And the Adobe version of any given effect is not necessarily as good as the third-party options which specialize in this sort of thing.

The wise plug-in developers have also moved to the standalone model, where one doesn't even need an image host (when Adobe changed its licensing model, being tied in to and totally dependent on them was a bad place to be).

While there is obviously some overlap among the plug-ins currently available, I find myself mostly using those from Topaz, onOne and Alien Skin. These companies offer both creative and corrective software, so your needs are met on both ends. I especially like adding artsy to my images via software since I don't have the patience or skills to paint. I like grunging them up too with textures.