Photoshop is an amazing tool - capable of producing sublime images, high-quality video and, with CS6 Extended, even create very passable 3D
renders. All this power offers a world of possibilities - but
occasionally it's worth adding a few optional extras to get the most out
of your investment. In this article we've lined up some of the best
Photoshop plugins available for Adobe's photo editing giant today!
Photoshop plugins: Freeware Boundary Noise Reduction is a big improvement on Photoshop’s own noise reduction filter
Publisher: Colormancer
Price: Free
Good for: Photographers
This Photoshop plugin is a freeware version of the full Boundary
Noise Reduction plugin from Colormancer. Offering a simplified set of
user controls when compared to the pro version, it's superior to
Photoshop's own noise reduction filter.
While Photoshop offers a handy Lens Correction feature, this filter
takes an entirely different approach. Use this Photoshop plugin to
adjust the focal length, roll and horizon height to correct for panorama
distortion easily.
This amazing free Photoshop plugin provides a new panel in Photoshop
CS5 and above, allowing you to quickly access real-media preset effects
in order to generate documents with natural paper backgrounds, realistic
water-colour brush strokes and many more.
If you're looking for a quick way to generate abstract, random wave
patterns for use as background art, this Photoshop plugin could be just
what you need. It's phenomenally complex, and it’s surprisingly old -
having been around for at least a decade - but still does the trick and
creates some amazing patterns.
It's frustrating working on mockups where you plan to use web fonts
in the final rendered web page, as up until recently it's been
impossible to legitimately get those web fonts onto your system. This
Photoshop plugin is one of a few solutions that are arriving, allowing
you to instantly install and use Google Web Fonts inside Photoshop.
If you're a designer in a hurry, or you're not yet confident using
Photoshop to create stylised images, virtualPhotographer is a quick and
effective way to get some sophisticated looks in a hurry.
This free plugin uses the cloud to perform the calculations required to convert your Photoshop layers into CSS3
layers, complete with live-rendered effects where these are achievable
with CSS. So, drop-shadows, strokes, outer glows, text and rounded
corners are all converted to CSS3 automatically. Well worth a try to see
if it could save you valuable coding time.
This plugin carries an expensive price tag, but the results it can
produce are absolutely stunning. Like Nik's Viveza plugin (number 25 on
this list), there's a wide range of options with easy-to-use controls,
but all focussed around producing the best black and white photographs
possible. Give the free trial a go and see what you think.
This unusual plugin uses fractal patterns, apparently hidden within
the source image, to generate procedural effects that are reminiscent of
pencil sketches, or stylised light glow streaks.
This all-encompassing suite of effects covers everything from
textures to pseudo-3D effects, tonal correction and borders. It's not
cheap, but covers such a wide range of effects that if you want to buy
just one plugin, this should be in your shortlist of options.
Exposure is a creative tool that allows you to simulate film effects
on your digital images, rendering analog-style finishes, borders,
scratches and processing in a realistic and rewarding style. Version 4
adds to the already excellent Exposure 3 with additional controls for
black/white, split toning and custom colour effects.
A combination of three different filters for Photoshop that each
provide seamless and rich textures you can incorporate into your
designs. Some of these are a little predictable, but the sheer range
available, along with the ability to generate true fractals, makes this a
great addition to Photoshop.
Masking is a fine art all in itself, and while Photoshop has improved
its built-in masking tools with CS5 and CS6, there's still plenty of
room for a dedicated tool to help you get the cleanest and most accurate
masks possible - especially around problem areas such as hair and fur.
Fluid Mask makes this normally laborious process quick and (relatively)
easy!
Portraiture is a combined plugin for Photoshop, Lightroom and
Aperture that automates the process of retouching portraits for a
perfect-skin look. The plugin automatically smooths skin tones while
removing blemishes and, crucially, avoids softening or destroying detail
areas such as eyelashes and skin texture.
This filter brings insanely beautiful scratchy textures to your
designs and images with accurate, believable weathering and aging
effects. Effects include the ability to place artwork on a leather base,
render onto wood with the grain visible through the artwork and rust
effects. It produces especially nice effects on simple typography.
While Photoshop has come on leaps and bounds with its own 3D engine
and rendering, there's still room for additional tools that can simplify
the process of creating complex 3D scenes and models. This plugin
features a simple object editor that uses a pen-like tool for drawing
and editing shapes.
Blow Up allows you to create pin-sharp enlargements from photos
without compromising on quality. The algorithm is more advanced than
Photoshop's own bicubic filters, which allows the plugin to produce
accurate images without artifacts. This makes it a great tool for
designers where clients send over images that aren't of a high-enough
resolution.
Photomatix Pro is an High Dynamic Range (HDR) processing and toning
tool that integrates with Photoshop either standalone or as a plugin
(depending upon which version you go for). This tool goes beyond
Photoshop's built-in HDR processing capabilities, especially with the
toning aspects and allows for the creation of extreme HDR images with
relative ease.
Perfect Effects 3 FREE is a handy tool for getting a quick effect on
an image, whether that's a colour treatment, addition of texture and
noise, or creative borders. The plugin features an effects library (a
bit like the filter gallery in Photoshop) and allows you to stack
multiple effects to achieve interesting new results.
Noise is a problem for everyone, but no more so than Photographers
who need to present clients with clean images regardless of the
conditions when the shot was captured. Noiseware is a specialist
noise-suppression tool that will both remove noise and sharpen at the
same time making it a really useful addition to Photoshop.
If you're a regular user of the PNG format, you'll know that
Photoshop can sometimes struggle a bit to render PNGs quickly. SuperPNG
aims to fix this by offering more control over your PNG output, allowing
for a balance between speed and file size, control over the alpha
channel and meta data. SuperPNG's a handy tool for taking control of
your image export, and is free!
SiteGrinder is a tool for converting Photoshop mockups into fully
functioning HTML and CSS webpages. It includes support for an eCommerce
module to further enhance the output, and a CMS-based module adds the
ability to maintain websites created using the tool. This isn't really
aimed at web professionals, but could be handy for novice designers.
Wire Worm is a free plugin with a single, simple purpose that may
save you a lot of time removing telephone wires, fences and similar
obstructions in your images. The interface is simple, allowing you to
select an area around a wire or other obstruction and have the tool
automatically remove it. Results are surprisingly good, especially for
the price!
EyeCandy has been around for over a decade, offering a broad range of
effects ranging from fire to chrome, glass to extrusions. Useful for
many different scenarios, a lot of the effects need dialing down from
the default settings to achieve something other than a cheesy result,
but there’s a lot of hidden gems in the suite.
Viveza 2 is a great solution for applying localised colour and
lighting effects to your image. Working in a similar way to Lightroom’s
local corrections feature, Viveza allows you to place points on your
image and apply a series of effects that are automatically blended to
give a professional result. Fantastic results are pretty easy to
achieve, and above all else it's quick to use!
ToonIt is a straightforward way to turn regular photos into a
cartoon-style image, suitable for use in graphic novels or other
scenarios where you don’t want photo-realistic images but need to base
images on a photographic original. The plugin works automatically on an
image, but there is a degree of control you can exercise to change the
final output. Niche, but fun!
Red Giant is better known for its range of After Effects plugins, but
they’ve also brought their Looks plugin to Photoshop, Lightroom and
Aperture. This features the same interface as in Magic Bullet Looks for
After Effects and features a range of adjustment tools to help you
achieve the exact 'look' you desire. A range of usable presets make this
a great quick-fix tool.
Similar to its After Effects big brother, Knoll Light Factory for
Photoshop allows you to create a host of advanced lens flares,
integrating them into your image and adding immediate impact. There are
over 100 presets, and you can build new flare effects to your own taste.
A great tool for adding instant drama to photographs.
Digital Film Tools' Ozone plugin is a toning system for images that
duplicates a lot of the functionality found in Photoshop itself, but
makes it more accessible to novice users. Based on the zone system
established by Ansel Adams, it allows for different parts of an image
to be toned according to taste, defining the relative importance and
relationship of elements within an image.
Photoshop Edge FX is a simple solution for adding creative borders
around your images. The plugin ships with 100 frames and edges and also
allows you to create your own mattes for additional borders. Simple and
effective, this isn't offering anything you couldn’t achieve manually,
but does the job quickly and efficiently.
This straightforward plugin makes it simple to create diptych
(double), triptych (triple) and ntych (quadrule+) panels within
Photoshop. Choose the alignment, number of rows and columns, or hybrid
layouts, and Tych Panel 2 will create the layout for you utilizing Smart
Objects and layer masks to avoid destructive editing.
This simple Photoshop plugin makes it easy to create a grid system in
your Photoshop document, hijacking the built-in guides system to create
a pinpoint accurate grid according to your chosen settings. You can use
negative margins for special hanging columns, separately define
individual margins and gutters, and save your preferred options for
quick access in the future. Perfect for anyone using a grid to help them
create their layouts.
This super-handy CS6-only plugin makes it easy to export your designs
from Photoshop to the web. Rather than rely on Photoshop's outdated
export for web functionality, Cut&Slice me offers a new way of doing
things; allowing overlapping slices, multiple button states and even
exporting different resolutions of the same assets to cater for
different screen sizes and devices.
This in-depth plugin integrates with Photoshop to allow for the
creation of complete, functioning WordPress themes directly from a PSD
file. You start by generating a PSD from within the plugin's own
screens, then adapt the boilerplate design to suit your own aesthetic
treatment. Once complete, you can export directly to WordPress, and edit
otherwise static content using a special WordPress plugin. Ideal for
non-technical users who want to get started in web template development.
This handy Photoshop script converts layer comps into a storyboard
view, compositing your individual comps into a layout that can be easily
output as PDF for printing and sharing with others. This turns
Photoshop into a great place to create your blockbuster's storyboard,
doing away with all the tedious manual positioning and exporting
associated with generating your own board manually.
What Photoshop plugins have we missed off our list? Let us know in the comments below!
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