What are *The best* Photo Imaging Plug-ins?

In article ,
comnojunk says…

Folks I would like your input as what are the *best* plug-ins, in your estimation for manipulating and correct photographic images both color and black and white.

URLS for the plug-in vendors would also be appreciated. Also would it really be worth this old man’s time and effort with his limited requirements as described above to upgrade to PS 7.0 and CS from PS 6.0.1?
Thanks in advance.

David N.

David,

This is not what you are asking for, BUT the choice of plug-ins is a personal matter, based solely on what one does with PS. I would be hard-pressed to get by without Eye Candy (had it since it was AlienSkin 1.0), and I also use Extensis Phototools (though there is a bit of overlap with EC). As to corrective plug-ins, I don’t usually use them, choosing to work in Curves, or Levels, instead.

Unfortunately, the same type of answer applies to whether upgrading PS is of you. I have only skipped PS 5.5 in the upgrade line from v2.x. However, I work with photographic images, and am either trying to achieve the perfect image, or am doing photo-illustration with PS, Painter, AI, and several 3-D imaging programs – not your normal PS user. For me, each version has been worth the $, especially 3 and CS. Others might be able to help you a bit more, but you might want to rephrase your question with a bit of background and maybe even an equipment list of what you are working with.

Hunt

Plug-ins make great little toys but I find they have no use in colour correction. Your best tools for that are Curves, levels and the eyedropper.

"DaveN" wrote in message

Folks I would like your input as what are the *best* plug-ins, in your estimation for manipulating and correct photographic images both color and
black and white.

URLS for the plug-in vendors would also be appreciated. Also would it really
be worth this old man’s time and effort with his limited requirements as described above to upgrade to PS 7.0 and CS from PS 6.0.1?
Thanks in advance.

David N.

"Roy" wrote in message

Plug-ins make great little toys but I find they have no use in colour correction. Your best tools for that are Curves, levels and the eyedropper.

Uh oh. Wait until the Curvemeister reads that!

http://www.curvemeister.com/

jjs wrote:

"Roy" wrote in message

Plug-ins make great little toys but I find they have no use in colour correction. Your best tools for that are Curves, levels and the eyedropper.

Uh oh. Wait until the Curvemeister reads that!

http://www.curvemeister.com/

LOL 🙂

—

Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com
www.geigy.2y.net

you
might want to rephrase your question with a bit of background and maybe even an equipment list of what you are working with.

Thanks…

Working through ca 20,000 negatives (B&W and Color) and transparancies from 35mm to 4 x 5 inches that I have taken over a period of more than 45 years from the yellowstone to Africa – Japan – Thailand – Saudi Arabia – Yeman – Hong Kong etc etc.

I’m scanning on an Epson 4870, importing into PS 6.0.1 on a pentium 4 hyperthreading 3 gig plus CPU with 2 gigs of RAM wa high end ATI graphics card and a 19 inch LCD Flat panal display. 200 gig HD and burning to DVDs or CDs as the occasion warrents. I print to an Epson 4400 or will as soon as it arrives and I set it up, mounting with a Seal dry mounting press. etc.

About 5 – 15 percent of the images are really worthwhile. Tthe rest should have ended up in the shredder but I refused to throw away negatives.

I use no plug-ins at present doing all corrections manually. SO I suppose you could say I am *half digital.*

Thanks .

DavidN

"DaveN" wrote in message

Working through ca 20,000 negatives (B&W and Color) and transparancies from
35mm to 4 x 5 inches that I have taken over a period of more than 45 years from
the yellowstone to Africa – Japan – Thailand – Saudi Arabia – Yeman – Hong Kong
etc etc.
[…]
About 5 – 15 percent of the images are really worthwhile. Tthe rest should
have ended up in the shredder but I refused to throw away negatives.

Hold on to those ‘bad’ pictures, too. They might provide good historical references. For example, pictures taken in China during the revolution (despite the general ban) are becoming valuable, and even pictures from ten years ago in the now urbanized areas are very important. It’s about before-and-after comparisons. (Beijing is almost surreal!)

I would say that a good start would be

(1) Neat Image (or Noise Ninja, or …. ) for noise reduction http://www.neatimage.com/

(2) Polaroid’s Dust and Scratches program and plug-in for clean up http://www.polaroid.com/service/software/poladsr/poladsr.htm l

(3) A copy of Dan Margulis’ "Professional PhotoShop" book (to learn how to color correct and use "Curves" from a true master) http://www.ledet.com/margulis/articles.html
http://www.ledet.com/margulis/ACT_postings/ACT.htm
http://www.ledet.com/margulis/

(3) A copy of "Photoshop Restoration and Retouching" by Katrin Eismann http://www.digitalretouch.org/

Upgrade PhotoShop to CS … probably, but I would also take a very good look at Digital Light and Color’s Picture Window Pro. Or at least, their "Color Mechanic" plugin. It does some color correction tasks **much** easier than PhotoShop. Ideal situation would be to have both DL-C’s Picture Window Pro *and* PhotoShop CS *and* the DL-C plugin for PhotoShop. Additionally, PWP is the only *true*16-bit-per-pixel editor that I know about (and … yes … I know about CinePaint, which I consider to be promising, but in reality an un-finished, essentially "alpha" release).

http://www.dl-c.com/aboutpw.html
http://www.dl-c.com/Temp/
http://www.dl-c.com/Temp/products/cmintro.html

Other that the above, there are literally thousands of plugins available "on the web," many of them free. One source of information (caution, it *is* a for-profit venture) is ‘Plugin News’ …
To subscribe send a blank email to:

or use the web form at http://thepluginsite.com/news/
[Disclaimer: I am *not* associated with this venture in any way, other than reading their newsletter..]

Some other interesting plugins that I have found useful for photography and color correction, and so forth, are from Cybia (in The UK) http://www.cybia.co.uk/fotomatic.htm
Try their ‘Free’ offerings first.

Another very useful plugin has been "Color Temperature & Exposure Correction." You can get it from Adobe’s Studio Exchange site, or from the authors (with extended documentation) at
http://plugin.artdesign.ru/

There are more … MANY more … and you can probably find most of them with your friendly local search engine.

"DaveN" wrote in message

Folks I would like your input as what are the *best* plug-ins, in your estimation for manipulating and correct photographic images both color

and

black and white.

URLS for the plug-in vendors would also be appreciated. Also would it

really

be worth this old man’s time and effort with his limited requirements as described above to upgrade to PS 7.0 and CS from PS 6.0.1?
Thanks in advance.

David N.

RSD99 wrote:

Another very useful plugin has been "Color Temperature & Exposure Correction." You can get it from Adobe’s Studio Exchange site, or from the authors (with extended documentation) at
http://plugin.artdesign.ru/

Is there anything this p-i can do better or easier over PS controls in RAW processor? I looked at the tutorial, but nothing jumped out. I also realize you weren’t suggesting this in place of RAW sliders for the same (and more) adjustments.

—
John McWilliams

In article ,
(DaveN) wrote:

Folks I would like your input as what are the *best* plug-ins, in your estimation for manipulating and correct photographic images both color and black and white.

For the most part, the best way to use Photoshop is to forget plug-ins and learn to use the built-in tools and commands. Photoshop is more than a plug-in host; almost all the results you see from professional users are done without third-party plug-ins.

I’m sorry … I don’t know.

I have found it easier to use (sometimes) than the raw ‘Curves’ dialog box when correcting for color temperature problems.

"John McWilliams" wrote in message

RSD99 wrote:

Another very useful plugin has been "Color Temperature & Exposure Correction." You can get it from Adobe’s Studio Exchange site, or from

the

authors (with extended documentation) at
http://plugin.artdesign.ru/

Is there anything this p-i can do better or easier over PS controls in RAW processor? I looked at the tutorial, but nothing jumped out. I also realize you weren’t suggesting this in place of RAW sliders for the same (and more) adjustments.

—
John McWilliams

Explanation: When I used the phrase "… the raw ‘Curves’ dialog box …’ I was referring to the normal ‘Curves’ dialog box, not the RAW converter(s).

Sorry ’bout that ….

"RSD99" wrote in message

I’m sorry … I don’t know.

I have found it easier to use (sometimes) than the raw ‘Curves’ dialog

box

when correcting for color temperature problems.

"tacit" wrote in message

In article ,
(DaveN) wrote:

Folks I would like your input as what are the *best* plug-ins, in your estimation for manipulating and correct photographic images both color and
black and white.

For the most part, the best way to use Photoshop is to forget plug-ins and learn to use the built-in tools and commands. Photoshop is more than a plug-in host; almost all the results you see from professional users are done without third-party plug-ins.

HEAR HEAR! Finally someone that sees it the way I do! Too many people rely on plug-ins as the "almighty fix" for anything and everything.

How ’bout using *both* the built-in stuff *and* plug-ins? Or would that be too simple?

tacit wrote:

In article ,
(DaveN) wrote:

Folks I would like your input as what are the *best* plug-ins, in your estimation for manipulating and correct photographic images both color and black and white.

For the most part, the best way to use Photoshop is to forget plug-ins and learn to use the built-in tools and commands. Photoshop is more than a plug-in host; almost all the results you see from professional users are done without third-party plug-ins.

One reason to use more efficient tools is professional demands. I learned a lot of nice methods in Photoshop when I was just editing pictures for myself. I had time to experiment and ‘fine tune’. When I turned pro in my wedding photography business, I suddenly had a time crunch.

I had hundreds of pictures that HAD to be done in a certain time. I HAD to find efficiencies that just weren’t important before. At the same time the quality still had to be tops. I tried that with actions and workflow improvements in Photoshop; it wasn’t enough.

One tool that really helps my efficiencies AND keeps the quality at the top or even higher is Curvemeister. Now color correction and quality is fast and easy. For hundreds of pictures from a wedding, that is very important.

The only other plug-in that I use regularly is Focus Magic for sharpening. I’ve tried a bunch of techniques in Photoshop and put a lot of them in actions. Frankly, none of them have worked nearly as well for sharpening. So, that is another reason to use plug-ins; it just works better.

In the works-better-and-faster category, Noise Ninja is also a tool I regularly use. However, I don’t use it as a plug-in. I batch the files in the standalone.

Clyde

what are the *best* plug-ins, in your estimation for manipulating and correct photographic images both color and
black and white.

While I agree in theory with Tacit that it’s best to learn to use the available tools (except for noise reduction), I just happened across the link below that recommends three plug-ins, one for noise reduction, one for black-white conversions and one for sharpening. Since you mention b/w it might be of interest to you …
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/software/must-have .shtml

On Thu, 10 Feb 2005 09:05:44 -0600, Clyde wrote:

For the most part, the best way to use Photoshop is to forget plug-ins and learn to use the built-in tools and commands. Photoshop is more than a plug-in host; almost all the results you see from professional users are done without third-party plug-ins.

One reason to use more efficient tools is professional demands. I learned a lot of nice methods in Photoshop when I was just editing pictures for myself. I had time to experiment and ‘fine tune’. When I turned pro in my wedding photography business, I suddenly had a time crunch.

It depends on what you’re doing. I agree with Tacit, but I also agree with you. In your line of business you have time pressure. Generally, I don’t as most of my work is landscape/architecture/nature fine art. So I’m more concerned with getting it "best" rather than getting it "fast".

—

Hecate – The Real One

veni, vidi, reliqui

In article ,
Clyde wrote:

One reason to use more efficient tools is professional demands. I learned a lot of nice methods in Photoshop when I was just editing pictures for myself. I had time to experiment and ‘fine tune’. When I turned pro in my wedding photography business, I suddenly had a time crunch.

I’ve been using Photoshop professionally since version 1.0.7, and in fact I’m quite accustomed to working on very large jobs with complex image editing needs under very tight deadlines. I’m curious–what filters did you find that speeded image editing for you? I have yet to find any that are both suitable for professional prepress and faster/more efficient than Photoshop’s built-in functionality.

—
Art, photography, shareware, polyamory, kink, and more!
www.xeromag.com/franklin.html

tacit wrote:

In article ,
Clyde wrote:

One reason to use more efficient tools is professional demands. I learned a lot of nice methods in Photoshop when I was just editing pictures for myself. I had time to experiment and ‘fine tune’. When I turned pro in my wedding photography business, I suddenly had a time crunch.

I’ve been using Photoshop professionally since version 1.0.7, and in fact I’m quite accustomed to working on very large jobs with complex image editing needs under very tight deadlines. I’m curious–what filters did you find that speeded image editing for you? I have yet to find any that are both suitable for professional prepress and faster/more efficient than Photoshop’s built-in functionality.

Curvemeister really speeds up my color correction process of photos. It also gave me more accuracy. This was the biggest speed difference for me. Then again, as a wedding photographer I usually have nice white highlights, black shadows, and nice neutrals in every picture I take. So, the 3 click color correction in Curvemeister is very fast and very accurate.

Using Focus Magic has been an improvement in the quality of sharpening, but I can’t say it has sped anything up. I used to use actions that masked everything but the edges and then used USM. I’ve also used high-pass sharpening. I just like the quality of sharpening done by Focus Magic much better than anything I used just in Photoshop.

Noise Ninja gives me both better noise reduction and does it much faster than the many techniques I tried with just Photoshop.

Of course, my use of Photoshop may be very different than yours. There are vastly different ways of using this program. I don’t mean to imply that Curvemeister or any tool would be any improvement for you.

Also, your overall point is correct for me too. The above 3 tools are the only additions to Photoshop that I use. Yes, I’ve played with a lot of others, but always dropped them for the same reasons that you give. If they don’t improve the quality or speed of my pictures over what native Photoshop can do, I don’t bother. That does fit most of what I’ve seen.

Clyde

PS – I just remembered that I do use PTtools to correct lens distortion before I stitch panoramics together with Hugin/PanoTools/Enblend.

ALL —

Thanks for the useful and informative dialogue!

davidN

On 10 Feb 2005 13:54:41 -0800, "Bill Hilton"
wrote:

what are the *best* plug-ins, in your estimation for manipulating and correct photographic images both color and
black and white.

While I agree in theory with Tacit that it’s best to learn to use the available tools (except for noise reduction), I just happened across the link below that recommends three plug-ins, one for noise reduction, one for black-white conversions and one for sharpening. Since you mention b/w it might be of interest to you …
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/software/must-have .shtml

Which is fine if you’re shooting with a digital camera, but not a lot of help when you use 35mm and MF film ;-

—

Hecate – The Real One

veni, vidi, reliqui

On Sat, 12 Feb 2005 01:19:41 +0000, Hecate wrote:

On 10 Feb 2005 13:54:41 -0800, "Bill Hilton"
wrote:

what are the *best* plug-ins, in your estimation for manipulating and correct photographic images both color and
black and white.

While I agree in theory with Tacit that it’s best to learn to use the available tools (except for noise reduction), I just happened across the link below that recommends three plug-ins, one for noise reduction, one for black-white conversions and one for sharpening. Since you mention b/w it might be of interest to you …
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/software/must-have .shtml

Which is fine if you’re shooting with a digital camera, but not a lot of help when you use 35mm and MF film ;-

—

Hecate – The Real One

veni, vidi, reliqui

Well since the majority of the community is using digital and the film shooting is a niche item with people who normally know what to do with the shot using the camera functions and external light sources and a great majority of people, including professtional are going digital, the replay still stands.

the link below recommends three plug-ins, one for
noise reduction, one for black-white conversions and
one for sharpening.

Hecate wrote …

Which is fine if you’re shooting with a digital camera, but not a lot of help when you use 35mm and MF film ;-

I’ve shot miles of 35 mm and MF film and every scanned image needed sharpening at some point, and the noise reduction filter comes in handy with films over ISO 200 (just as it does with my digital files shot at ISO 800 or 1600), and if you want to convert the color scans to b/w I guess the b/w plugin is helpful (though I prefer the channel mixer). I guess I don’t see your point …

Bill

On Sat, 12 Feb 2005 03:13:33 GMT, Donald Link
wrote:

Well since the majority of the community is using digital and the film shooting is a niche item with people who normally know what to do with the shot using the camera functions and external light sources and a great majority of people, including professtional are going digital, the replay still stands.

Yeah you can do lots of replays with digital 🙂

I assume by community you mean the whole wide world? If that’s the case then I suggest you include countries where people can’ afford digital cameras and see if that’s still correct. If it’s not, it will be in time, I agree. If you’re talking about the professional community then I completely disagree.

—

Hecate – The Real One

veni, vidi, reliqui

On 12 Feb 2005 07:31:06 -0800, "Bill Hilton"
wrote:

the link below recommends three plug-ins, one for
noise reduction, one for black-white conversions and
one for sharpening.

Hecate wrote …

Which is fine if you’re shooting with a digital camera, but not a lot of help when you use 35mm and MF film ;-

I’ve shot miles of 35 mm and MF film and every scanned image needed sharpening at some point, and the noise reduction filter comes in handy with films over ISO 200 (just as it does with my digital files shot at ISO 800 or 1600), and if you want to convert the color scans to b/w I guess the b/w plugin is helpful (though I prefer the channel mixer). I guess I don’t see your point …

Hi Bill,

There’s a difference:

Noise= digital

Grain= film.

Film grain is something I often *don’t* want to remove. It creates a texture no0t available with digital images save for the use of added noise, which really doesn’t give such a nice structure as, e.g. Tri-X, nor does it give you the wonderful "golfball" structure you see in TMax 3200.

If you want grain free results with your film, use slower film, where appropriate.

As for B&W I have yet to find a plug in that can get an image exactly the way *I* want it, rather than exactly the way *it* wants it.

The point is that all those recommendations were for digital "film" not "real" film.

—

Hecate – The Real One

veni, vidi, reliqui