The Mutant Jedi: My blog about stuff. Not much about Photoshop in this blog of mine. But I'm the guy that writes the backend of this site. So if you're curious about me, come and check my blog out. mutantjedi.blogspot.com |
Alien Skin Software, LLC Alien Skin has to be one of the workhorse applications. Check out their vast library of filter sets. Xenoflex2 is full of memory-eating-but-way-cool effects. The whole Eye Candy set is worth a boo – as is Exposure for creating amazing digital reproductions of different printing processes and photo papers. Excellent company. Very responsive and only a little bit pricey. You can download any set to play with for 30 days. If you are constantly blowing little images up into big images – you REALLY need to consider Blow Up! which will do a fabulous job without any distortion. I like Blow Up! much better than Genuine Fractals (which is the other really big blow up plug in thingie.) www.alienskin.com |
Learn Photoshop Fast and Easy! Looking at Photoshop's menu for the first time is enough to scare the snot out of anyone. It's great software -- but LEARNING how to use it is something entirely different. photoshopbasicsin6hours.blogspot.com |
Auto FX Software Auto FX isn’t cheap. But it’s fun. You’ll find the whole Dreamsuite line worth looking over (DS1, DS2 and DS Gel)…but the plug ins that get my vote are Mystical Lighting and Mystical Tint and Color. You WILL use these. I do…every day. Ghastly expensive – but worth it if you are going to make digital magic. www.autofx.com |
Photoshop Plug-ins by Redfield Here’s a great site for a couple of very off the wall options. Check out Sketchmaster, which is particularly useful for adding line textures to your pictures. Consider using Sketchmaster on a graphic and then laying it over top of the original picture, and changing the Opacity. You can get some seriously cool things happening. www.redfieldplugins.com |
onOne Software onOne Software, the people who bring you Genuine Fractals also offer a masking plug in that isn’t all that good. But they do offer a FABULOUS framing program called PhotoFrame Pro3 which should be the only framing utility you will ever need. Organic, grunge, antique, wood --- SO many options in thousands of possible colors. If you are wanting to add a visual punch to your work, consider this one. It’ll eat 1 GIG of memory – but it’s utterly necessary for those of us who want a good frame once in a while. www.ononesoftware.com |
Virtual Painter 5 by P. & A. America, Inc In my mind there is no finer or easier to use plug in on the market for changing your photos into paintings. Here’s an option that offers plenty of flexibility, ease of use and eye-popping results. Forget Alien Skin’s Snap Art and all the other options. You’ll get what you need from this excellent plug in. www.virtualpainter5.com |
Flaming Pear Software Flaming Pear has possibly the worst customer service on the Photoshop planet but a couple of extremely excellent low-cost plug in options. Check out Flood, which creates a watery horizon over any portion of your picture that you choose. Melancholytron is also excellent – despite having one of the all-time dumbest names – for adding atmosphere to your pictures. There are good creative options here as well: Glitterato for creating skyscapes, Lunar and Solar Cells for creating your own planets. Very fast, inexpensive and easy to use. www.flamingpear.com |
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