dmacmillan Offline Upload & Sell: On
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Darrin,
Here is a list of actions an plugins I have:
NIK Collection
On One Perfect Photo Suite 9
Rad Labs Replichrome
Topaz Labs B&W
Portrait Professional
You didn't mention how you planned to use them. I would favor some packages over others for depending on use, such as portraits, landscape and sports.
I think the best all around group is the NIK Collection. There are tools that will help with all types of photography. Their control points are very useful, it's a quick and easy way to create adjustment layers and masks. All adjustments are in layers and can be easily removed.
Replichrome is great if you are looking for a film-like look to your images. I use it mostly on people photos.
The On One Perfect Photo Suite 9 is also a very good suite of tools.
My least used and least favorite is Portrait Professional. It analyzes the faces in your portraits and "improves" them. The default image it generates is usually pretty heavy handed and it takes a lot of work to tone the changes down to an acceptable level.
Most, if not all action packages have a free trial. Just download them and determine which are most useful to you. I often find I create a layer stack using various tools. For instance, I might start in NIK's Viveza and then add a Color Efex Pro layer, followed by their Sharpener Pro. Another time I might start with Viveza and then add a Replichrome layer. This might be followed by a dodging layer and a burning layer that I create. BTW, my images usually begin with Lightroom adjustments, then I take the image up to PS.
I somewhat agree with the concept of creating your own actions. I think it's good to have at least a working knowledge of the tools available in PS, especially adjustment layers and masking techniques. While it is true the with some work, almost everything that plugins (actions) can do can be done in PS. Plugins often give you the same results with much less work. Also, some plugins, like Replichrome, actually create custom profiles, something a lot harder to do in PS.
I'm definitely no purist and will use any tool at hand that will help me achieve the desired result with the least amount of time and effort.
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