I'm looking to purchase some plugins like NIK, Auto FX, Kubota, etc...just wondering what and if there is a most used set and what recommendations Icould get.
rprouty wrote:
I'm looking to purchase some plugins like NIK, Auto FX, Kubota, etc...just wondering what and if there is a most used set and what recommendations Icould get.
Thanks
Rod
I used Nik Color Efex 2.0 for years and upgraded to 3.0 recently. Man is that well worth it. 3.0 is a super looking and using interface. It is well worth the money.
DFx by Tiffen is another very good set that is in the vein of what you are asking. Each filter has many controls, some more than others, lots of sliders to manipulate to your desired results.
Both of those are big sets with some very useful filters. Both work as plugins to PS. You can demo both and I encourage you to do so before laying down your cash. I would buy both of them again if I had to. They save time and are very effective over a large array of useful effects.
I am getting the idea that you are not asking for sharpening or noise reduction filters here. But if you are, I second Noiseware and for sharpening, I like Focalblade.
Arizona, I just downloaded the demo of Color Efex 3.0 but my PS CS3 crashes when I start it and it loads the Plugin. It looks like there are problems when you run it on a Mac like I do.
I second Arizona's comments on NIK 3.0. I tried Onone Phototools Pro but NIK was way easier to use for me with realtime previews! (Hands Down my winner. (demos sometime casue proplems) Lots to learn and experiment with NIK 3.0 and it fun.
I just did a complete wedding with it for a friend. You can see the effects here, the other one I like is imagenomics portrait filter, also very good. All of these things can be done in PS but with a lot of time and experience. Best money speent form me on all the crap I've bought over the years.
cencored wrote:
Arizona, I just downloaded the demo of Color Efex 3.0 but my PS CS3 crashes when I start it and it loads the Plugin. It looks like there are problems when you run it on a Mac like I do.
Bummer! I hate it when that happens. I have XP and it is not perfect either, for sure. I hope Nik can solve your issue. Nik Color Efex 3.0 has a much bigger preview, you access all of the filters and not just one in the interface and it just looks very professional. They have added a few useful filters as well and some other features.
I was just using DFx to convert some images to B&W last night and it might be my new favorite B&W converter among other things. There are lots of presets but each comes with beau coup sliders and drop down menus to work in the looks you want. There are many choices for color toning, grain, diffusion, tonal response filters etc. That is just one of the many, many filters in DFx. I use the Photoshop plugin version.
