An Introduction to Five Great Plug-ins

“It’s all about color...What caught her eye was the contrast between the yellow tree, the glowing red rocks, and the cool blue base.”

y wife Tammy likes to say, “It’s all about color” and this image speaks well for her vision. What caught her eye was the contrast between the

yellow tree, the glowing red rocks, and the cool blue base. The image is from the upper section of Zion National Park Utah.

The camera position and the lens focal length were chosen such that the blue part of the canyon wall extended to the bottom of the frame, and the top of the frame was cropped just above a small dark area of blue. We felt that by repeating the color blue in the top of the picture a natural frame was created for the tree.

A Nikon N90s mounted on a Gitzo carbon fiber tripod, with a 20mm Nikkor lens was used. Fuji Velvia slide film was chosen for its saturated colors. A Tiffen 812 filter was used to further enhance the reds and yellows. The exposure was bracketed at normal, and plus and minus 2/3 stop. The normal exposure was f:11 at 1/4 of a second. Because the day was windy, multiple shots were taken knowing we would later choose the one with the least of amount of movement in the leaves.

Time of day was critical as the trick to the brilliant colors in the slot canyons, is to not have direct sunlight on the area your photographing, but instead having the area illuminated by light reflecting from a nearby canyon wall outside the camera’s view. We were fortunate that day the light was very good.

We have noticed that the prints that we have produced in the recent past are noticeably superior to ones before. Along with this we have seen the amount of time we spend in Photoshop decrease, from as much as two hours down to as little as 15 minutes per image. The difference between then and now is that we now have better tools to use. Those tools are plug-ins, third party software modules that add capabilities to Photoshop. For the fun of it we decided to produce this image completely with plug-ins. None of Photoshop’s image editing tools were used.

This image was processed in Photoshop using only five steps, each step a single application of each of the following plug-ins.

* Extensis Intellihance Pro

* Alien Skin Image Doctor Demo

* nik multimedia Sunshine filter

* Visual Infinity Grain Surgery

* nik Sharpener Pro

The quality of the finished image speaks well for the power of these plug-ins. Time

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Field techniques

After Image Doctor

Upon opening the image in Photoshop the background layer was duplicated. The new layer was selected and the Extensis plug-in filter Intellihance Pro was chosen.

Intellihance allows one to correct most image problems by making a few simple visual comparisons. Its power lies in its ability to allow the user to adjust several image correction parameters such as color, contrast, brightness, and sharpness simultaneously. The quick enhance mode analyzes each image and makes the adjustments needed automatically. Although we prefer to do the tweaking ourselves and do not use the sharpening function, we love it for its ease of use and the time it saves us.

As this article is being written the Alien Skin Image Doctor Demo is available by download from Alien Skins web site. The demo is fully functional and will allow 30 days of use. Image doctor uses a pattern matching technology that seamlessly replaces objects in photos. We used it to remove the branch on the right hand side of the picture. The Alien skin Image Doctor achieved in a matter of minutes what would have taken several minutes longer using the clone stamp tool.

All digital images whether from digital cameras or scanners exhibit some low level noise. Typical image editing corrections while improving an image overall, will accentuate or increase the noise as a by-product. There are many actions and tutorials that reduce noise but nothing I have found is as effective as Visual Infinities Grain Surgery. Grain Surgery has become an indispensable part of our workflow. A full review is available on this site.

The final step in image preparation is sharpening and our final plug-in is again from nik Multimedia, nik Sharpener Pro. Yes, we like nik. nik sharpener Pro simply finds more detail than using unsharp mask. I have to believe it uses different sharpening algothrims than unsharp mask because it has less halo effect and less color shift.

There you have it, an image totally processed by using Photoshop plug-ins. This exercise was fun but one would be naïve to assume it would work on all images all the time. Never the less we have demonstrated the power of these plug-ins. For more usual image preparation we offer a Photoshop tutorial for photographers; Find the link for this and our plug-in reviews below.

Enjoy,

Mike and Tammy Rice

For more information on Grain Surgery or the nik Color Efex Pro Sunshine filter see our reviews. For a basic workflow in Photoshop see our Photoshop tutorial.

nik color efex Pro sunshine

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“For the fun of it we decided to produce this image completely with plug-ins. None of Photoshop’s image editing tools were used”

The next filter “Sunshine” comes from nik Multimedia Color efex pro plug-in collection. This superb set of filters is for tweaking, enhancing and stylizing images, the Sunshine filter offering the most creative possibilities. The Sunshine filter mimics the sun casting light on a scene while giving the user control over the quality of the light and how it is cast. Simply stated , it adds punch to a scene. This filter is so powerful that it is almost like a mini application. In particular eight different pre-filters are available to enhance the image before the light casting algorithms are applied. We find we are using the Sunshine filter more and more as we as we become more familiar with its controls. An extensive review of the nik Multimedia color efex Pro plug-in collection can be found on this site.

Changing the weather

“ the nik Color Efex Sunshine filter was used to convert the scene from a dull overcast day to a bright sunny one”
Converting a Color Image to Black and White

“The magic in this technique is the use of two separate black and white conversions, one for the sky, and one for the trees.”
Creative Controls F-stops & Depth of Field

Another factor that affects depth of field is distance from the camera to the subject. Depth of field decreases as the camera moves closer to the subject.
Digital Film Tools 55mm; Photoshop plug-in review

“The bragging rights for Digital Film Tools is that the means of producing the masks is more intuitive, flexible, and powerful than Photoshop CS.”
Grain Surgery for Photoshop - Review

“the noise is removed, yet the details remain”
How to Improve the Image Quality of your Camera

By using a tripod, slower shutter speeds can be utilized allowing the aperture of the lens to be stopped down increasing depth of field
Lens choices for landscape photography

“The wide-angle perspective ... gives the viewer the impression they could walk into the photo”
Becoming a student of Light and Color- Part 1 - Quaility of Light

“I changed, from a photographer that photographs what he finds, to one that starts with a vision and then goes out to produce an image that matches the vision.”
Becoming a student of Light and Color- Part 2- Light , Color, and Composition

“a color only takes on importance when considered relative to the other colors surrounding it."
Long Lens Landscapes

“I am always willing to try for that image with the “wow factor”, and long lenses are definitely an unordinary if not extraordinary way to capture grand landscapes.”

Canadian North Atlantic Coast

“Stories were told of quaint fishing villages virtually untouched since the turn of the 19th century, surrounded by landscapes from seemingly lost worlds.”

Nik Color efect Pro - Photoshop Plug-in Review

“Unlike so many other plug-ins for Photoshop, the nik Multimedia Color Efex Pro filters are truly useful.”
Nikon Capture nx-first look

"What is needed is a raw converter with an extensive enough set of imaging tools that a second program like Photoshop is not required."
Photoshop tips and techniques -An introduction to 5 great plug-ins

“It’s all about color...What caught her eye was the contrast between the yellow tree, the glowing red rocks, and the cool blue base.”
Photoshop tips and techniques -A watercolor effect from the unlikely pairing of two third party plug-ins

“I look for subjects that move me emotionally...When I got the slides back however, the magic was missing”

Painting with Light -A Photoshop tutorial

“most images need at least one of their elements to be pure black, meaning black with no detail, and need at least one of their elements to be pure white meaning white with no detail”
Basic Photoshop for photographers - Part 1

"Today we are making images that we could not even have dreamed of making before"
Basic Photoshop for photographers -Part 2

"Always use a separate layer this allows mistakes to be erased at any time"
Segmentis Fo2PiX buZZ review

"The user has control over how much detail is removed. One can choose to remove detail in the highlights, shadows, or both"
The Filters we use and why

"The question I often hear is “do you still use lens filters”. The answer is yes, because there still is no substitute for capturing the image properly."
The Gas Station- The story behind a picture

“I wanted the picture to interact with the viewer, to encourage the viewer to explore”
Waiting for the right light

"Planning for the light means selecting the time of year and the time of day"
Tutorials and Reviews Index

Digital imaging techniques

Original Scan

After Intellihance Pro