APOGEE PHOTO MAGAZINE: Product Review, Photoshop Plug0ins

Apogee Photo Magazine

Product Review: Plug-ins for Adobe Photoshop

by Paul W. Faust

There are many types of PhotoShop plug-ins on the market today. Some are a lot better than others, and they come in a wide range of prices. These are a few of the better special effects plug-in filters now available. All but one of them I have used for many years. They create many outstanding special effects, which is one of my favorite past-times in PhotoShop.

Andromeda Filter Sets

Andromeda Software makes a series of PhotoShop plug-in filters that includes: Series 1 Photoshop, Series 2 Three-D Luxe, Series 3 Screens, Series 4 Techtures, Cutline, LensDoc, and Shadows. This is one great group of filters that will do a ton things you will ever need to do with an image.

Series 1 contains 10 separate effects including; Halo, Star, and Velocity. Series-2 is a great 3-D tool that will allow you to wrap any shape with any image including one of your own photos. Series-3 will convert any of your photos into pure B&W line art for halftone uses, including Mezzotints. Series-4 is a set of over 500 textures to apply to any selection. Cutline will turn any image into an engraving, or woodcut effect. This one is super when used with old time subjects like old weathered buildings and houses. LensDoc is a tool that corrects lens distortions due to things like an upward angle of view. And last of all is Shadows, which does just that. Adds drop and cast shadow effects to any selection, and has presets to do the job for you.

With preview windows there is absolutely no guessing as to what you will get with each effect you apply. One large window shows the original image being worked on. The others shows how the applied setting will look on the full size image. Pick a button marked "Expert" and your controls more than double, including slide controls. Your own imagination is the only thing that will limit you when using these effects, but you are sure to find them more than worth the investment.

These Andromeda filter sets retail from $44 to $99 and you can also buy them in collection sets for less. Check out these, and their other filters at http://www.andromeda.com

Alien Skin Software

The last sets of plug-ins I want to cover here are from AlienSkin Software. I have used their plug-ins ever since they came out with the first one, Black Box, which then became Eye Candy, and they have just gotten better with every new version. Many Photoshop user are familiar with their Eye Candy filters, and now the new Eye Candy 4000 is out. It contains 23 special effects that will add a lot to your images. Some like Bevel Boss and Chrome will be used a lot by web designers who like to create their own buttons for links. The Corona filter adds a nice halo effect to any subject, and looks great for text. The Cutout filter is a neat effect that does just that, cuts out a part of a selection, like the shape of text, and makes it a see-through. You can add another image behind that and even have a shadow fall around the edges. Jiggle is a fun filter that lets you twist up an image in all sorts of ways. This one would be great for making your own water drops with an image inside it. If that one does not give you what you need there is also a Water Drop filter itself. The Melt filter will give you all kinds of ideas. You can now, for the first time, melt your boss or mother-in-law totally away. ShadowLab adds shadows to any selection, and the Swirl filter lets you create your own “Marbling” effect for some great backgrounds. These are only some of the many filters with this program, but you will find uses for all of them.

The other Alien Skin program is Xenofex-2, which is a set of 14 more special filters. This set has some filters I have wanted to get for a long time. They are: Puzzle, Crumple, and Lightning. Puzzle actually turns your picture into a puzzle. (See example below left.) You can even change the number of pieces in the puzzle by changing the number of columns. Paste the print onto some cardboard and you can cut it out with an art knife and have a nice personal toy for the kids.

The “Puzzle” filter will give any image a professional puzzle look that you would think came out of a box and you put it together. Kids will love this one for any pictures in their room.

The “Electrify” filter used on the right selection will make your images look they came from a New York ad agency photographer.

The Crumple filter takes your image and crumples it up as if you made it into a ball, and then tried to flatten it back out again. This one is a great background effect.

There are actually two lightning filters: Lightning and Electrify. (See example, above right.) The one creates regular lightning like you see outside in the clouds. The other creates more of the kind of electrical discharge you see when hot two wires come together. Either of these will give you some of the best effects you will find anywhere. Shatter is another effect I will use a lot. It gives you an image that looks like your subject has been shattered into thousands of pieces of glass. You can have all kinds of fun with this one.

There are other filters with this set that I was less impressed with, but just the ones I mentioned here would be more than worth the price. A collection of these plug-ins, plus a third one called "Splat", can now be bought as a bundle for only $299, and you can also check out their other programs at http://www.alienskin.com/xx2/xx2_main.html