The 25 Best Free Photoshop Plugins for Photographers


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Photoshop is, indeed, a powerful tool for editing your photos. But if you want to make sure you maintain consistency in your editing workflow or if you want to speed up the editing process, you’ll need a quality Photoshop plugin.

From applying HDR effects to converting your images to black and white, there is a plugin for every situation, and in this post, we’ve gathered the best free Photoshop plugins for photographers.

You might also like this collection of free Photoshop plugins for UI designers.


The Top Free Photoshop Plugins for Photographers

HDR Sharpener Tool

This tool makes it easy to create HDR-like effects for your images instantly. It will increase the image’s dynamic range and sharpen it in a non-destructive manner.

HDR Sharpener Tool Photographer Plugin

KinemaPhoto-LITE

This Photoshop extension makes it easy to unleash your creative potential by creating cinemagraphs, GIFs, and other animations. You will be able to create still images from a video layer, create video loops, and more.

KinemaPhoto-LITE Photographer Plugin

CineStock Photoshop (Photoshop Template)

This resource gives you the 18 Photoshop actions to simulate the look of cinematic effects popularized by movies and television series. Each action contains all the adjustment layers and is non-destructive, so you retain your original.

CineStock Photoshop Photographer Plugin

Photo FX Photoshop Plugin

Gain access to 18 cool effects and filters to use when editing your images. The plugin includes eight different filters, nine different light leak effects, and a film grain effect that you can use immediately.

Photo FX Photoshop Plugin Photographer Plugin

Tint and Black & White Conversion Plugin

This Photoshop tint plugin is perfect for adding tints to an image for artistic effect. Quickly apply a range of color tones or convert images into black and white for that retro feel.

Tint Black White Conversion Plugin Photographer Plugin

Skin Beauty Retouch Plugin

Easily retouch skin tones with this plugin. With a 1-click application, you can make any skin tone free of blemishes and look beautiful. This is a handy plugin to make all your photos look their best.

Skin Beauty Retouch Plugin Photographer Plugin

Double Exposure (Photoshop Template)

This Photoshop plugin gives you access to a set of 4 actions that simulate a double exposure effect. This effect works well with other Photoshop actions you may have installed.

Double Exposure Photographer Plugin

Enhanced Sub-Pixel Diffusion

Thanks to this Photoshop plugin, you’ll have the power to perform sub-pixel diffusion effects. With sub-pixel diffusion, you can apply this effect when and where you need to apply antialiasing.

Enhanced Sub-Pixel Diffusion Photographer Plugin

Generate Ascii Art

This Photoshop plugin makes it easy to convert your images into an ASCII stylized image. ASCII artworks by mapping heavier-toned ASCII characters to dark areas of your image and lighter-toned ASCII to the lighter areas. Not all images will translate well.

Generate Ascii Art Photographer Plugin

Oil Paint Photoshop Plugin

Convert any of your images into a realistic painted look without all the effort. In one click, you can transform any image with a resolution size of 1000 to 4000 pixels.

Oil Paint Photoshop Plugin Photographer Plugin

Anaglyph Photoshop Actions (Photoshop Template)

Save time, money, and effort with this Photoshop resource. You will be able to quickly apply one of 4 basic anaglyph or 11 experimental anaglyph actions with a simple non-destructive click.

Anaglyph Photoshop Actions Photographer Plugin

Generate Barnsley Fern Fractals

With this Photoshop plugin, you will be able to create wonderfully looking fractal designs. Generate eye-catching patterns in any color with a little mathematical help and create random fractals or manifest your creative streak with controls for asymmetry and scaling.

Generate Barnsley Fern Fractals Photographer Plugin

White Balance / Highlight Recovery Plugin

This powerful Photoshop plugin will apply a white balance to your images. This makes your photos brighter and have more contrast. Using images shot in a RAW format will produce the best results.

White Balance Highlight Recovery Plugin Photographer Plugin

Halftone Print Simulation Plugin

This Photoshop plugin will simulate halftone imagery through the use of dots. The images you create with this plugin can be printed with each color channel independently or all together. You can lock or unlock the color channels for black and whites or creating masks.

Halftone Print Simulation Plugin Photographer Plugin

VHS Photoshop Action (Photoshop Template)

With this plugin, you will be able to quickly apply a glitched or VHS look to all your photos. Simply install the plugin, load your image and click play on the plugin. You will receive one action file, one pattern file, one brush file, and an instructional PDF.

VHS Photoshop Action Photographer Plugin

Lens FX Plugin

Use this plugin to achieve special effects for all of your images. Choose from a pinch, push, sine variants, concave and convex versions, as well as waves or ripples. This plugin can help you create wonderful pieces of art.

Lens FX Plugin Photographer Plugin

stylize!

Stylize is a beautiful and artistically based plugin that transforms your images into something that looks painted, water-colored, or drawn. This will be a welcome addition to your Photoshop workflow, with dozens of styles to choose from.

stylize! Photographer Plugin

Multi Purpose Pixelation Photoshop Plugin

With this plugin, you will be able to make pixel art out of any of your images. This plugin supports eight and 16-bit channels with a color channel mode for professional workflows.

Multi Purpose Pixelation Photographer Plugin

Watercolor Photoshop (Photoshop Template)

This Photoshop action can be used to create digital artwork with one click. This plugin will generate the watercolor art and multiple layers that you can further tweak and customize.

Watercolor Photoshop Photographer Plugin

Remove.bg Plugin for Adobe Photoshop

With this plugin, you will save time working on backgrounds. Quickly and easily remove the backgrounds, even around challenging edges like hair. Use the layer mask to quickly remove or restore regions of an image.

Remove.bg Plugin for Adobe Photoshop Photographer Plugin

Composition Grid Plugin

This plugin will help you generate a grid that you can apply to your photo for easier editing. Each grid is generated as a separate layer so that you can apply the theory behind the Rule of Thirds, Golden Ratio, and Dynamic Symmetry.

Composition Grid Plugin Photographer Plugin

Generate Randomly Fitted Boxes

Quickly and easily generate a mosaic of randomly sized boxes from your images. This is a wonderful way to give your pictures a whole new artistic look. The box fitting tool provides control over how many boxes to create, the maximum size allowed, as well as an option to sample color from the original image or to use custom colors.

Generate Randomly Fitted Boxes Photographer Plugin

Summer Duotone (Photoshop Template)

Save time with your image editing workflow with this resource highlighting the summer colors. This resource gives you 20 custom summer duotone actions to help get your summer design juices flowing.

Summer Duotone Photographer Plugin

Variable Channel Inversion Plugin

This simple but unique plugin allows precise, independent, and variable color channel inversion. This will yield impressive results when full control of each channel is used. Choose colors from 8 or 16-bit channels for your project.

Variable Channel Inversion Plugin Photographer Plugin

Action Launcher Extension

If your Photoshop has amassed an extensive collection of actions and action sets, you will want to get this launcher. Quickly and easily find all of your actions, sort them through a favorites selection, and run the actions right from the launcher.

Action Launcher Extension Photographer Plugin

Highpass Sharpen Photoshop Plugin

This Photoshop plugin introduces another high-fidelity method of sharpening your images by using highpass frequencies. This is a method used by professionals in the production industry and a technique favored by professional photographers and photo retouchers alike.

Highpass Sharpen Photoshop Plugin Photographer Plugin

Lens Vibrant Effects (Photoshop Template)

With just a click, you can apply any of the twenty vibrant filters to make great images that can be used for blog posts, book covers, social media, and more.

Lens Vibrant Effects Photographer Plugin

PolarProjection Generator

This polar projection plugin turns your panorama pictures into their own little worlds. The plugin takes the pain from the long process of manually morphing panorama images into stereographic projections.

PolarProjection Generator Photographer Plugin

Automate Diptych & Triptych Layouts

Tych Panel is an extension that automates the creation of triptychs and diptychs. It also offers an easy way to set up your rows and columns for your image placement.

Automate Diptych & Triptych Layouts Photographer Plugin

Stock Photo Site Photoshop Plugins

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

  • What are Photoshop plugins?
    They are additional software tools that can be added to Photoshop to enhance its capabilities. They offer specialized features or simplify complex tasks.
  • What can these free plugins do for my photography?
    These plugins can help with a range of tasks, from improving photo quality to adding creative effects. They can streamline workflows, aid in color correction, sharpening, noise reduction, and more.
  • Are these plugins suitable for all levels of photographers?
    Yes, they’re designed for photographers of all skill levels. Whether you’re a beginner or a pro, these plugins can help enhance your work.
  • Do these free plugins work with all versions of Photoshop?
    Many are compatible with multiple versions of Photoshop, but it’s always good to check the specific requirements for each plugin.
  • How long does it take to install and learn to use these plugins?
    Installation is usually quick and easy. Learning time varies, but most plugins are user-friendly and come with guides or tutorials.
  • Do I need a powerful computer to use these plugins?
    While some plugins might require more processing power, many work well with standard computer specifications.
  • Can these plugins replace professional photo editing services?
    They can handle many tasks efficiently, but whether they can replace professional services depends on the complexity of your needs and the capabilities of the plugin.
  • Will using these plugins help me become a better photographer?
    Using these plugins can enhance your photos and simplify your workflow, allowing you to focus more on the creative sides of photography.

Use this article to fill up your creative library with useful Photoshop plugins that will save you hours during the photo-editing process.


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