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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Stock Photo Site Photoshop Plugins
- Google Photos Photoshop Panel
- iStock Photoshop Plugins
- Shutterstock Photoshop Plugin
- Getty Photoshop Plugin
- Pexels Photoshop Plugin
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
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What are Photoshop plugins?They are additional software tools that can be added to Photoshop to expand its capabilities. They offer specialized features or simplify complex tasks.
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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.
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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 improve your work.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Will using these plugins help me become a better photographer?Using these plugins can improve 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.