Extensions For Photoshop

4/24/2019

Free Photoshop Plugins
Photoshop Extensions Folder
Free Extensions For Photoshop

155 items - contain 26 free Photoshop-compatible plugins that were created with Filter Meister. The plugin effects range from color effects, photo correction,.

Photoshop is already a powerful and versatile app, but you can make it even more powerful, more versatile, and easier to use with Photoshop Add-Ons.

Photoshop Add-Ons theoretically come in two flavors, Extensions and Plug-ins, although the differences are mainly behind the scenes. Both do much the same thing: they either add new functionality to Photoshop—like better HDR processing or the ability to export layers to CSS—or make it simpler to use Photoshop’s existing feature set—like panels that group together a load of retouching actions or create lots of specific layers or masks at once.

Photoshop add-ons vary hugely in scale. Some are simple, one button panels that get added to your interface. Others are stand-alone, fully featured editing apps that hook into Photoshop. Let’s have a quick look at the two ends of the spectrum.

Lumizone is a plug-in panel that makes it easy to select and mask different areas of your images based on how light or dark they are. In the image below, I’ve turned all the darkest shadow areas green. You can see how the highlights—even in the shadow areas—are left untouched. While it’s possible to do this in Photoshop without Lumizone or a similar plug-in, it’s a lot more work.

At the other end of the scale, Luminar is a full photo editor in its own right, but you can use it as a Photoshop plugin. When you edit an image in Photoshop, you can send it to Luminar, make some changes, and then send it back to Photoshop with those changes applied. Here, we’re editing an image in Luminar’s plugin.

And here’s the same image back in Photoshop ready for further edits.

If we’re being a little general in describing add-ons, it’s because there’re thousands of them available. Adobe lets developers integrate deeply with Photoshop using a variety of different scripting languages and methods so there are almost no limits to what they can do.

Getting Started With Photoshop Add-Ons

You’re most likely to run into Photoshop add-ons when you search Google for a way to do something quickly or more efficiently. For example, Adobe kind of missed the boat (or more like, totally ignored the boat) on the filter-editing movement inspired by Instagram. Photoshop’s built-in Filter Gallery is, honestly, a throwback to the 90s.

Other developers have stepped up to add this functionality to Photoshop. Luminar, Color Effex Pro, Filter Forge, and dozens of other apps add intuitive filter based editing. If you need the power of Photoshop but want certain kinds of adjustments to be more straightforward and more repeatable, they’re a great place to start. And as soon as you begin Googling ways to get Instagram filters in Photoshop, you’ll find them.

Similarly, if you’re looking for how to add your photo to a mock book or magazine cover, you’ll probably encounter PSD Covers and their plug-in. If you’re having difficulty doing something in Photoshop, start searching for “[my problem] Photoshop plug-in” and see where that gets you.

Adobe also maintains an (incomplete) list of third-party plug-ins and an (also incomplete) marketplace. You’ll find a mix of free and paid add-ons there. Have a look through and see what catches your eye.

Once you’ve found an add-on, you want to try, download it and work through its specific installation instructions. You usually just have to double-click on an installer, follow a wizard, and restart Photoshop.

Using Photoshop Add-Ons

In general, you access Photoshop add-ons in one of two ways: from a new panel or through the Filter menu. Let’s take them one at a time.

Photoshop Panels

Before you can use a Photoshop panel based add-on, you need to add it to the interface, since Photoshop does not show all panels by default. With the add-on installed, go to Windows > Extensions and select the panel from the list. You can see I’ve got four add-on panels installed.

RELATED:What to Do If You Can’t Find the Layers Panel (or Any Other Panel) in Photoshop

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And just like that, the panel appears, ready for you to use.

Photoshop Filters

Filters work a bit differently. Open the image you plan to send to a plug-in in Photoshop and make any edits you want. You then have two options:

If you haven’t used any layers, duplicate the background to a new layer with the keyboard shortcut Control+J (on Windows) or Command+J (on macOS).
If you have used some layers or adjustment layers, merge everything to a new top layer with the keyboard shortcut Control+Alt+Shift+E (on Windows) or Command+Option+Shift+E (on macOS).

Either way, you’ll end up with a new layer on top of everything, ready to be sent to the plug-in.

Select the layer and then open the “Filter” menu. At the bottom of the list, you’ll see each filter manufacturer whose filters you’ve installed. I have NBP, Nik, and Skylum plug-ins.

Select the plug-in you want to use from the list and Photoshop sends the selected layer to the filter.

Make any edits you want, and when you’re done, click the button that says something like Apply, Done, or Okay—it’s different from filter to filter. All the edits you’ve made are applied, and the merged layer is sent back to Photoshop.

Photoshop is the king for a reason. With add-ons, third-party developers have probably added anything you think is missing.

You can change the look and feel of your Adobe Photoshop images with these free Photoshop filters, and improve your working environment with free Photoshop plugins. They're a great way to easily and quickly customize your Photoshop experience.

The Photoshop filters are image effects or settings used to change the way a picture looks, and the plugins are extended features like rulers or guide lines, that aren't included with Photoshop by default.

You can also use free Photoshop actions, templates, shapes, brushes, and textures to change your Photoshop images.

How to Install and Use Photoshop Filters

Once you've downloaded a Photoshop filter, you'll want to copy the 8BF file into Photoshop's Filters folder to install it. This is usually C:Program FilesAdobeAdobe Photoshop (version)Plug-insFilters.

Installed filters can be accessed from Photoshop's Filter menu.

However, some Photoshop filters are installed through an EXE file so that it installs like a regular program. In those instances, you don't need to copy any files into any program folder; just open the EXE file like you would any application.

How to Install and Use Photoshop Plugins

Photoshop plugins are ZXP files that must be installed using Adobe Extension Manager (unless it downloads as an EXE program file). Just choose Install to browse for the ZXP file.

Installed plugins can be accessed from Photoshop's Window > Extensions menu.

Some of the websites below will explain that they are offering plugins when really they're installed under the Filter menu in Photoshop, and vice versa.

Adobe's Free Photoshop Plugins

What better place to get free Photoshop plugins than Adobe's own website? You can sort the resources by title or rating as well as by newest added or most popular.

Not only plugins and filters are on this page. You'll find extensions, actions, and other things as well.

Adobe's Photoshop plugins are installed a bit differently than the others in this list. You must have a free Adobe account and the Creative Cloud program installed to use the plugins.

To find just the free Photoshop plugins at Adobe's website, be sure to choose Photoshop from the filtering area on the left, and then on the right, sort the results by Price (Low to High).

What We Like

Many are rated, from one to five stars.
Easy to search for and find what you need.
Enormous variety.

What We Don't Like

Free Photoshop Plugins

Requires free Creative Cloud program.
You must create an Adobe account if you don't already have one.

Mehdi's Free Photoshop Filters

Mehdi has dozens of free Photoshop filters. Each download page has a thorough explanation of the filter as well as screenshots.

Kaleidoscope, Projection, Sorting Tiles, Blots, Weaver, and Contrast Balance are just some of the free filters you can download here.

What We Like

Thorough explanation of each plugin with examples.
Dozens of plugins available.
FAQ page and ability to contact Mehdi for support.

What We Don't Like

Dated but useable interface.
Windows only; not for MacOS.

The Plugin Site's Free Photoshop Filters

Harry's Filters (formerly VideoRave) is a download at The Plugin Site that lets you get around 70 image effects for Photoshop in one download.

The Plugin Site has other downloads as well, such as Photoshop actions.

On the download page, scroll past the commercial downloads to find the free options. When you're ready to download something from this website, you'll need to fill out the download form, where you'll get the download link in your email.

What We Like

Single download saves time.
Fast access without layers of menus.
Easy to use.

What We Don't Like

No MacOS version.
No updates since October 2017.

Lokas Software's Free 3D Shadow and Photoshop Filter

Lokas Software has only one free Photoshop filter, and it's called 3D Shadow. I include it in this list because while Photoshop has its own text shadowing feature, I find this one to be much more useful.

You can adjust the blur, axis and offset angle, perspective, and color, as well as select a preset shadow effect, such as Cast in Front, Flat Faint, and Rear shadow.

What We Like

Broad range of shadow effects.
Easy to use.

RichardRosenman.com's Free Photoshop Plugins

RichardRosenman.com has one page of free Photoshop plugins. Some of them include ones called Diffuse Glow, Box Fitting, Pinch, 3D Sphere, Pixelate, and Solid Border.

The plugins you'll find at RichardRosenman.com have a short description and sample picture to show you what the plugin does.