Feb 15, 2018 - Aurora HDR 2017 is the best HDR plugin for Photoshop Elements 13. Try Aurora HDR with 10% discount →. HDR in Photoshop Elements 13.
1. Alien Skin Image Doctor
I would begin my list of Top 10 Photoshop Elements Plugins with the one I find most indispensable. Alien Skin Image Doctor is an extremely powerful retouching tool, which complements the features of Photoshop Elements perfectly. It can repair a range of images – remove blemishes, unwanted clutter, retouch face close-ups and portraits as well as remove dust or scratches from scanned prints. Read a review of Image Doctor here.
Price: $199
Also for: Mac OS
2. Photomatix HDR
Photomatix HDR is by far one of the most superlative tools for HDR imaging, with tone mapping features superior to all other HDR
software out there. For more details, read a complete review of Photomatix HDR. This plugin gives the best of both worlds, as you can get the power of Photomatix HDR right within Photoshop Elements.
Price: $119
Also for: Mac OS
3. ReDynaMix HDR
Unlike other HDR tools that require you to shoot multiple images at different exposures to create an HDR, ReDynaMix creates an HDR-like effect from a single image. It is simple to use, and is good enough if you don't have multiple images to create your HDR from.
Price: $16
Only for Windows
4. Altostorm Rectilinear Panorama
Altostorm Rectilinear Panorama is a unique plugin that would be highly appreciated by those regularly shooting panoramas. Often, in spite of one's best efforts, certain distortions, such as perspective distortion or geometric distortion creep into panoramic shots. This nifty plugin can be used to rectify these and other distortions.
Price: $69
Only for Windows
5. Noise Ninja
Noise Ninja is truly the gold standard for removing noise from digital images. Be it noise due to haze or high ISO, Noise Ninja provides a twofold improvement in image quality. Unlike other similar software, Noise Ninja does not soften images and preserves detail. Enlargements made from images processed using Noise Ninja too are much smoother and less pixelated. There is also a batch processing option to cut off manual labor. This is a highly recommended plugin.
Price: $ 44.95
Also for: Mac OS, Linux
6. Portraiture
Portraiture is a very useful plugin if you often shoot close-ups and portraits. It has a powerful algorithm to smooth out skin imperfections while preserving texture and color. It can also selectively smooth skin tone while sparing the rest of the image. Multiple presets help reduce the learning curve.
Price: $199.95
Also for: Mac OS
7. AKVIS Chameleon
AKVIS Chameleon is a plugin that removes the hard work out of altering backgrounds in images. Even roughly cut and pasted images
are blended beautifully into one another, with the software taking care of the color range and object borders.
Price: $230
Also for: Mac OS
8. AKVIS Decorator
AKVIS Decorator is a cool plugin that allows one to alter the surface of any object. Results are quite realistic and accurate. This is one plugin that lets your creativity flow unplugged!
Price: $54 (Home), $82 (Business)
Also for: Mac OS
9. Pearly Whites
Another unique plugin that does a specific job, and does it well, Pearly Whites is used to automatically brighten and whiten teeth in photos. Its algorithm is programmed to detect white elements surrounded by flesh tones, and can hence also be used for whitening sclera of the eyes. Batch processing is supported.
Price: $49.95, Free to try
Also for: Mac OS
10 Alien Skin Blow Up
Though I'm mentioning this at the end of my list of Top 10 Photoshop Elements plugins, it is by no means lesser in importance to the others. Any person reasonably involved in photography would know that resizing an image for printing involves a host of steps – getting the right DPI, correct aspect ratio and accurate cropping. Many-a-times, one frustratingly discovers the image size has reduced substantially one the cropping is done and a large size print would ruin resolution. Here's where Blow Up comes to the rescue. It converts the pixels on the fly to a vector representation and helps create much larger images without pixelation, blurring or loss of resolution. There are a host of presets and a batch processor built-in, which further simplify the job. Highly recommended.
Price: $249
Also for: Mac OS
References
- Image Doctor – https://www.alienskin.com/imagedoctor/
- Photomatix HDR – https://www.hdrsoft.com
- ReDynaMix – https://www.mediachance.com/plugins/redynamix.html
- Altostorm Rectilinear Panorama – https://www.altostorm.com/
- Noise Ninja – https://www.picturecode.com/
- Portraiture – https://www.imagenomic.com/pt.aspx
- AKVIS Chameleon – https://akvis.com/en/chameleon/index.php
- AKVIS Decorator – https://akvis.com/en/decorator/index.php
- Pearly Whites – https://www.imagetrendsinc.com/products/prodpage_pearly.asp
- Alien Skin Blow Up – https://www.alienskin.com/blowup/
Image Credits
- Photomatix – https://www.hdrsoft.com/examples.html
- AKVIS Chameleon and AKVIS Decorator – Product Website: https://akvis.com
Disclaimer: Prices are subject to change. Kindly consult the product website or a vendor for latest prices.
By default, the TWAIN plug-in is not installed in Photoshop Elements 9 or later. Follow the instructions from this document to use the TWAIN plug-in that was installed with Photoshop Elements 8 or earlier.
Important: Do not move plug-ins from previous versions of Photoshop Elements into the Photoshop Elements 9 (or later) > Plug-Ins folder. Also, don't set the Photoshop Elements 8 (or earlier) > Plug-Ins folder as the Additional Plug-Ins Folder in Preferences.
If you would like to have TWAIN support on Mac OS, then Adobe strongly recommends that you access your device through Rosetta (PPC) OS. Otherwise, you scan your image, and then open it in Photoshop Elements.
To install the legacy TWAIN plug-in for Mac OS, copy the ImportModules folder from:
Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 Review
//Applications/Adobe Photoshop Elements <version number>/Support Files/Optional Plug-Ins
into
//Applications/Adobe Photoshop Elements <version number>/Support Files/Plug-Ins
*The version Number is 11 or 12 depending on the Photoshop version you have installed.
Adobe strongly suggests that you use WIA support for your device, if available. If your device does not support WIA drivers, then try updating your TWAIN driver. Contact the manufacturer of your device for further TWAIN support.
To install the legacy TWAIN plug-in, do the following:
For Windows (32 bit), copy the Import-Export folder from:
C:Program FilesAdobePhotoshop Elements <version numberOptional Plug-Ins
into
C:Program FilesAdobePhotoshop Elements <version number>Plug-Ins
For Windows (64 bit), copy the Import-Export folder from:
C:Program Files (x86)AdobePhotoshop Elements <version number>Optional Plug-Ins
into
C:Program Files (x86)AdobePhotoshop Elements <version number>Plug-Ins
*The version number is 11 or 12, depending on the Photoshop version you have installed.
If you would like to have TWAIN support on your Macintosh system, then Adobe strongly recommends that you access your device through Rosetta (PPC) OS. Otherwise, scan your image in first, and then separately open the image in Photoshop Elements.
Adobe Photoshop Elements Windows 10
To install the legacy TWAIN plug-in for Mac OS, copy the ImportModules folder from:
//Applications/Adobe Photoshop Elements /Optional Plug-Ins/
Into:
//Applications/Adobe Photoshop Elements /Locales//Plug-Ins/
Adobe strongly suggests that you use WIA support for your device, if available. If your device does not support WIA drivers, then try updating your TWAIN driver. Contact the manufacturer of your device for further TWAIN support.
To install the legacy TWAIN plug-in for Windows (32 bit), copy twain_32.8ba from:
C:Program FilesAdobePhotoshop Elements Optional Plug-InsImport-Export
Into:
C:Program FilesAdobePhotoshop Elements LocalesPlug-InsImport-Export
64-bit Windows
Photoshop Elements version 9 and 10 is 32-bit applications. When installed on a 64-bit version of Windows, the path is slightly modified.
To install the legacy TWAIN plug-in for Windows, copy twain_32.8ba from:
C:Program Files (x86)AdobePhotoshop ElementsOptional Plug-InsImport-Export
Into:
C:Program Files (x86)AdobePhotoshop Elements LocalesPlug-InsImport-Export
The parameter <locale> in the path represents the name of a folder that varies based on your region and the language version of Photoshop Elements you install. Make sure that there is only one folder within Locales; it is two-digit language abbreviation followed with a two-digit country code. For example, if you install the North American English version, the folder is called 'en_US' (English United States).
The parameter <version number> represents the version of photoshop elements you installed. If you installed Photoshop Elements 10, for your system is C:Program Files (x86)AdobePhotoshop Elements 10Optional Plug-InsImport-Export
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