Resources 09.05.2012 v1.07.2

________________________Resources - P&DA "Where To Find It"
The blue text indicates a live link, just click for more information. To open the P&DA Sample Gallery page with many images illustrating plugins and techniques, click the text in the black bar below.


Software & Sources
ActionFx.com - Large assortment of Photoshop actions, brushes, presets, tutorials
Alien Skin - Eye Candy and numerous other filters
Cosmic Pack 3 from Digital Heavens - Make your own universe using a PS/PSE action; Demo & tutorials
Impressionist - a plugin with a wide variety of artistic effects
John's Brushes - tools for CS5 that allow you to paint with professional results; includes six tutorial videos
KPT Collection - Kai Power Tools from Corel, a set of plugins for creative editing
Painter 12 - Corel's digital paint program, available as a demo as well as a limited version "Essentials"
PhotoImpact - variety of special effects in a PS plugin, also from Corel
Photomatix - an HDR program to merge exposures, available as a non-expiring trial version with watermark
Photoshop - digital editing part of a "creative suite", demo available; also a limited version "... Elements"
Pixel Bender - A free plugin system from Adobe; Oil Paint and Droste are examples or make your own filter
Redfield Plugins - including Fractalius which applies a variety of threadlike effects
Terragen - A program to generate landscapes; a free non-expiring Classic version is available
Topaz Adjust - a plugin with a range of image tweaks, notably Simplify
Wacom - graphic pens and tablets for digital drawing and painting, available in a wide variety of sizes & types

Pixel Bender Plugins
Oil Paint is now a filter in CS6 -- see Tim Grey's video. Oil Paint is #1 on his list of new features in CS6.
Several PB plugins written by Tom Beddard are available on his sub-blue website.
Escher's Droste Effect makes repeating fractal patterns of decreasing size (included in the PB toolkit)
Landscape generator with basic controls for sun angle, water level, and camera orientation

References - links to NSN articles related to making creative images
Abstraction - The Art of Abstract Macro Photography (Michael Brown 6/01/06)
Blurs - The Magic of Blurs: A Guide to Creating Artistic Images (Alfred & Fabiola Forns 9/30/10)
Color - Windows Colour Management (Phil Wigglesworth 12/09/2009)
Composition - Fine Art Composition Top 15 (Alain Briot 5/05/11)
Contrast -The Shadow/Highlight tool in Photoshop CS: Breathing new life... images (Greg Downing 5/31/04)
Creativity - Departing from the Literal Image (Mark Graf 3/31/2010)
HDR - The High Dynamic Range (HDR) Landscape Photography Tutorial (Royce Howland 7/01/2006
In Camera - Special Effects in Photoshop and in-Camera (Fabiola del Alcazar 4/30/2007)
iPhoneography - iPhoneography: Is it here to stay? (Fabiloa Forns 6/10/2011)
Motion - Incorporating Movement into Your Imagery (Charles Glatzer 11/01/04)
Layers & Masks - Full Control in Photoshop: Layers & Masks (Tim Grey 1/31/2008)
Noise Reduction - Noise Reduction in Photographs (Juza 5/31/2007)

Books - a number of great books on photography and photoediting are available from the NSN Store.
Photoshop Masking & Compositing (Katrin Eismann et al- New Riders Press 2012) [paperback and Kindle]


__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Short Glossary - Some frequently encountered image editing abbeviations and verbal shorthand:
AMP - Art Master Pro, a program with a variety of painting options simulate a variety of media such as watercolor and oil
CEP - Color Efex Pro from NIK Software
CS - Photoshop Creative Suite, CS x refers to PS v8 onward, e.g., CS4 is version 11
Efex - Generally used to mean NIK Software's Color Efex Pro, or Silver Efex for Black & White
Elements - Photoshop Elements, a limited version of Photoshop. A complimentary package is sometimes included with cameras
HDR - High Dynamic Range, a specialized treatment to allow combination of images which exceed the tonal range of a single exposure
PS - Photoshop, usually a generic reference to all versions, sometimes to include Photoshop Elements
PSE - Photoshop Elements, often followed by the version number, as PSE 9