Without a doubt, GIMP is the best alternative to Photoshop. However, using the GIMP plugins you can enhance its functionalities even further. These plugins help you to improve your workflow at scale and add new essential features to GIMP.
Unfortunately, there is not a particular repository online where you can find these plugins to download. Instead, you have to make a comprehensive search to find one.
Table of Contents
Best Gimp Plugins for Photographers
This article covers the best GIMP plugins that you download and install. Before starting to use them, check their versions and compare features.
1. Darktable
Our list of the Gimp plugins starts with Darktable. This is probably the best photo editing app available for free. The app is equally useful when used with RAW photos. However, users have to add their raw editor first.
Darktable is easy to use and packed with a slew of advanced features and masking tools. After quick installation, you can quickly drag your RAW images into GIMP to use. The plugin combines the solid features of Photoshop and Adobe Camera RAW editor.
2. G’MIC
G’MIC is a popular and loaded photo editor plugin packed with 500 GIMP filters and several stunning effects that can spice up your photographs. The plugin has all the basic and standard features including film stock emulators and frames.
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You can also access some very advanced features with the plugins such as noise reduction and other repair tools. If you’re looking for some 3D effects, the plugin can even offer you that. The plugin also comes with innovative adjustment sliders for each filter so that you can customize the look of your shots.
3. Resynthesizer
Resynthesizer has been the most elegant and popular old plugin for GIMP. The tool comes with a slew of noteworthy features and functions that enhance the look and feel of textures. The USP of the plugin is its Heal section that you can find under the Enhance menu.
The plugin is very much like Photoshop’s Content-Aware Fill tool. The feature lets GIMP users remove unwanted objects from a photo. If the background of your image is a blemish or has intrusions with the surrounding content, heal selection can fix it perfectly.
For instance, if you want to remove some unwanted objects from a sky image, heal selection will remove them and fill the space with more sky.
4. Hugin
Hugin is a panorama GIMP plugin. The plugin is a very handy tool that stitches different images together to create beautiful panoramas. Just activate this GIMP extension and load the images you want to stitch together.
The app will ask for some settings to do. Once you approve the settings, the app will merge tall those images together. Moreover, you can also fix images with mismatched angles and exposures. The app is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems.
5. Wavelet Decompose
Wavelet decompose plugin is the best tool for functions involving skin retouching. If you’re aware of portrait photography, you know how important wavelet decompose is for your images. If you are a pro photographer and do a lot to enhance the quality of the photos, this plugin is an essential one.
The plugin comes with a frequency separation feature that effectively splits an image into several layers. These layers are different from each other in terms of settings. Having multiple layers of the images gives users control over details they want to alter and which ones to keep. Its blur and smooth tools can easily make your subject’s skin shine.
6. Duplicate to Another Image
As the name suggests, duplicate to anchor image creates duplicate to another image file or selection of image files. This GIMP addon plugin allows you to copy a selection onto a new image scaled to the same size as your original without displacing the original object.
It is very helpful especially in case you want to change the background of an image quickly. Moreover, the plugin even lets you copy your selection to a new image. Alternatively, it’s also possible to copy the object to another image already open.
7. Nik Collection
The Nik Collection is a professionally built suite of photo editing tools withGIMP filters, and a slew of many more features. The application provides you with high-end sharpening and noise reduction features along with color filters, HDR effects, and much more. Its free version is now discontinued. However, if you want to use it, you can download it from internet archives.
8. RawTherapee
Looking for a far-sighted plugin that works well with raw images? Raw Therapee is your bet. You may find the plugin bit complicated to use and lacking in features, it is always the best tool with basic functionalities.
RawTherapee lets you edit the images without having to fear the loss of quality. By using the app you can create a workflow to process and edit raw files. You can count on its tone mapping and high dynamic range (HDR) features.
9. Bundle of scripts for gimp
Pro users always rely on this useful batch of GIMP scripts. The developers of the tool have updated the entire script over time. The tool comes packed with features to fade edges or add a picture frame.
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For basic editing uses, this tool is perfectly fine. However, make sure to have an updated version of the GIMP plugin while using it to skip run time difficulties.
10. Lensfun
Lensfun is a feature-perfect tool that contains features to fix lens distortion. The tool has a vast library of lens profiles to allow you to perform lens corrections to your images. It helps to fix vignetting, chromatic aberration, and distortion in seconds. This GIMP plugin offers a variety of lenses to choose from.
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