(Please note: All links open in new window)

Crevado

Crevado is an easy-to-use Web app where you can create and manage an online portfolio. You won’t need any programming or web design knowledge when using this tool. The portfolio sites are setup like photo albums: you have the currently viewed image front and center, while the others show as thumbnails below. You’ll also get an About page where you can give a little information about yourself. Other features include: Google Analytics reporting, Facebook “Like” integration, Twitter support, iPhone/Android optimization, and custom domains (at an additional cost).

Crevado’s plan pricing:

• Free – 30 images, 5 galleries, 0 videos
• Plus – $3/month, 120 images, 10 galleries, 0 videos
• Premium – $7/month, 700 images, 50 galleries, 10 videos

Visit Crevado – http://crevado.com

Behance Network

The setup of Behance Network is kind of like a social networking for designers and is totally free to use. It’s a great place to showcase your work, but it’s also great for discovering and connecting with other creative professionals. The large amount of traffic that the site receives, allows you to build a decent following. You can add an unlimited number of images, text, audio, and video and build unlimited multimedia projects. There is also social integration so that you can share your profile on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

If you’re looking to build more of a personal and professional portfolio site, you may enjoy Behance ProSite. It syncs with the Behance Network and includes unlimited hosting, unlimited projects, and no programming knowledge is required. While it’s free to build your site, you’ll need to pay $11/month in order to “go live.”

Visit Behance Network – http://www.behance.net

Host My Portfolio

Host My Portfolio is a free online portfolio service that also has social integration so that you can share your work across the Web on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and more. You can watch and keep up with portfolios and projects that you like; likewise, others can keep up with your portfolio and projects as well. There are numerous file types supported such as jpg, gif, png, pdf, doc, txt, html and more. All files that you upload are safely stored in your “Locker” until you’re ready to add them to one or more projects.

Visit Host My Portfolio – http://www.hostmyportfolio.com

Paspartout

Paspartout is setup a lot like Crevado (mentioned above) and is in the form of photo albums as opposed to a profile. It includes an image editor, web shop (included in the Biz plan), social integration, statistics (via Google Analytics, Mint, or GoSquared), mobile optimization (for smartphones and tablets), and code editing (for those who want more control). You can easily customize the colors and fonts of your theme to suit your needs. You’ll also feel comfort in knowing that you’re helping the planet by using a “green” company. With Paspartout, their servers in Germany run on the energy created by flowing water, which is considered ecologically to be the best form of power generation.

Paspartout pricing:

• Free – 5 projects, 35 images, 1 video
• Plus – $46/year, 10 projects, 200 images, 10 videos
• Pro – $93/year, 20 projects, 600 images, 20 videos
• Biz – $156/year, unlimited projects, unlimited images, 50 videos, unlimited pages

Visit Paspartout – http://paspartout.com

Carbonmade

Carbonmade is a fun, easy-to-use tool that is also much like Crevado (mentioned above), which lets you show off your work and create projects. You’ll be able to personalize the overall look and logo of your portfolio, plus there is no HTML knowledge necessary. You can also customize the display options, like the number of thumbnails that appear in each row and the location of the text that goes with your thumbnails. You’ll also get an About page so that you can give others a little information about yourself and let them know whether or not you’re available for freelance work.

Carbonmade pricing:

• Meh. – free, 5 projects, 35 images
• Whoo! – $12/month, 50 projects, 500 images, 10 videos

Visit Carbonmade – http://carbonmade.com

Bleidu

Bleidu lets you create a free portfolio website and choose from a variety of website themes along with Flash and JavaScript image galleries. Each portfolio website has 5 parts: a home page, about page, gallery, contact page, and resume page. You get an unlimited number of file uploads and also an unlimited number of galleries. With the contact page, anyone can send you an email directly through your site. So not only is Bleidu a great way to showcase your work, it also serves as an online resume in order to help you get freelance work.

Visit Bleidu – http://www.bleidu.com

Electrofolio

“Electrofolio is a flexible, personalized free portfolio CMS tool for artists, designers, photographers and small businesses.” Electrofolio is customizable with templates, special characters, and copyright watermarks. It’s also easy-to-use, has no bandwidth limit, unlimited slides, and no advertising. There are even video tutorials that you can use to learn how to enhance your photos and images. Other features include full screen mode, slide-shows, Google Analytics, and PayPal integration so that you can sell your work.

Electrofolio pricing:

• Standard – free, 3 pages, quarter memory block
• Pro – $71/year, unlimited pages, 2 – 10 memory blocks
• (Note: 1 memory block holds about 250-400 images)

Visit Electrofolio – http://www.electrofolio.com

Shown’d

With Shown’d you can not only create an online portfolio and customize them with themes, but you can also add your resume and view creative job listings. This tool gives you the ability to embed your personal showcase into any external Web page. Additionally, you can import your Flickr photo sets and upload up to 20 images from your computer at the same time. There is an integrated watermark tool that lets you add a copyright to your hi-res images. Google Analytics is also included so that you can measure your portfolio’s performance.

Visit Shown’d – http://shownd.com

6D Portfolio

6D Portfolio is a free tool that lets you create a portfolio profile to showcase your work and increase your chances of getting hired. Each profile has a limit of 5 videos and 50 images. While it is totally free to use, you can donate via a PayPal button on the site. It includes sections for tutorials on creating 2D and 3D images, along with game and movie trailers. Each profile has an About page, images page and videos page. Other 6D Portfolio users can contact you via the internal messaging system and can also add you as a friend. This is a great way to grow your network and fan base.

Visit 6D Portfolio – http://www.6dportfolio.com

Ahead

Ahead has a unique design and very creative portfolio layouts; “it works like an online version of InDesign that instantly transforms your layout into a zooming presentation, personal scrapblog.” The application is Web based and runs in any browser that supports flash. Navigating an Ahead portfolio is quite different from any other tool. You can zoom in and out with the mouse wheel, pan in and out by dragging your mouse, double click objects to navigate to them, and much more. Ahead is definitely the most impressive tool in its league.

Ahead’s pricing:

• Free – 300MB storage, 600MB monthly traffic, only public spaces, unlimited spaces
• Pro – $35/month, use your own URL, no Ahead branding, private spaces, Google Analytics, 3GB storage, 15GB monthly traffic, unlimited spaces.

Visit Ahead – http://ahead.com

Coroflot

Coroflot is known as the “fast, easy way to get your creative projects online and in front of the right people.” It also includes design job boards so that you can find creative work. The service is totally free and includes traffic reports, unlimited file uploads, job alerts, a drag and drop interface for organizing your projects, and more. Each portfolio has an overview page, portfolio page, profile page, and activity page. So as you can see, Coroflot doesn’t just focus on showcasing your work, it’s also a great place to connect with others and finding design jobs.

Visit Coroflot – http://www.coroflot.com

Viewbook

Viewbook does not only let you create stunning portfolios on your computer, but you can also create them on your iPad via free Viewbook Portfolio app. Uploading and organizing your images is a breeze thanks to the Viewbook manager; organizing your images can be done via drag and drop. It also includes a visual design editor that can be used to design your portfolio – much like a website editor, except there is no HTML knowledge needed. You can change the layout, album design, fonts, colors, backgrounds, and even the logo of your portfolio site. There are many other features like hi-res HD images, password protection for privacy, mobile optimization for viewing galleries on the iPhone and iPad, plus social integration for sharing on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and more. Lastly, you can even set up shop and sell your work right from your Viewbook site – complete with a shopping cart interface and worldwide shipping. Viewbook comes with a 30-day free trial.

Viewbook pricing:

• Basic – $4/month, $48/year, unlimited galleries, unlimited albums, 1000 images
• Standard – $9/month, $90/year, single page portfolios, unlimited portfolio pages, unlimited albums, 2500 images
• Pro – $19/month, $190/year, complete portfolio websites, unlimited websites, unlimited pages, unlimited albums, 5000 images

Visit Viewbook – http://www.viewbook.com

Design:related

Finally we have design:related. Although an invite is needed for this site, I wanted to include it since it definitely looks promising. Design:related is described as “your creative hub and community.” It supports high-res images for your projects and works of art. It’s also a great place for networking and building your fan base. Each user gets an influence score, which represents the number of people that refer to you as an influence. You can also search through creative job listings and share your inspirations with the rest of the community.

Visit Design:related – http://designrelated.com

So there goes the 13 online portfolio tools. Albeit they are all great tools up there, some designers that I know still love to showcase their own work on their website. They claim to have better flexibility and customizations with their own webhosting services. What say you? A public services like the tools mentioned above? or your own website? Please feel free to comment. Also, are there any great tools that you would like to add in? Let us know!

Don’t Panic!

I know it’s super-stressful when your site crashes during business hours or when you get a monthly statement filled with mysterious charges. Trust me, I know. But if you call your host’s customer service line just to vent, you’re wasting everyone’s time. So first, take a deep breath. Count to ten. Close your eyes and go to your happy place. Whatever you need to do to calm down, do it.

When you’re ready to handle things calmly, start gathering information: If you’re having computer issues, take screenshots of any error messages. Then, make sure the problem isn’t your Internet connection. Try rebooting your computer. If the problem is a billing or hosting plan issue, go back and re-read your statement. Grab your calculator and double check the math. Review your contract. Once you’ve calmed down and once you’re reasonably sure that the problem is on their end, then – and ONLY then – you should contact customer support.

But wait! Should you call the 1-800 number? Is it better to send an email? Should you try the live chat? What happens now?

Let’s take a look at some of the ins and outs of tech support.

Got a Minor Problem? Open a Ticket

A service ticket is a good option for non-emergencies or issues that can wait for a couple hours. All you have to do is go to your web host’s website and fill out a short service ticket form. It only takes a couple seconds, and you don’t have to stay on hold for 45 minutes.

The drawback? A service ticket is basically just an email, so you don’t know when it will be answered. Also, if your web host doesn’t have 24/7 support for tickets and they’re in another time zone, it could be an entire day before your problem is fixed!

Bottom line: If you’ve got a non-emergency (and you don’t mind waiting), a service ticket might be a good option for you.

Is Phoning the Fastest?

Time is money, as the saying goes. And that’s definitely true if your business’ website is down during peak hours. What if you don’t have the time to just sit and wait for someone to reply to a service ticket? Get on the phone! And don’t forget to grab a piece of paper and a pen — you’ll need to write down information such as the technician’s name, instructions, and any confirmation numbers you receive.

Calling customer service is usually faster than opening a service ticket – but keep in mind there are exceptions. In some cases – for example, if your web host’s server is down and many websites are affected — you might end up on hold indefinitely while tech support deals with hundreds of other frantic customers.

So what do you do if you can’t get through by phone? Stay on hold, but open a service ticket at the same time. If the phone lines are flooded, you might actually get through by email first!

My Favorite: The Live Chat

Live chat is, hands down, my favorite way to contact tech support. Unfortunately, not all web hosts have this great feature (this is something to look for if you’re thinking about switching hosts!). But if your web host does have live chat, I highly recommend it.

What’s so great about live chat? First of all, if something goes wrong with the server, most customers will reach for the phone before going to the host’s website to log on to live chat. That means long hold times for the phone, so contacting customer service will be faster online. Second, when the chat is over, you’ll have the entire conversation there in written form. No pen and paper required for notes!

Make Your Web Host Accountable

You should expect customer service to fix your problem right away. Of course, this isn’t always possible if there’s something wrong with the server, and customer service might have to “look into” your problem and contact you at a later date. But don’t get off the phone just yet – if tech support tells you that they can’t fix the problem right away, make sure you get a confirmation number. That way you’ll have proof that you called in case they don’t fix your problem within a day. And if you’re inconvenienced for that long, you might be able to get a discount on future service, or even a refund. And this is when reading the Term of Service is necessary!

Remember, your web host is required to provide you with the service in your contract. So they must fix your problem! But you can help speed the process along by providing them with important information and contacting them in the most efficient way possible.

Here’s a quick reference table for when you need help in a hurry!

Hostgator 30% Discount Coupon Code

Hostgator has recently come out with a special coupon code and all sign-ups with the code will get a 30% discount. This is by far the highest discount Hostgator offer except for their record-breaking-80%-Black-Friday-Sale! So, do grab the chance!

I have to emphasize again the 30% discount does have an expiry date, it’s 23rd January 2012! If you don’t want to be disappointed, you know what to do. Here you go:-

Coupon Code: jan30
Descriptions: 30% off from the Hostgator hosting purchase.
Instructions: Follow these steps to use the coupon.
Expiry: 23rd January 2012

New Gator Price After 30% Discount

This is the latest price of Baby Plan after the 30% discount!

A dedicated hosting plan gives you a lot more flexibility for the size, content, and software customization for your website. But all of those benefits will cost you: A dedicated hosting plan can cost up to 10 times more than shared hosting!

So how do you know if dedicated hosting is worth the price? Well, you can decide how important the following features of dedicated hosting are for running your website, and then you can decide if you want to spend your hard-earned dollars on a dedicated server.

You Get All the Resources

Shared hosting means shared resources. This means that you have to share the bandwidth, memory, etc. with all the websites on the same server. If you just have a simple website or blog, then you don’t need to worry about running out of resources. But if you have a lot of multimedia elements like videos or chatrooms, your site will slow down in a hurry once your traffic increases.

When you purchase a dedicated hosting plan, you get all the resources. So, you can build a large portfolio website with tons of photo galleries, a complicated e-commerce website, or a video tutorial blog. And you’ll have all the storage space you need.

You Choose the Behind-the-Scenes Technical Stuff

When you have your own dedicated server, you have a lot more control than in a shared hosting plan. First of all, you can choose which operating system you want to use, as well as the software and control panel used on the server and website. So, if you want to run a Windows operating system and update the software every time something new comes out, you can do so without any trouble.

Choosing a shared hosting plan means using whatever operating system that the host chooses for the server. It also means waiting for them to update the software, if they ever do. If customization is a big issue for you, consider paying more for dedicated hosting.

You Can Host All Your Websites

You can buy as many shared hosting plans as you want. But once you have five or more sites with decent traffic, what’s the point in keeping them all on a shared server? At that point, you’ll probably end up paying about the same amount per month as a dedicated server plan. Might as well switch so you’ll have complete control over all their software and resource needs, right!?

Bottom Line? Switch When You Outgrow

Still not sure whether or not you need dedicated hosting? The easiest test is to surf your website during peak traffic hours. If every page loads in under 10 seconds, then shared hosting is probably still fine. On the other hand, if your site is slowing down, or you’re experiencing downtime, then it’s probably time to switch. Happy with your current web host, but want a dedicated server? No worries, most web hosts offer both kinds of plans and let you switch right away, for example Hostgator.

Con #1: Lack of Originality

Do you really want a cookie cutter website?

Sure, a web host might claim to have over 4500 website templates, but really, your customization options are somewhat limited – although you can add a few tools and change a few colors, you can’t actually change the layout or navigation. That means your content and website ideas are restricted to the template design. Building your website from scratch, on the other hand, allows you to create any layout and navigation design that you want.

So if you’re building a large, complicated website that will need different layouts, lots of separate pages, and a great navigation system, you’ll need to bite the bullet and hire a good web designer – free site builders just aren’t going to give you the flexibility you need.

And one more thing: Using a template means that your website is less unique. Chances are that you’ll come across other websites using the same design and the same stock photos! I don’t know about you, but I feel like that could be embarrassing.

Con #2: You Might Get Stuck

Here’s a con that can be really annoying: If you build a website on a web host’s site builder, you might not be able to transfer it to another web host! Imagine: You build a website, start adding lots of content, create an Internet following…and then your web host starts dropping the ball. Your service is slow, the server goes offline a lot, and your site traffic is affected. But if you switch hosts, you’ll have to start your website from scratch!

Don’t let yourself get stuck – not all web hosts include site builders that create non-transferrable websites. Some web hosts use common software, so you can usually switch between. Other web hosts, however, use their own software, which means you can’t transfer your files.

How do you know if you’re doomed to one web host? First, you should check the Terms of Service. If your web host doesn’t include information about the site builder in the ToS, then email technical support and ask. It’s worth the trouble to keep from getting stuck with one web host.

Con #3: SEO? No!

A big part of your website’s search engine optimization is hidden in the HTML code. But you can’t edit the code in most site builders. You can’t even add a little SEO-friendly code, like title tags. It’s not a hopeless case – you can create some SEO by including keywords in your content – but if you’re planning to make a living from an e-commerce website, you might want to reconsider using a site builder.

The Bottom Line? Choose Wisely

Here’s what I think: If you just need a simple website, maybe a blog or a very basic business site, then use a site builder. Your website will be live in minutes, not months. But, keep in mind that you’ll be dependent on your host for all your website needs.

On the other hand, if you have a more complicated website, or if you have the time and skills to create your own code you should build your own site. The layout will be more suited to your content and your overall website will be more unique. Also, SEO is crucial to earning money from a website, and site builders just can’t give you what you need in that department.

We’ve talked a lot about the pros and cons of site builders! Here’s a quick reference chart to help sum things up.

But maybe you tried to do SEO for your website and got frustrated with all the details — how do you get your site to come up quickly in a search engine results list?

Let your web host help you out. I know most people don’t consider their web host when they think about SEO – after all, your host doesn’t touch your site’s HTML, and it doesn’t write your content for you. But your choice of web host can actually make or break your website’s SEO. Make sure your web host has these items before you sign on:

1. Guaranteed Reliability
   Ever wonder how your website ends up at the top (or the bottom) of the list? Robots. No, really. When you type “XX” into a search engine, that search engine uses robots to crawl through website HTML in search of relevant terms. In fact, if your website is down, no one can view your site, so your overall popularity will nose-dive. If your web host’s server is constantly crashing, your search engine ranking will crash, too. Look for a 99% uptime guarantee in any web hosting plan.
2. Hack-proof Security
   If your server is hacked, your website goes down until your web host figures out how to get around the problem.. and neither one of you will know how long that will take! That’s a big problem. So, how do you know if a web host is secure? First, ask what security methods they use for their servers. Then ask if their control panels include extra security applications, like IP Deny Manager and Leech Protect. Web host security suite like SiteLock always adds advantages into SEO.
3. Superior Server Speed
   How many times has this happened to you: You click a link and then… nothing happens? You wait. And wait. And the website …keeps… loading. And if you’re like most people, you’re not going to wait around forever for a super-slow site – you’ll move on to find something faster. This is a good thing to keep in mind when you’re thinking about your own site: If your website loads too slowly, users will get annoyed and move on. Google actually knows how long users stay on your website before going to the next one and includes that information in their rankings. Bottom line: If your server is slow, your ranking will suffer.
4. Malignant User Screening
   Another piece of information grabbed by the crawlers? Your IP address. Which means you could be in trouble if you share a server with a spammer. If you use shared web hosting, you will share your IP address with the other websites on the server. If they get penalized by the search engines, you probably will too. If you don’t want to pay for a dedicated server, ask the web host about their screening techniques for the shared hosting plans. Many web hosts say that spammers aren’t allowed, but do they actually check the sites on their servers?
5. Automatic SEO Applications
   Look for a web host that includes SEO tools in their control panel. These applications can make SEO a lot easier for you — by automatically building meta tags, posting links to your content on bookmarking sites like Stumble, and helping to identify keywords. There are hundreds of applications out there, so make sure your web host has a few helpful SEO tools before you buy.

SEO Starts with Good Hosting

It would take a book to go over everything there to know about SEO, but choosing a web host will take care of a few of the most important things for you. Choose a web host that’s reliable, fast, screens their users, and includes a couple SEO applications, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised at all the new traffic on your website! If you need my recommendation, you may want to check out my liste of best web host.

But even though Google Analytics can tell you a lot of information about your website, you can still add on applications and learn even more! There are hundreds of GA applications available online, but I’ve picked three of my favorites to help you out: Social Sprout, AnalyticsView, and the GA plug-in for WordPress.

Sprout Social: Who’s Talking About You?

You know how many hits you get on your website, but have you ever wondered how they compare to the number of people who visit your Facebook page? Or how many of your Twitter followers are 30-year-old males? Or what people are saying about your company online? Social Sprout answers these questions by integrating data from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social media sites right into your GA dashboard. Then, you can generate reports that let you look at all your data trends at once to identify where your users are connecting with you through social media.

Sprout Social lets you search for people in a specific location who are talking about a specific topic.

And why do you care about your social media statistics? They’re a great research tool! Sprout Social lets you know how many people you’re reaching through your social media profile.. and what demographic these users fall into. So, if most of your Facebook fans are females over 40, and most of your Twitter followers are in their mid-20s, you can target your marketing material differently on these sites.

Also, Sprout Social lets you know who’s talking about you on social media sites, even if they’ve never actually connected with your profile. This is great feedback for your company – you can figure out what people really think about you.

AnalyticsView: Report the Info that Matters

AnalyticsView is great for people with an e-commerce site, or who need help identifying keywords, or who have a B2B website.. or just about anyone, really.

Basically, this app takes data from GA and dives in deeper. So, while GA tells you which search terms are used to find your site, AnalyticsView tells you which keywords bring visitors who actually stay on your site instead of bouncing away. And the Adwords report doesn’t just tell you how many people clicked on a certain ad on a certain page, it tells you what they did after they clicked. You can even create customized reports to group any data that you want all in one place.

AnalyticsView gives you a detailed report on how well your SEO is working

GA Plug-In for WordPress: Better Blog Data

Don’t let the straightforward-sounding name fool you. The GA plug-in for WordPress does a lot more than simply installing GA in your WordPress Dashboard! It tells you where all your visitors go on your website, and you can sort this data by category, tags, and publication date. This lets you know if your old content is still getting hits, or if some of your category names just aren’t that appealing to your users.

You can use the plug-in for WordPress for e-commerce sites too – it will tell you where visitors who bought something came from. Use this info to target your advertising!

The GA plug-in for WordPress lets you pick what you want to track on your blog!

Google Analytics, Plus More Data!

It’s amazing how much data one website can generate, even a small one. Luckily, Google Analytics and a few good apps can help you manage the data and use it to your advantage. Remember, the more you know about your website visitors, the better you’ll be able to target your content towards them. And the more your users like your content, the more popular and profitable your website will be!

Google Analytics allows you analyze pretty much any aspect of your website. But for now, let’s just start with the basics. In this post, we’ll talk about what the bounce rate, geographical data, and top content statistics tell you about your readers. And most importantly, we’ll talk about how you can use these statistics to your advantage.

Bounce Rate: Get Them to Stick Around for Awhile

“Bouncing” is the term for when someone visits your website, and then immediately leaves and goes to another site without checking out any other pages on your site. So, a high “bounce rate” isn’t as fun as it sounds – it means that the visitor decided to go somewhere else for relevant content. Google Analytics includes a bounce rate for each user and each page.

And here’s how you can use that information to improve your website: Look at all the pages that have an average bounce rate of over 70%. How can you improve them? Do they need better titles, a nicer picture, or a call to action? Maybe you need to work on your keywords a little. Continue to pay attention to these pages, tweak and test, and see if your bounce rate goes down.

Geographical Data: Find out Where They Live

GA tracks the location of your visitors by country, state, and city. Knowing where your users come from helps you target your marketing. For example, maybe you sell customized t-shirts online. At first, your visitors are largely from the United States, but suddenly your clothing starts to catch on in China. You’ll want to change your banner ads to target this new demographic, and might even want to develop different landing pages for each population.

Top Content Tracker: Copy Your Best Work

Here’s a great way to figure out which content your site’s visitors like best: GA’s Top Content tracker. It shows you how many times each page has been visited, how long each visitor stayed on the page, and how many people left your website after viewing the page.

Take a look at your most visited pages. What do they have in common? Are they lists of useful tips, or do they discuss a similar topic? If there’s a common theme amongst these pages, it might be a clue to what your readers are looking for.

Also, if you know a page is popular, you can work on improving it even more, and add links from that page to other pages on your site.

Customize Your Analysis with Apps

There are literally hundreds of ways to use Google Analytics, but making just a couple changes to your website based on your user statistics can make a huge difference! Go ahead and get started with analyzing your website, and next time we’ll talk about a few analytics apps that will help you even more.

The file format of Photoshop plugins are .8bf files and are usually placed in the presents > plugins folder (which is in Photoshop’s root folder). You can learn more about installing Photoshop plugins with a simple Google search.

For now, lets take a look at some very useful plugins that are sure to come in handy for both professional and amateur Photoshop users.

(Please note: All links open in new window)

Cybia: The Works

The Works by Cybia Software is a complete collection of eight different Photoshop filter sets.

• AlphaWorks – used for removing black and white to make an area transparent.
• ColourWorks – offers different ways to change image color values to create artistic effects.
• EdgeWorks – great for creating edge effects and making color changes.
• ScreenWorks – used for adding texture and overlays to different regions of your image.
• EmbossWorks – used for adding different embossing styles to your image.
• SwapShop – make switching color values super easy.
• MasterBlaster – this is a unique tool that lets you “blast” intense colors into your image.
• Mezzy – used to add different grain and mezzo styles to your image.

Check Out Cybia: The Works – http://www.cybia.co.uk/theworks.html

B/W Conversion

B/W conversion is much like The Works mentioned above, yet more powerful. It lets you boost and control colors, add grain and toning effects, apply color filters, adjust the brightness, and much more. With this plugin you get full control over your images and the final results.

Check Out B/W Conversion – http://www.photo-plugins.com/Plugins/Plugins/B-W-Conversion.html

Web Font

Web Font is a plugin for Photoshop CS5 and up that lets you use actual Web fonts to mock-up your website. You’ll have access to thousands of WebINK and Google Web fonts, plus it comes with a 30-day trial of Suitcase Fusion 3. This is very handy since Photoshop does not include Web fonts, therefore it’s hard to see exactly what your website will look like because you have to use different fonts. Therefore, Web Font lets you “design with the same web fonts you will use to go live”.

Check Out Web Font – http://www.extensis.com/en/webfontplugin/

GuideGuide

Do you often use guides while designing – especially when creating print layouts? Meet GuideGuide, “a columns, rows and midpoints panel” that helps you to evenly lay out your guides. If you’ve set up guides manually in the past, you know how tedious and time-consuming this can be. With GuideGuide, all you have to do is tell it how far from each side of the document that you want your guides placed. You can also set the number of columns and rows that you want and define the gutter width.

Check Out GuideGuide – http://www.cameronmcefee.com/guideguide/

Soft Focus

As the title suggests, this plugin is used to apply a soft focus effect – much like seen in portraits and fashion photos. You get control over the radius and strength; plus you can change the blending mode.

Check Out Soft Focus – http://www.photo-plugins.com/Plugins/Plugins/Soft-Focus-2.html

Perfect Resize 7

Perfect Resize 7, previously known as Genuine Fractals, is the ultimate tool for resizing images. You can enlarge images up to 1000% without losing quality, sharpness, or fine details. It’s also great for cropping images, resizing documents, changing pixel dimensions, adding smoothness and controlling sharpness.

Check Out Perfect Resize 7 – http://www.ononesoftware.com/products/suite/perfect-resize/?ind

Lens Correction

This is the plugin to use if you need help correcting “barrel and pincushion” distortions. You can move the slider back and forth for strong corrections and fine tuning.

Check Out Lens Correction – http://www.photo-plugins.com/Plugins/Plugins/Lens-Correction-2.html

Fotomatic

Fotomatic is another plugin from Cybia Software and is another collection of eight different Photoshop filters.

• Hi-Spot – used to create high contrast black and white photos; it creates a dramatic sense of lighting.
• G-Force – used for creating monochromatic grain effects; this is great if you’re looking for more control than the standard noise filter.
• Techni-X – used for bleaching out mid-tone greys so that you will have darker blacks and brighter whites in your images.
• NightScope – great for adding “night-vision” by removing colors and adding a slight blur.
• Pseudo-IR – “produces a similar look when using traditional B&W infra-red film.”
• SkyGrad – if you have a sky area in your images, you can use this to add a tint; used for changing the mood and making a dull day brighter.
• BW-Plus – used to change your colors to a gray scale, “but with the added option of using a coloured optical lens filter as you would in traditional B&W photography.”
• FastFix – a simple filter that can help you fix many common issues and add most common enhancements.

Check Out Fotomatic – http://www.cybia.co.uk/fotomatic.html

virtualPhotographer

With plugin you can instantly apply high quality styles and effects to your images. It offers many of the same features as other plugins listed such as adding film grain, converting to black and white, applying soft focus, and polarization. It also includes a large split-screen preview window for tweaking your effects.

Check Out Virtual Photographer – http://www.optikvervelabs.com/virtualphotographer.asp

Gradient Blur

The Gradient Blur plugin is great if you’re trying to bring attention to a specific part of the image. For instance, if you have a background in your image, you can use a gradient blur to soften the background so that the focus is on what’s in the foreground. The radius and range can be controlled with sliders and you can choose the blending and gradient type used.

Check Out Gradient Blur – http://www.photo-plugins.com/Plugins/Plugins/Gradient-Blur-2.html

Chromagic

Chromagic makes it easy to extract colors from your background to make it transparent. All you have to do is click on the color(s) that you want to remove, and it will automatically become transparent. The plugin works best if you have a single color background.

Check Out Chromagic – http://www.cybia.co.uk/chromagic.html

Dreamy Photo

Dreamy Photo enhances your images by giving them a soft yet warm romantic feel. Although it’s a standalone program, it comes with a Photoshop plugin.

Check Out Dreamy Photo – http://www.autofx.com/freeplugins/dreamy4.html

Contrast Mask

“This plugin uses a contract mask to reduce the overall contrast of the image, simultaneously bringing out more detail in both highlights and shadows.” You can use the sliders to change the smoothness of shadows and strength of the opacity.

Check Out Contrast Mask – http://www.photo-plugins.com/Plugins/Plugins/Contrast-Mask-2.html

Neat Image

Neat Image does just that, reduces noise, grain, and artifacts to make your images appear “neat”. It is said to offer the “most accurate noise reduction currently available”. You can adjust the filter settings and reduction amounts as needed and use the preview window for fine tweaking.

Check Out Neat Image – http://www.neatimage.com/

Beautifier

Beautifier is for beautifying your images by creating “flattering soft-focus, high-key, and infra-red simulation effects”. There are sliders for adjusting the diffusion, brightness, strength, and saturation in your images. With just a few tweaks, you can create quite dramatic effects.

Check Out Beautifier – http://www.redpawmedia.com/beautifier.html

FocalPoint 2

This plugin allows you to add a realistic depth of field and blur to your images. This helps to direct the focus to any specific area of an image. It includes a new FocusBrush tool that lets you paint sharpness or blur where you want it. Plus the Lens Preset features let you simulate many different types of expenses lenses to create unique effects.

Check Out FocalPoint 2 – http://www.ononesoftware.com/products/suite/focalpoint/

Perfect Mask 5

With Perfect Mask 5 you can apply masks to replace backgrounds in your images. “With Automatic Background Removal, a first mask is made on your image and can then be fine-tuned using the Erase and Refine Tools.” There is also the Automatic Solid Background Remover that automatically removes any solid colored background. If you’re looking for an advanced masking tool for still images, be sure to try Fluid Mask 3.

Check Out Perfect Mask 5 – http://www.ononesoftware.com/products/suite/perfect-mask/

Harry’s Filters

Harry’s Filters is a “freeware plugin with 69 image effects in nine effect groups”. These effects include: color, noise, warp, gradients, patterns, mirroring, paint, blending, brightness, plus many other features. You can even add animation effects and encrypt/decrypt image and video files using a 64-bit key.

Check Out Harry’s Filters – http://www.thepluginsite.com/products/harrysfilters/index.htm

HotPixel

Have you ever noticed little colored pixels all over your image? These are called “hot pixel” noise and often happens with photos that are “taken with a consumer digital camera using a long exposure in low light situations”. The HotPixel plugin is designed to automatically detect and remove that noise so that you have a nice clear image.

Check Out HotPixel – http://www.redpawmedia.com/hotpixel.html

Wire Worm

Wire Worm is a cool plugin that lets you remove wires and other unwanted objects from your images. For instance, if there are a lot of power lines in your image or if you are at the zoo and have taken pictures of animals in cages, this plugin can help you remove those power lines and cage wires so that the image is clearer. It uses a tool that is designed for selecting long, thin objects and has a color matching feature for blending in those empty patches.

Check Out Wire Worm – http://www.vicanek.de/plugins/wireworm.htm

Sharpener Pro 3.0

If you’re looking for an advanced sharpening tool, look no further. Sharpener Pro 3.0 is a powerful tool that gives professional results. It’s also the only tool that gives you “controls for both output and creative detail sharpening of different objects [...] without the need to make different adjustment layers for each object or area”.

Check Out Sharpener Pro 3.0 – http://www.niksoftware.com/sharpenerpro/usa/entry.php

Topaz Plug-in Bundle

This bundle by Topaz Labs includes ten powerful programs that enhances your photos and improve your productivity with one-click adjustments.

• Adjust – used to optimize exposure, color, and sharpness.
• DeNoise – used to remove noise and keep the detail of your image.
• B&W Effects – used to convert images to black and white.
• ReMask – a masking tool for removing and replaces backgrounds.
• Lens Effects – used to create various lens effects and apply filters like motion blur and color tone balance.
• Detail – great for enhancing the detail of your image without adding extra distortions.
• Simplify – used for creating digital art, pencil sketches, and paint effects – much like Sketch V.12.5 and Sketch Master.
• Clean – used to clean up your images by smoothing and adding vectorized effects.
• InFocus – a tool for sharpening and improving the quality of your image.
• DeJPEG – used for eliminating artifacts that may appear due to JPEG compression; gives your JPEGs the best quality.

Check Out Topaz Plug-in Bundle – http://www.topazlabs.com/bundle/

Retrographer

If you love the vintage look, you can use Retrographer to create authentic vintage effects. It includes over 15 photo effects like aging, vignetting, halftone, framing, film grain, lens distortion, and more. Retrographer also has over 1,100 preset camera settings, which gives you an almost endless number of possible creations.

Check Out Retrographer – http://www.misterretro.com/filters/retrographer

Motion Blur Lab Pro

Motion Blur Lab Pro is “capable of producing high-quality, multi-directional and variable strength motion blur effects quickly and efficiently using motion vectors”. The aim of the tool is to stand out from the rest and create effects not possible with any other tool or retouching software.

Check Out Motion Blur Lab Pro – http://www.mblpro.com/

Since many of these plugins are only available for Photoshop on Windows, as a bonus you may want to check out some plugins for Photoshop on Mac. You’ll find plugins for removing glare on shiny faces, brightening smiles, optimizing photos for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and much more.

Now that you have such a large selection of plugins available to help enhance your images and graphics, which tool do you think is the most useful? Which tool do you plan on trying out that you haven’t already used? Feel free to share in the comments!

I still remember how crazy the Hostgator Black Friday Sale in 2010 is! Everything in Hostgator goes off as much as 80%!! That was incredible and as expected Hostgator was the top search trend in Alexa on Black Friday Sale!

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