Are you a fan of photography? Do you like image editing? Then this is for you. Although it is thought that to edit images you have to be an expert, the reality is that this is not always the case. There are alternative programs to Photoshop, such as GIMP, which allow you a easy image editing.
Added to this are the plug-ins, which are additional tools that can be installed to GIMP so that you have a better or greater editing ability. Best of all is that GIMP is free photo editing software.so just suffice download it to start editing your photos.
It is important to be clear that the new and most up-to-date version of GIMP (2.10.32) has many of the plugins or features of its main competitor Photoshop. However, there are very varied and interesting plug-ins what can you add in GIMP and that will allow you to make new changes or editions to the images.
Dark Table
Darktable is one of the best options if you are just starting to learn to edit. It has a simple and intuitive interface, very easy to use. You can make basic changes to images without having to completely change or destroy them. It is a free tool. In addition, it is also compatible with RAW files, so you will not have problems when editing this type of format.
RawTherapee
Unlike the previous one, RawTherapee is a slightly more advanced tool. It's a more than excellent RAW image processor, with tone mapping options and HDR functionality. It is really fast thanks to its workflow that allows you to process and edit files without problems, just open a RAW image in GIMP and it will automatically start.
G'MIC
Third place we have G'MIC, undoubtedly one of the most famous plug-ins that exist for GIMP. This has more than 500 filters that you have on hand for quick types of retouching in image editing. You can also play around with color balance and curves, HSL sliders, metallic styles, and color spots.
Resynthesizer
Has it happened to you that you take a photograph, but when you see it you want to delete something from it? Well, Resynthesizer is the perfect tool for this, since it stands out for being a excellent remover of objects in photos. Also, removing it intelligently fills empty content based on the image.
This tool is capable of identify the content a of the image being removed and fill it with the necessary pixels and patterns to have a good image. Although it is true that Resynthesizer is not perfect and that it can make some mistakes, the reality is that it is a very useful option that offers good results. Without a doubt, one of the best plug-ins for GIMP.
Wavelet Decompose Script-Fu
If what you need is to touch up faces, Wavelet is the perfect tool for you. This GIMP plug-in is one of the best options you can get for making changes to those precise areas. To achieve this, Wavelet employs an algorithm that allows it to identify and reduce noise in photos.
In addition, it is capable of adjust those image noises that can be generated by the camera itself who took the picture. You won't have any problems with Wavelet, since it has a very easy-to-use interface and it has intelligence that does much of the work for you.
Hugin
Do you like panoramic photos? Hugin is the perfect plug-in with which to you can create panoramic images in GIMP. How does this work? Simple, Hugin allows you to generate a panorama made up of a series of images that you've already had before. This corrects for mismatched angles, as well as exposures.
Hugin is a very easy tool to use, just upload the images and specify the commonalities of each one.
Nik Collection
Nik Collection is a tool that provides additional features to GIMP, some of these are: color correction, HDR image processing, creation of creative effects and specialized conversion of images to black and white.
It is important to note that today Nik Collection belongs to DoX and is a paid tool. Nevertheless, old and free versions are still available which you can download.
BIMP
Do you need to edit several images at once? BIMP is the perfect GIMP plug-in for you. this tool allows you to edit different photos simultaneously. You can resize, rotate, crop or create a watermark and put it on the images at once.
BIMP is really important, as it GIMP itself does not come with this batch image editing option.. So you can save time working and avoid possible mistakes.
lensfun
Lensfun is a plug-in that allows you solve any problem related to lens distortion. You can correct distortions or vignetting, since it is capable of automatically detecting which camera you are using, the type of lens it has, and information corresponding to the image.
Liquid Rescale
Liquid Rescale is, without a doubt, one of the must-have plug-ins that you must have in GIMP. This tool uses an algorithm that analyzes the image to be able to change its size or aspect ratio. Best of all, it does without generating distortions on the people or objects that appear in the photograph. It should be noted that the rescaling is automatic.
Thus, you can stretch or adjust an image in which a person or an object appears in the middle of a landscape or certain background. Since, Liquiq Rescale is capable of identifying the silhouette of the person and object and differentiating it from the rest of the photograph, thus applying the adjustment or stretch with respect to the rest of the elements within the photo and keeping the proportion.
FAQs
Although GIMP plug-ins are almost all easy to use and quite useful, there are always questions when you start using this tool. Some of them range from where plug-ins can be downloaded, to how to install them, to where they are stored on your computer.
Where can you download GIMP plug-ins from?
Download plugins for GIMP It's a bit of a complicated job.. This is because there are several sites where you can download them, and some of them may not be reliable or may not allow you to access the correct plug-in.
However, we recommend searching on Google and access official websites of some of the plug-ins so you can download them from there.
How to install GIMP plugins?
Plug-ins can be installed in two ways: automatic or manual. As its name says, the shape automatic is the easiest, since once you have downloaded the file and have located it, you only have to double click on it and the plug-in will be installed as if it were an independent program.
Now the shape manual is more complicated, since the plug-in will usually be compressed in a .zip file, so you will have to unzip and save it. We recommend placing it in a place that is easy to find (it can be a desktop).
Afterwards, you should open GIMP. Keep in mind that it is important that you know if they are "py" or "smc" files. This is because the process to add the plug-in varies depending on this.
Knowing this, you should go to "Preferences" and click on "Folders". If the file is type “py”, you will have to click on “Plugins”. But if they are type "smc", you must click on "scripts".
Finally, you will be able to see two folders. Select “Users” and click “Show file location in file manager”. Then move the unzipped files to the folder and restart GIMP so you can use them.
Where are GIMP plugins saved by default according to your operating system?
Keep in mind that plug-ins are saved by default in different places depending on the operating system you have: Windows, MAC or Linux.
En Windows, plug-ins are usually stored in the "Program Files" folder. Once there, you will have to look for the folder called “lib \ gimp \ * version * \”, and then click on 'plugins'.
If you have MAC it's easier to locate as all crips are downloaded to the same place: '/Applications/GIMP.app/Contents/Resources/share/gimp/2.0/scripts/' and executable plugins in the path '/Applications/GIMP .app/Contents/Resources/lib/gimp/2.0/plug-ins/', while private ones are usually stored in '$HOME/Library/Application Support/GIMP/2.8/plug-ins/'.
Now if you are using Linux, you have to look for the hidden folder named “* path to home catalog * / .gimp – * version *”.