Photoshop CS2 is pretty extensive with lots of tools, but is there any 'Must-Have' plugins that doesnt come with it that are needed?

I'm not that big on plugins I use them occasionally. Sometimes if I want to do a specific effect I'll go and :google: for a plugin but thats about it. I'm curious myself to know if others use plugins and if so which ones.

I'm not that big on plugins I use them occasionally. Sometimes if I want to do a specific effect I'll go and :google: for a plugin but thats about it. I'm curious myself to now if others use plugins and if so which ones.

I, like SW, do not use plug-ins a great deal. However, there is that one occasion that I do choose to use them for a specific effect. Aside from the filters that are available in PS, there are some 3rd party PIs that you may want. "Cult Effects", "Eye Candy", & "Kai's Power Tools / Vector Effects" to name some of the more mainstream. There should be versions for PS, Illustrator, and After Effects. I am also sure that there are some downloadable demos. I think that to better the whole image manipulation aspect of what we do you may want to start grabbing some hi rez photos. Either through subscribing to a stock photo site or through your own photos. It would be a good idea to build your library with large quality images. This will give you the ability to create textures, channel masks, organic selections, and so on.

Hehehehehehe.................me I love plugins, I never used them for years but, when I did start i found it cut the creation times in half...............

Adobe have their own recommendations for plugin partners..........Kai's Power Tools, Auto Fx, Eye Candy and so on, but, there are literally hundreds available.............some are absolute rubbish but, some can produce effects in Photoshop that Photoshop itself cannot re-produce especially in the area of digital photography!
I really like Blow-up (Alienskin)...............it gives a really high quality image resizing option, and is better than bicubic interpolation!
But, because I like working some covers in contrast ............. I go for any filter by Eastman Kodak:lol:

Grab what you can, when you can.................then you can make up your own mind on what will or wont work for you:thumbup: