# Recommended plugins/developers??



## jemostrom (Jul 17, 2015)

Hi,

I'm new to Lightroom and after having used the program for some time I'm now looking to extend it in a few ways. I've looked around a bit, found different plugins from different companies and now I'm trying to figure out what reputation different companies/persons have.

One I've found and I would trust without hesitation is Jeffrey Friedl http://regex.info/blog/lightroom-goodies (hey, he wrote the RegExp book!!!) but what about others?

I'm currently testing:

Flickr - builtin and Friedl's (any opinions on this?)
Smugmug - Smugmug's own, considering Friedl's (any opinions on this?)
WordPress - There seem to be a few, opinions on this?
NextGen Gallery - Same for this, opinions?

I would be grateful for any comments/suggestions on these plugins/destinations.


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## Jimmsp (Jul 17, 2015)

I only use Flickr of the ones that you have mentioned; and I use the LR built in plugin. It works perfectly fine for me; I use it for 2 different galleries. For my personal gallery, all I want to do is to load a few new photos at a time to share with family and friends. I'll take some off now and then as well. I also use it to manage a gallery for our local photo club. Again, the built in plugin works just fine for what I want to do - upload a 20-40 photos at a time for our monthly contest and for our field trips.


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## Harley_Rider (Jul 18, 2015)

I'm using the SmugMug plugin from SmugMug, no issues with it and it works pretty good.


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## Victoria Bampton (Jul 18, 2015)

Jeffrey Friedl and John Beardsworth are my top two these days, but any of the guys on here are reputable: http://www.photographers-toolbox.com


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## davidedric (Jul 18, 2015)

Don't know about Smugmug's own, but I use Friedl's and it works fine for me.

Dave


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## johnbeardy (Jul 18, 2015)

I'd also look at John Elllis's plugins. Like me, he doesn't put out a large number of plugins, but I think they're well thought-through and well-supported, and I get the feeling he's also not doing them purely to earn money for his efforts. 

John


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## Ian.B (Jul 19, 2015)

OK; I will ask the dumb question or questions. Why do we need these plug-ins? I'm always weary of adding 'stuff' to the window based computer. I also question the thousands of presets available (??)


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## Victoria Bampton (Jul 19, 2015)

You don't need these plug-ins unless they add functionality that you need.  The Adobe engineers can't add every possible feature you might ever desire, so plug-in developers step in and fill the gaps.


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## tspear (Jul 19, 2015)

Determine which image gallery you want, then look for a plugin which can adequately do what is required.
I did not like SmugMug, Flikr, NextGen or even WordPress for an image gallery. In fact I wrote a WordPress plugin (personal only, never published) and did the whole integration into Lightroom. Still did not like the result (to much of a pain to maintain and deal with the latest issue).

At the end of the day, I have so far settled on JAlbum for publishing on my personal website, Jeff Friedl's plugins (FaceBook, Folder, Collection publishing) to export from Lr. (I publish to a local folder and then use JAlbum to create the website and push to my server, I scripted most of this).

One day when I have more time I would like to change the image gallery concept for personal pages and develop a new solution. Flickr, FB, Picasa.... they all are horrible at managing large collections or helping friends and families find, display or use the images. I have lots of ideas, just no time!

Tim


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## Ian.B (Jul 20, 2015)

Victoria Bampton said:


> You don't need these plug-ins unless they add functionality that you need.  The Adobe engineers can't add every possible feature you might ever desire, so plug-in developers step in and fill the gaps.


thank you Victoria

I fiddled around with exporting  directly to  flickr but in the end it was just as easy to setup forum export preset to a windows folders and then use flickr to unload. Sometimes I feel that more 'stuff' (like free presets) just means more to remember/find/customize and to generally block up  the computer. I'm amazed at the # of free and to buy presets being offered


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## johnbeardy (Jul 20, 2015)

Ian.B said:


> OK; I will ask the dumb question or questions. Why do we need these plug-ins? I'm always weary of adding 'stuff' to the window based computer. I also question the thousands of presets available (??)



I'd share Victoria's view that there is no general need for plugins, unless there is some specific task you need to accomplish. As for presets, I couldn't agree more - I'm appalled that people have the cheek to ask money for them. Just wait till my Preset Pack Generator plugin due next April 1 with its trademarked Pro Photographer Simulator (with BS Generator) which lets you enter your favourite photographer and generate super-authentic presets and Custom BS Snippets (TM) designed to silence  any Doubting Thomas who demands an explanation of what possessed you to imagine the Ulitmate Robert Capa Velvia Preset would be the perfect choice for your cat pictures....


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## Jimmsp (Jul 20, 2015)

johnbeardy said:


> ....... Just wait till my Preset Pack Generator plugin due next April 1 with its trademarked Pro Photographer Simulator (with BS Generator) which lets you enter your favourite photographer and generate super-authentic presets and Custom BS Snippets (TM) designed to silence  any Doubting Thomas who demands an explanation of what possessed you to imagine the Ulitmate Robert Capa Velvia Preset would be the perfect choice for your cat pictures....



Perfect. And it might even become the cornerstone of all commercial presets. Now, if I only had a cat.


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## jemostrom (Jul 23, 2015)

Thanks for the answers !!


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## jemostrom (Jul 23, 2015)

I have to admit that I'm using Flickr, Smugmug, WordPress and JAlbum ... for different purposes, they all have their strength and weaknesses and it's difficult to say which one is best.

I've also played a bit with PicasaWeb/Google+ Photos/Google Photos ... and I like PicasaWeb the best (despite being old and not as fancy). To be honest I think that if Google wants to attract photographers they should build something similar to PicasaWeb (but more modern and with features from Google Photos). Google+ Photos is going away in a few days and Google Photos lacks too many features. On the other hand if they want to attract anyone who takes photos Google Photos is  probably the way to go.


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