6 Best GIMP Plugins for Photographers

In 1995, two colleagues at the University of California created GIMP as a semester project. The GNU Image Manipulation Program was its new name as it was originally known as the General Image Manipulation Program. For those who don’t know, GNU, sometimes referred to as GNU’s Not Unix, is an operating system that consists of a variety of free programs and projects licensed under the GNU Project.

Like other software/services on the market, GIMP has some shortcomings and some missing functionality, although it is one of the best image editing and manipulation programs available. It is also free to use. But to overcome these drawbacks, it supports plugins, which are basically add-on modules that extend the functionality and feature set of the program. To help you get the most out of the image editing program on your computer, we’ve compiled a list of some of the best GIMP plugins in this post.

Best GIMP Plugins

1. G’MIC

You should definitely check out the G’MIC plugin if you often apply filters to add a little extra flavor to your photos. In short, it’s an assortment of over 500 filters and effects, and since it’s an open-source project, it’s updated and maintained on a regular basis. The plugin does more than just filters and effects. It also has tools for basic editing, noise reduction, and image repair to help display image datasets.

Check out G’MIC

2. Wavelet Decompose

The Wavelet Decompose plugin for GIMP is one of the most helpful and essential tools for all your retouching needs. It simply allows you to retouch images, including removing wrinkles, blemishes, or even spots, and editing other basic image-enhancing features like contrast and sharpening. This is accomplished by the tool dividing an image into its component layers. This means that the more subtle and salient features are found on the top layer, while the rest of the details reach the bottom layer, called the residual layer, which contains the details that all the layers have. Remains remain after removal.

See Wavelet Decompose

3. Duplicate to Another Image

Duplicate to Another Image plugin, as its name suggests, lets you basically take any part of an image and turn it into a new one that you can work on. While GIMP has its own built-in tool for the same purpose, the plugin offers unparalleled speed and ease of use. And quick and easy access to tons of capabilities is exactly what you need when editing photos.

Examine Duplicate to Another Image

4. Hugin

Another essential GIMP plugin for Photoshop users, especially those who work with panoramas, is Hugin. This tool, which allows you to stitch many photos together to create a panorama image, is based on the Panorama Tools application. Hugin stands out from other solutions because it claims it can stitch and integrate multiple images regardless of orientation, which sets it apart from the competition. And that, for best results, the user should only have at least 20-30% overlap between captures. Additionally, you have control over specific components of the stitching process to achieve desired effects.

Look at Hugin

5. Resynthesizer

A synthesizer, as its name implies, is a tool that allows you to remove parts from an image and easily blend them with the background by capturing the texture or background of the image and recreating it. It’s one of the most used plugins in the GIMP community, and when it comes to working with textures, it’s really a tool unto itself with a variety of editing features. Some have even drawn comparisons between it and Photoshop’s Content-Aware Fill tool, which similarly facilitates the removal and seamless replacement of background items.

Check out Resynthesizer

6. Dark Table

For those of us who shoot images in RAW and require an inexpensive image editor that supports RAW picture processing, Darktable is one such program that adds support for RAW editing to GIMP. Although there are alternative ways to get support for this on GIMP, many photographers choose DarkTablet for its user-friendly interface and ease of use. It supports a variety of image formats in addition to RAW, including JPEG, CR2, NEF, HDR, PFM, RAF, and more. In addition, it has the same post-processing, color grading, and image editing capabilities as some of the top image editing programs available.