Download the Filters
www.cybia.co.uk
Installation
Create a sub folder called Cybia in the Plug-Ins folder of Photoshop or Elements and copy the unzipped Cybia plugins into it. After restarting your application, you can find them on the Cybia and Fotomatic sub-menus of the Filter menu.
For information on installing plugins in other applications see this.
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The Cybia.co.uk Web site offers a total of 16 freeware plugins under the names Works and Fotomatic. The Works plugins were first released in 1998 as dozens of Filter Factory plugins and have now been merged into just eight. The newer Fotomatic plugins are more dedicated to particular effects and offer only one effect per plugin. There are also three low-priced commercial plugins available.
Cybia is the pseudonym of Steve Upham from South Wales, who developed these plugins. Although he studied graphic design, he earns his living by manufacturing furniture in his craft workshop. He also creates great sci-fi and fantasy artwork, which he exhibits in such venues as the 2005 World Science Fiction Convention in Glasgow.
All Cybia plugins have a nice graphical dialog with a small preview and a few controls. The Works plugins let you select several filter effects from a combo box at the top, but lack the ability to open and save settings provided by the Fotomatic plugins. All the plugins let you adjust the effect with sliders and are very easy to use. The Works plugins require a lot of experimenting to achieve certain effects, whereas the Fotomatic plugins are more straightforward.
The Works plugins achieve various transparency, colorization, grain, emboss and mesh pattern effects. The EmbossWorks, EdgeWorks, Mezzy and ScreenWorks plugins are quite experimental and more useful for graphical results, while the ColorWorks, MasterShop and SwapShop plugins are nice for achieving unusual colour effects. AlphaWorks can be a useful tool for blending images by making certain areas transparent. Unfortunately, a button for producing random settings is missing and it isn't possible to quickly browse the effects by only using the cursor keys in the filter combo box. Some of the Works effects could be even combined into one filter, which would make them even more convenient to use. The MasterBlaster plugin is shown below.
Five of the Fotomatic plugins concentrate on black-and-white effects by simulating BW filters, infra-red film, film grain, film contrast and colored BW effects. Having them in one plugin would have been nicer, but as their features overlap it isn't a big problem. The remaining plugins produce color gradient, night vision and photo correction effects.
The Cybia plugins create rather simple, but often useful, effects and are certainly attractive for beginners. More advanced users will probably find they are missing further options. Although this can partially be compensated for by applying various filters one after another, this isn't very convenient. For that purpose Cybia offers a few commercial plugins which allow more complex effects.
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Crazy Colors
Open a photo that has a large uniformly colored background, such as a sky or a wall.
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To produce some pop-art effects run the ColorWorks plugin from the Cybia sub-menu. Choose GMmix or RCmix from the combo box at the top. Play a bit with the four sliders to adjust the effect. Applying the plugin again will produce even more extreme pop-art effects.
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False color effects can be easily created with the SwapShop plugin from the Cybia sub-menu. The first nine items of the combo box are especially nice for playing with colors. Using the sliders is usually not necessary. For this example the Red to Green effect was used.
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Better Sunsets
Open a photo of a sunset that needs to be improved. If you don't have one, just use a photo with a lot of sky.
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Run the SkyGrad plugin from the Fotomatic sub-menu. To bring out silhouettes, move the EC slider to the left. Move each of the three Colour sliders a bit to the left or right. Better to not overdo it with too-extreme colors, instead try to amplify the color that is already present in the photo.
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You can produce similar effects by using the Fast Fix plugin from the Fotomatic sub-menu. It gives you greater control, but will affect the whole image and not just the upper area. For stronger silhouettes, lower the BF slider and increase the CF slider. You can add some saturation with the SF slider and enhance the color mood with the Colour sliders.
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Old Film
Use a photo without any elements of modern life, that would be suitable as an old B/W photo.
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Run the Hi-Spot plugin from the Fotomatic sub-menu. Hi-Spot lets you create a high-contrast B/W version of your photo, which is typical for old photos. If the image gets too dark, use the EC slider to brighten it up. It even contributes to the effect if some highlight areas get blown out.
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As a last step run the G-Force plugin from the Fotomatic sub menu to add some grain to the photo. Switching to 100% zoom lets you see the effect better. If you want it even more extreme, run Hi-Spot again and add a sepia effect with the Colour sliders.
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This article was originally published on The Plugin Site in February, 2006. Copyright Harald Heim.
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