*NEW
PROGRAM BASIC: Installing Plug-Ins in PSE4
By Lisa W Payne
Jul 6, 2006, 02:52

For this tutorial, we are going to download and install Virtual Photographer from Optik Verve Labs. It is available free at www.optikvervelabs


About plug-ins:

There are plenty of free plug-ins available online. A filter is a type of plug-in. Use any search engine and words such as ‘free’, ‘filters’, ‘plug ins’, ‘Photoshop Elements’ or see this tutorial on DIP and plug-ins for more recommended sources: HERE


Where to install:

Many plug-ins will be delivered as an .exe or self-extracting executable file. With these, you need only to direct the install process where to install the plug-in.

Some plug-ins are delivered as .zip files, where the .zip archive contains the plug-in itself (an .8bf file) a read me file and some configuration files. With these, you will need to move the files into the appropriate directory (when PSE is not running)

For PhotoShop Elements 4.0, the file structure is probably something like this:
Program Files -> Adobe -> Photoshop Elements 4.0 -> Plug-Ins

How to install:

For this tutorial, we are going to use the .exe version of the plug-in.
Double-click the downloaded program labeled "virtualPhotographer.exe" to extract the program folder
When prompted for the location to extract to, click on the browse button to extract to the plug-ins folder, (make sure PSE is not running)
The following files will be installed to C:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop Elements 4.0\Plug-Ins\optikVerveLabs
deepCopper.vph
Readme.txt
SALMON.VPH
virtualPhotographer.8bf

Using Virtual Photographer:
Open a photo using PSE
Select optikVerve Labs -> virtualPhotographer from the "Filter" menu
Click different "Presets" to see the effect
Click the "Process" button to apply the effect to your original image

For more information on using specific filters with PhotoShop Elements, see this