We covered how to use IrfanView in the past. This article focuses on some of its most useful plugins — and how they can improve your photos. Specifically, it improves some of the most common photography problems: Poorly detail shots, overexposed pictures caused by bright light, and photos with contrast and brightness issues.
How to Get IrfanView’s Plugins?
While users can install each plugin individually (6 IrfanView plugins,) an easy method of installing (almost) all at the same time exists.
First, you must install IrfanView, if you haven’t already. For both 32-bit and 64-bit users, I recommend using the 32-bit installation. If you own a 32-bit computer, youcannot install 64-bit software.
Second, download the 32-bit IrfanView plugins installer and execute the installer. It should automatically detect IrfanView’s location on your system and copy the plugins there. If it does not, you will need to manually point it to the installation directory.

3 IrfanView Plugins to Improve Your Photos
1. Poor Detail Shots: Use the AltaLux Plugin
The Altalux plugin allows users to bring out a lot of hidden details in most photos. For example, here’s a shot of my dog, Cubby, without any filters applied:

As you can see, the ground is paved with blacktop. Some grit and texture are visible, but the human eye doesn’t pick up much more than that. With the filter applied, a great deal more details pop out. Here’s what the filter looks like with its settings turned up to max:

Of course, AltaLux looks great when its settings aren’t cranked up to the max. To run the filter (after installing it,) open the desired image with IrfanView. You can also launch the program and drag-and-drop a picture onto it.
Once, you’ve loaded the picture, first navigate to Image in the menu bar at the top. Second, select Effects, toward the bottom of the context menu.

Last, choose AltaLux effect… (Plugin). This launches AltaLux.

The AltaLux interface offers a minimal amount of clutter. Users can set Scale and Intensity (on the right side) by sliding them up or down. The default settings tend to be good enough though.

And that’s it! The plugin is easy to use.
2. Harry’s Plugins
Harry’s Plugins isn’t a single filter, but an array. While all of them offer good functionality, my favorite use is for darkening overexposed pictures.
Here’s an example of an overexposed photo:

After applying Harry’s Overexpose filter, here’s what it looks like:

As you can see, the background light is less harsh. And the overall picture’s composition is more palatable.
To run Harry’s Filter, go to Image > Adobe 8BF Plugins > Harry’s Filters.

The Harry’s Filters interface looks like this:

To change filters, click on the FX drop-down menu. From the drop-down menu, choose Expose. Once it’s selected, you can change the parameters of the filter by adjusting Brightness. Once finished, hit the Save button.

Other IrfanView Plugins
Other than sprucing up old photos, the IrfanView plugins cover a very wide range of features, including Optical Character Recognition (3 OCR tools tested,) a method for running multiple filters simultaneously, and more. Although some free filters, such asGoogle’s Nik Collection plugins offer a wider range of features, nothing beats IrfanView’s plugins library in terms of simplicity and effectiveness.